For over a decade now, my go to audio recorder
for plugging into the DJ soundboard at weddings has been the Zoom h4n.
But there's a new audio recorder in town.
This is the Tascam X8.
And today I'm going to be reviewing it
from the perspective of a wedding filmmaker and tell you why.
I think that this is one of the best, most powerful
and surprisingly affordable recorders that you can buy for wedding filmmaking.
And to be clear, before we get started,
I want you to know that this video isn't paid or sponsored by Tascam in any way,
but they did send me this recorder so I could make this review the first time.
Do you see this review is the same time
they will see it whenever I uploaded to YouTube, and this recorder
will sadly be shipped back to them very soon.
Starting off, let's talk about the big reason
why I'm upgrading audio recorders because like I said,
I've been using the h4n for over a decade now.
So if it's been good enough for ten years, why change now?
Well, one of my main motivators for upgrading, and one of the main reasons
that you may want to consider the Tascam X8 is that unlike the h4n
this recorder is capable of recording 32 bit float audio.
What the heck is that, Matt?
Well, in short, imagine that you were filming a wedding
and you've plugged
into the DJ sound board or the back of a speaker to record toasts
and you get home and you realize that your audio is peaking
and blown out because you didn't set the levels right.
If you film weddings long enough,
I'm sure this has happened to you at some point and it sucks.
And if you're using a traditional audio recorder like the h4n, for example,
which is only capable of recording 24 bit audio, you're basically screwed
because there's no real way to recover that peaked audio.
Just like if you overexposed the video and blow your highlights
and can't recover them
if you peak your audio and blow it out and you can't recover it either.
But all of this changes with the advent of 32
bit float audio and why it's such a big deal.
Imagine never dealing with peaking audio ever again.
Additionally, imagine
never dealing with audio that is too quiet ever again, either.
That's the promise of
32 bit float audio, and I realize that sounds kind of magical.
So to break things down a bit more scientifically, recorders
that are capable of recording 32 bit float audio like the task cam X8
include dual audio to digital converters that essentially enable
the recorder to record an incredibly wide range of audio
dramatically more than 930 2:32 bit audio recorders.
This means that the X8 is basically recording everything
from the quietest whisper to the incredibly loud think
standing inside a jet engine level of noise.
And what this means for you as a filmmaker is that you can press
record on this recorder and anything you record that's too quiet.
You'll be able to bring up the audio levels without increasing the noise floor
because the dynamic range is so good while simultaneously.
If you have anything that's too loud that would normally be peaking
and blown out with any other audio recorder, you can simply click
and drag down your audio levels and recover all of that peaking audio.
Now, as a quick aside,
I do want to warn you, though, that you still may run into audio
that you recorded the X8 that may be peaking and you cannot save,
but the odds are that the X8 isn't going to be too late.
Instead, you may run into issues
with your microphone that you're using not being able to hit those loud volumes.
Microphones have a maximum recording volume that they can hit,
and the odds are that you'll probably hit the max volume that your microphone
can handle before you hit the max volume of the X8.
OK, now that I've sold you on the magic
of 32 bit float recording, and as I said,
this is one of the main reasons that I'm moving on from the H-4 in.
But you may be wondering now why this X8
what makes me recommend this recorder?
Considering there are other 32 bit flow recorders out there that have existed
for a while like this, iMac's six and sound devices mix pretty well.
My choosing the X8 comes down to two things.
The build and the price.
So let's talk about the build first and we will cover the general build as well.
So what sets apart this recorder from some of its 32 bit float competition?
The X8 has a well built plastic construction that's easy to hold in
one hand and has a nice heft to it that isn't too heavy.
It has built in microphones at the top that you can actually detach
and plug in 3.5 mm laugh mikes for recording someone speaking if you want to.
That's pretty cool.
There's a power switch with hold button on the side micro SD card slot
that takes cards up to 512 gigabytes in size and a slot on the bottom
where you can insert a Bluetooth control module and control the X8 remotely
using test cams port a capture control app.
Unfortunately, you cannot monitor the audio remotely over
Bluetooth, but you can see your levels and make sure the recorder is.
According which is great, and most importantly,
this recorder has four combo Zeller and quarter inch jacks
for plugging into audio sources like a DJ soundboard.
These combo excellent quarter inch jacks are what's really important
about this recorder and help set it apart from the 32 bit float competition.
Because at the time of making this video, the task cam X8
is the only 32 bit flat recorder at this price point
that's offering you combo SLR and quarter inch audio jacks.
Look at the Zoom F6, for example.
And while it has more Excel inputs with six instead of four.
These are only SLR inputs and you are going to have to purchase
separate adapters
if you want to use these audio inputs with quarter inch cables with the X8.
To be clear, I do realize that using quarter inch two SLR adapters
isn't necessarily expensive, but these combo inputs
mean there's one less cable you have to bring along in your bag,
and that's a plus.
Wait, why is the X8 isn't too bad, but it does have a nice heft to it, with
most of the weight coming from the four AA batteries that power the recorder.
Speaking of batteries and battery life
task, RAM says you can expect eleven hours with alkaline batteries,
nine and a half hours with rechargeable and 18 hours with lithium batteries.
I unfortunately didn't have a chance to pick up any lithium is to test,
but with my admittedly about a year and a half old rechargeable AmazonBasics
batteries, I found
the recorder can run for eight hours and 38 minutes before dying.
Of course, as a big plus, you'll notice there is a USB-C port on the side,
meaning this recorder can be powered by plugging in any USB-C cable
that you have or via a USB-C battery pack, which could potentially get you
days of run time.
Let's now talk about one of the biggest and first things
you'll notice about the X8 whenever you start using it,
and that would be this big, glorious screen on the front.
I think the best thing about this screen is that it's big enough
that someone might mistake you for holding a really big smartphone
like one of those ultra rugged smartphones that construction workers have
that can handle being crushed by a dump truck or something like that.
Unfortunately, this recorder doesn't take phone calls, and it's
definitely not a retina touch screen, but the screen is fairly high quality.
And most importantly, the touch screen is quite responsive.
I was worried this thing might be slow or laggy,
but thankfully, even with this prerelease unit, I found it to be quite snappy.
Turn on the recorder and it powers on in a few seconds
and you'll be brought to the launch or screen,
which gives you a variety of presets and controls for the recorder.
There presets for music recording, field recording, podcast, a tuner and metronome,
and even ASMR recording if you're into that as a plus.
This recorder can also be used
as an SD card reader if you plug it into your computer,
and it can also be used as a USB-C microphone interface as well .
If you want to use it as a computer mic for me though, as well as most wedding
filmmakers, you're going to want to select the manual preset, which, as it says,
will give you multi-track recording with up to six input channels.
All of them, which can be customized in the manual preset.
You can dig into the recording settings
until the exit you want to record in 32 bit float audio.
Then you can plug in your audio
inputs, say SLR or quarter-inch from a DJ sound board,
then use the input gain setting to dial in your audio levels so they sound good.
And lastly, press record and what's great
is because your audio is recording in 32 bit float.
If the volume changes and gets too loud or too soft,
you should be able to recover it now with your settings dialed in.
Let's talk audio quality.
I know that I gave you a little preview earlier when I was talking about 32 bit
float audio, but let's dove into this more.
The first thing you need to know is that for an audio quality test,
I've actually been recording the audio for this entire video using the Détenus
Mike two plugged in via SLR to the task cam X8.
So this whole video is actually an audio test,
and you may also be thinking, Dang, that sounds pretty good, but hold on
because any audio recorder is only going to sound as good
as the microphone that you're using with it.
Having 32 bit float audio is amazing, but if you pair it with a really crappy
microphone, your audio is still going to sound terrible.
So if the microphone is really the important part, what actual effect
does the audio recorder have on the quality of your audio?
Well, in the past, if your recorder was recording too soft
and you needed to bring up the levels,
sometimes that would introduce a lot of noise into your audio.
Think that electronic sound that I'm sure you've heard in some YouTube
videos before?
Likewise, if your recorder was recording too loud, this would introduce peaking
that would basically destroy your audio and make it sound really distorted.
I'm betting you've heard that in some YouTube videos, too,
so with older recorders, it was always a balance of trying
to make sure that your audio levels were set in
the Goldilocks sweet spot of not too soft and not too loud.
And this was pretty easy to do, even if you were recording audio of a.
Wedding reception where you were running around like crazy.
As long as you had a minute or two to plug in your audio and test it
to make sure it sounds good, you would usually get good audio .
Please note, though, that I said usually because inevitably,
if you film enough weddings, something's going to mess up.
A groom's man is going to go rogue and start
screaming into the microphone, peeking your audio levels,
or you're going to get the softest voice bridesmaid ever.
That's just barely whispering into the microphone that they're holding
two feet away from their mouth.
In the past, you could salvage your audio a bit.
But for the most part,
the audio you record is the audio that you're stuck with,
which is one reason that I always recommend having backups for everything,
but with a task max eight .
Well, yes, I still do recommend having backups for everything.
Having a recorder like this with 32 bit flawed audio is going to save you
in those edge cases when things mess up
and your audio levels get out of whack and are too loud or too soft.
This is where 32 bit flowed.
Audio is going to shine and save your butt.
This is also the point where it becomes worth buying
a recorder like the X8 with 32 bit flawed audio.
So let's wrap up this review and talk about the price,
which is actually incredibly intriguing.
And one of the main reasons that I wanted to make this review to start.
I'm aware that prices can always change,
and with all the supply chain craziness that's happening right now.
But at the time of making, this video task game has set the price of the X8
at 499 bucks, which hey, that's still a hefty chunk of change, for sure.
But let's compare it to the competition.
first, you have the Zoom F6, which is also capable of recording 32 bit float audio.
But when you look at the price for the F6, that comes in at 700 bucks,
yes, $200 more than the X8.
Are you seeing why? I'm intrigued by this recorder.
Well, hold on, because remember that the X8 is also
capable of taking SLR in quarter inch inputs,
something that the much more expensive F6 cannot do without an adapter.
And in fact, if you wanted a 32 bit float audio recorder
that has dual SLR and quarter inch inputs before task have announced the X8,
you would need to go out and spend an eye watering $1,060 for the sound devices
mics prefix, to which, to be clear, is a fantastic audio recorder.
But as a wedding filmmaker that's interested in saving myself
and view money whenever I see the X8
for half the price at 499,
I'm definitely going to be intrigued by this recorder.
And now, having spent some time using the X8
and really liking its features and capabilities, I have no problem saying
that if you're interested in a 32 bit float audio recorder that you can use
for wedding filmmaking or YouTube videos or corporate videos,
or basically anything else for that matter,
I think the task cam X8 is the recorder that you should buy.
Hey, Matt, from the future here for one quick second, as it always happens,
I recorded this video a few weeks before I was ready to post it.
And in that time, Test Cam's main competitor, Zoom
announced a new recorder, the Zoom F3.
This new recorder is quite small with only two SLR inputs, but it does
include 32 bit float audio recording, and it looks very promising.
Unfortunately, though, Zoom has not announced the price
for the F3 at the time of making this video.
But because I know there's going to be a lot of you commenting,
What do you think about the F3 mat?
Let me just tell you that I think the F3 looks pretty cool, and I'm definitely
going to try and pick one up to review and tell you how it compares to the X8.
All right.
With that, I really hope this video has been helpful to you
if you've been considering upgrading your audio recording gear.
Also, it would be a huge help to me if you would consider liking this video
and subscribing if you want to see more videos about filmmaking in the future.
And if you happen to be a wedding filmmaker like me,
you probably want to book more couples and film more weddings,
and I would love to help you out with that.
I've created a free guide that's going to walk you
through some practical steps
you can take right now in your business to book more couples and film
more weddings. It's a completely free gift to you.
You can download it, link down in the video description.
Thanks so much for watching and have a great day.