We old-school types have been skeptical of new stuff, and when they told us we could record to a hard disk, we scoffed and jeered every time we heard stories of early digital audio workstations “losing” entire sessions (and we cried when those lost sessions were our own). There was something comfortable and familiar about seeing a strip of tape unwind from one reel to another passing over a tape head, capturing our carefully crafted signals, even in the digital domain, which was not a model of reliability in the early days. I had always recognized that recording with no moving parts was technically plausible, but it seemed—well—kinda weird. I eventually gave into the attraction, and I have used portable flash recorders for a couple of years now, and I don’t know how I survived without them. Marantz offers the PMD560 professional solid-state recorder, a rack-mounted professional recorder that is intended for numerous purposes, not the least of which is in houses of worship.
Recording to RAM is an elegant and simple way to avoid the attendant difficulties of mechanical systems with moving parts. The PMD560 records to Compact Flash (CF) memory, which is ubiquitously available—even at your corner Wal-Mart. The recorder can also accommodate (in the same slot) a Microdrive, which is a tiny hard drive that fits in the space of a CF card. Since it is a true hard disk drive, however, the ostensible benefit of eliminating moving parts is lost. A 1GB card can hold over an hour of uncompressed stereo audio and over 36 hours of compressed mono audio. The largest CF cards of which I am aware feature a whopping 16GB of space. Microdrives up to 8GB in capacity are currently available, and both the drive and flash RAM will continue to increase in size and decrease in price. In my estimation, the most desirable scheme is to simply install a very large (4, 8, or 16GB) CF card in the unit, and then simply back up your recordings as you go. The point here is that the CF can be semi-permanently installed. On the other hand, small, inexpensive CF cards provide their own backup, and can be physically “filed” for safekeeping. Having that option is very convenient.
In the PMD560, compressed means that that audio is encoded in the MP3 format. Uncompressed means 16-bit linear PCM digital audio at either 44.1-kHz or 48-kHz sample rates. The recorder offers encoding at 64 or 128 kbps, the former yielding sufficient quality for voice-only recordings, and the latter being the accepted standard for Internet music downloads. This standard rate is easily distinguished from compact disk audio in A/B comparisons, but frankly does not sound bad. Interestingly, the PMD560 will only record at the lower resolution in mono and only at the higher resolution in stereo. This really is not a problem at all, however, because the 64 kbps rate yields audio quality somewhere north of AM radio and not quite FM quality for voice, and the 128 kbps rate is substantially better, if music is a necessary component of recording or playback. Chances are that if music is involved, you’ll want to record and or play back in stereo. And on that note—while recording is the primary function of the unit, and very nice to have, it’s also convenient to have playback as well, for what ought to be pretty obvious reasons.
The recorder’s front panel features, from left-to-right, a power switch, headphone jack and level control, a door protecting the CF card slot, a USB port for connection to a PC, along with three navigation buttons, including a shift key, which facilitates dual functionality with other buttons, namely the “menu/store”/“edit” and “display”/ “lock” buttons, along with jog wheel functionality. To the left of the navigation buttons is a blue LCD alphanumeric display, level meters, transport buttons, and finally a clever knob that serves as a jog wheel, but also controls recording levels and balance. A green LED located by the card slot indicates reading or writing to the card by flashing, or readiness with a steady glow. The rear panel is incredibly simple, with stereo RCA inputs and outputs, and eight-inch, quarter-inch, and RS-232C remote control portals, along with an IEC power input.The PMD560 can record in a linear fashion, or on a VOX-style basis, termed “Silent Skip” by Marantz—in essence stopping the recorder when there is silence. Editing markers are automatically placed at the beginning of each starting point, simplifying any future editing. In Marantz’ nomenclature, a new “track” (or fi le) is automatically created each time recording starts, or automatically every minute if you like, and new “tracks” can be created manually as well at any time during recording. While I appreciate the functionality, the “track” terminology is confusing to individuals who are accustomed to a multi-track environment. Perhaps “segment,” or “region,” or some other similar term could be used. Nevertheless, this protocol is very welcome, because it’s integral to the fact that the operating system precludes the possibility of recording over an existing recording. This is one of the more compelling reasons to use this recorder to begin with—a rock-solid solution that assures that you’ll have a recording when the sermon or service is over. “Black-box” hardware recording solutions like this have always been preferable over computer-oriented solutions, because computers can be unstable and if they’re not dedicated to a singular task, they can be downright squirrelly.
Another powerful feature of the recorder is its computer compatibility. The USB connection on the front panel connects with and facilitates transfer of recordings to your PC. A minor gripe I have in this regard is that recording and playback cannot be executed during a transfer. Perhaps a future revision of the software will solve this, potentially even making the PMD560 a de facto USB interface for computer recording. I’m pleased with the way that the recorder’s CF card simply appears as an external drive on your computer, facilitating drag and drop functionality. Recordings can be easily edited on the computer once transferred, and also easily distributed via Internet, among other mechanisms.
Even without the benefit of a computer, the recorder facilitates editing, with its proprietary “EDL” (edit decision list) protocol. During recording, up to 255 EDL markers per CF card can be “dropped” to help an editor navigate later on. A convention known as “Virtual Track” can be employed as well, setting an in point and out point within a file for later immediate playback access. Although this is similar, I would prefer to actually have the ability to “drop” markers during playback as well, something of which the PMD560 is not capable. A “Copy Segment” convention is also available, enabling the nondestructive creation of a new segment from an original. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of editing of audio recorded by this unit will be done on computers—which vastly simplifies the process and keeps the editor happier.
I produce podcasts for a living, and I do a lot of remote recording via digital telephone hybrid. I’ve always insisted upon at least one redundant recording system when I do so (two if it’s really important,) and I typically use a portable fl ash recorder. I replaced my portable recorder with a PMD560 to get a test-drive, and I was thrilled with the results—so much so that I may acquire one or more of them. Setting up to record was incredibly simple and transferring the recording after the fact was easily accomplished via USB. One of my Windows computers has a CF slot, so I tested the transfer of data via that mechanism as well, and found that it goes very quickly.
The bottom line here is that computers (especially the “old-Windows-machinefrom- the-pastor’s-offi ce-that-we-can-useto- record-the-sermon” variety) can be somewhat unreliable. Even if you have a state-of-the-art multi-processor beast dedicated to and optimized for audio, it’s a pretty good idea to have a redundancy. The Marantz PMD560 fi ts that bill perfectly, and for some churches, it may even be considered as the solitary solution. As a podcast producer, I recognize the high value of this system. It would be plausible, for instance, to record a produced generic intro and outro, both with music, into the recorder, and keep them on file. Each week’s sermon could then be recorded, and stitched in between intro and outro, and then literally dragged via USB to a computer and immediately uploaded to the Internet. Enhanced mixing, blending, and digital signal processing to achieve maximum audio quality is not possible this way, but as a mechanism to quickly get a podcast online with the greatest of ease, this recorder does the trick. The Marantz PMD560 is also very useful for other recording and playback requirements. I strongly recommend taking a look at it.John McJunkin is the CEO of Avalon Podcasting in Chandler, Arizona, and offers high-quality podcast production and consultation services to a broad range of clients. He also provides consultation in sound reinforcement and studio commission.