Hooking up headphone-out to my Tascam DR-05 digital recorder

[JerGoertz]

Sorry folks, not exactly computer setup related, but I couldn't find another forum more appropriate.

So I want to hook up the headphone-out of my old cassette Walkman to the microphone-in of my Tascam DR-05 digital recorder, using a 3.5 mm audio cable. The cable fits, but apparently the voltages aren't right (line-level vs. speaker-level?), because I get way-too-high volume and only one channel of the stereo pair seems to get (much of) the signal.

Is there a way I can make this work? And am I risking damaging my DR-05 by overloading the input with too-high voltages?

[BertKoor]

Does the recorder have a line input? Maybe use a simple 3.5mm->RCA split cable. Headphone outputs can be used safely for line inputs.

If you could have damaged the mic input, then that already happened.

The proper way would be to use a DI. Those convert line to mic level. Get one with padding switches.

[JerGoertz]

Thanks for the helpful information. I don't think the DR-05 has line inputs. What's a good DI for 3.5 mm cables?

[BertKoor]

The info I get on the Tascam DR-05 is a bit confusing. On the product info page it says:

You can add your own microphone or line-level source through the 1/8” stereo input, including plug-in power for microphones that need it.

But the owner's manual says absolutely nothing about it.

What's a good DI for 3.5 mm cables?

There probably isn't, because it is irrelevant.

Make sure the DI has two 1/4" TS jack inputs. Get a 3.5mm --> RCA splitter cable and two mono RCA-->TRS adapters. Cheap, no quality loss whatsoever, solves the problem.

Try to get anything better than the crappy (noisy) Behringer DI-100. Bit gGiven that you're using it to play cassette tape, maybe it's noise is even already below the tape noise.

[GaryG]

I've fed line level signals to my DR05 without issue, just made sure the mic power option was off and had to have the input level pretty low to avoid distortion. I think the maximum level is stated at about -4dbv which is higher than most line level signals.

The input is very high impedance compared to a pair of headphones so should be ok, I'd start with the walkmans volume at zero and turn it up gradually, may always be a trade off between level and noise though.

[don1thedon]

The DR05 reference manual gives details about how to best use an external input & set record levels (pages 19-21)
https://tascam.com/us/product/dr-05/download

[JerGoertz]

More good information, fellas. So, it sounds like I probably didn't damage the DR-05 (whew!).

I turned off mic power and tried directly connecting the two units, but signal was still pretty loud. Turned down the Walkman's and DR-05's volume, got the signal to reasonable levels, but it was only showing signal on the L channel (like before). I dunno why it's doing that.

I'm considering getting this DI box off amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009AARY2I/re ... B000KUA8G6#

Any opinions?

[BertKoor]

One channel only? Wiggle it, push in further, something is simply physically not connecting. Got a multimeter to measure the cable is alright? Try (or buy) another cable. Cheaper than a DI..

My concern with this specific DI is that it might not do your job. Hi-z in, Hi-z out is for an electric guitar (insert somewhere in the chain) and one low-z InOut goes to the mixer.
Your walkman's headphone output is not Hi-z but low.

[JerGoertz]

One channel only? Wiggle it, push in further, something is simply physically not connecting. Got a multimeter to measure the cable is alright? Try (or buy) another cable. Cheaper than a DI..

I don't think it's the cable, as I have another 3.5mm cable that gives exactly the same behavior. It's not the port on the DR-05 either, since stereo mics work just fine with it. I honestly don't think its the Walkman's headphone out, either, since I tried doing this a long time ago with a reel-to-reel tape machine and got signal only in the left channel then as well.

My concern with this specific DI is that it might not do your job. Hi-z in, Hi-z out is for an electric guitar (insert somewhere in the chain) and one low-z InOut goes to the mixer.
Your walkman's headphone output is not Hi-z but low.

Can you recommend a DI box that would have a low-z input?

[BertKoor]

I honestly don't think its the Walkman's headphone out, either, since I tried doing this a long time ago with a reel-to-reel tape machine and got signal only in the left channel then as well

Got one of those 3.5mm->RCA cables? Plug it in, touch the RCA tips one by one. If you get hum on one channel only by touching it, you do have a problem in the connection somewhere.

One difference with your mic might be those are TRRS and not TRS to cater for phantom power. With those small plugs the dimension can be a bit off, causing one channel making no connection.

As long as this doesn't get fixed, getting a DI is useless.

[BertKoor]

Also worth a try: pull it out by a fraction.

[JerGoertz]

After playing with things for a bit, it turns out the cassette player is outputting a left-channel only signal. So that's that mystery solved.

[JerGoertz]

Update: I was able to get a good recording of the left channel, using the 3mm cable directly, and that's enough for my purposes. I appreciate everyone's help here.

And in retrospect, it probably makes sense that the cassette player would only output on one channel: it's a Sanyo dictaphone, which records in mono with a little microphone, so would have no need for stereo.