Phase Issue with build in mics X8

[Hans100]

Hi, I'm a radio journalist from Germany and I have a serious problem with stereo recordings with the X8 and the built-in microphones from Tascam. The recordings have a phase problem - which I only noticed after the recording went on air!

Has anyone noticed anything similar? Does this have to do with the internal software, can I hope for an update that avoids this? Or do I simply have to stop using the built-in mics? I've been making radio for 30 years now, the only time I've had phase problems is when using badly soldered cables, never when using handheld recorders.

The strange thing is that this problem has not occurred so far, even though I have owned the recorder for about a year. For example, I have recordings of atmospheres in harbors or in the countryside that are good. In this case, however, it was a large street festival with a lot of voices in the background, some music, where I was also conducting interviews. Atmos, interviews, everything has the phase issue. Does the software somehow interfere with the recording?

Unfortunately, I've only just noticed that the phase window in Auditon hasn't been activated for a while, otherwise I would have noticed it before the broadcast.

Thanks a lot for any help!
Hans

 

[Hans100]

Well, I've now done a few tests. The setting was always Field with the different presets City, Nature... and the onboard mics were used.

All recordings have the same phase problem. Unfortunately, you can't hear these kind of issues in the home studio, you can only recognize it with the phase analysis of the DAW. On the radio on air you'll hear it, voices can disapear. So the onboard micros are not really usable at all for radio or podcasts.

I also connected an external X/Y stereo mic (Beyerdynamic MCE82) for testing. This recording was ok.

This is unacceptable for a device in this price range. I've been in this business for 30 years. I have never encountered such problems with a handheld device. The Portacapture is not a cheap recorder. Tascam should find a solution quickly, I am more than annoyed.