Stereo channels are unequal DR-40

[Andrew Holder]

Hi all. I'm new here, having just bought a DR-40 to use for amateur videos. The first thing I noticed when I started using it was that when using the internal mics the channels are not equal, the top indicator,(which I assume is left) is slightly less than the lower (right) indicator.

The record level adjustment works fine, but the top indicator is always slightly less than the one below. I can't find anything in the manual about adjusting channels separately.

I have just tried recording some white noise and it seems to be always like it, whatever the level.

Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks.

 

[Art Anderson]

You're not missing any independent level adjusting for internals Andrew.
Here's the thing I just observed because you piqued my curiosity:
With Record mode in STEREO / Source: IN MIC ST
I play back music from my desktop, having turned the music to mono in my DAW and panning hard right so the left speaker doesn't get any signal. Then I hold the DR-40 about 4 inches from the little desktop speaker. The slightest shift in my axis, I mean under 10 degrees, offset from center as far as the edge of a 2.5" driver, or rotation on axis of the DR-40 give a difference of (in my example) 5 or less tick marks on the scale.
I tried it with the capsules in both X-Y and A-B arrangement. So these suckers are sensitive to those very small shifts in position. I'm not saying that's bad, just how subtle acoustics around the mics can affect recording.

Are you saying your imbalance is large and audible? Have you tried MONO and consistently get the same difference in channels? What is your sound editing software telling you about the results?

 

[Andrew Holder]

Thanks Art, that's very interesting. I guessed it was fairly sensitive to position. I haven't got as far as finding out if it is audible and haven't yet put it into any external software. I'm probably just being picky but I would like something straight out of the box to work perfectly
This is a typical response. The very noisy kitchen fan from across the room. Doesn't matter whether the mics are A-B or X-Y or what the orientation is. Probably not enough to be significant but just a bit annoying for my nature!

 

[Andrew Holder]

Interestingly, I have got a replacement from Amazon and the new one is exactly the same, left channel about 5 ticks lower than right channel.

 

[-mjk-]

How does it sound? Does it sound imbalanced?

 

[Andrew Holder]

I can't hear the difference but I'm worried about it not being calibrated properly in the factory.

 

[-mjk-]

Yeah, I can understand that. Did you look at the file in an editor?

 

[Andrew Holder]

I haven't yet, but I will do. Thanks.