D&M Professional, manufacturer of the Marantz Professional PMD series of professional recording products, has introduced its newest field recorder — the “hand-held” PMD660 Compact Digital Recorder.

The PMD660 is a direct result of feedback from users in the field, working in an array of recording environments in various vertical markets such as broadcast, government, faith and education. Marantz Professional has developed the PMD660 to provide advanced functionality and convenience, further emphasizing its ongoing commitment to supplying customers with market driven product solutions.

The rugged PMD660 is a solid-state recorder with easy one-touch digital recording to cost-effective Compact Flash media cards. Uncompressed WAV files can be recorded at 44.1 or 48 kHz, and high quality MP3 files can be recorded in mono (at 64 kbps) or in stereo (at 128 kbps). Using a standard 1 GB Compact Flash card, the PMD660 can record over 1 hour stereo and 3 hours mono of uncompressed audio, over 17 hours of stereo MP3 and almost 36 hours of monaural MP3 audio.

Designed for the most demanding field applications, the PMD660 features 2 built-in stereo condenser mics with Automatic Level Control (ALC), 2 XLR microphone connections with 48 volt phantom power, stereo line I/O and can operate for up to 4 hours on 4 standard AA batteries. Due to its solid-state design, the PMD660 has virtually no moving parts, and is therefore dramatically more reliable than cassette, DAT, or other tape/disc formats. This carries the added advantage of eliminating periodic maintenance and all its related costs — particularly important for meeting recording, archiving sound effects, gathering audio for video, surveillance and broadcasters/journalists who are doing in-the-field recording and playback.

The PMD660 offers editing capabilities that constitute a field recorder truly in a class by itself. Included in the firmware are two editing modes. “Copy Segment” editing uses non-destructive cut-and-paste-style editing to create a new sound file, which can be up/downloaded via the built-in USB port. With Marantz Professional’s exclusive Virtual Track Mode, the user can create an internal edit list enabling nonlinear playback of file segments, without using card memory to create a new file. Up to 99 virtual tracks can be created to compare edits, set up multiple sound bites or provide interview segments of differing durations.

A revolutionary optional RC600 wired remote control that attaches to any microphone is available to supply Record/Pause control, track marking and peak metering from the microphone position, allowing a field reporter to concentrate on their work rather than the operation of the PMD660. In addition, the PMD660 is Marantz Professional’s most portable, fully functional, affordable professional solid-state PMD field recorder to date.

Commenting on the new PMD660, Peter Papageorge, Director of Sales and Marketing for D&M Professional, stated, “The PMD has no moving parts and offers a digital solution for today’s most challenging field recording environments. We are dedicated to providing recording solutions that are durable, reliable and have the highest sonic integrity, and also enable our customers to operate efficiently in time-critical situations. For instance, we’ve implemented new technology that allows the user to record any meeting for an extended duration and then archive in seconds. Our new PMD660 takes these superior design parameters plus the legendary feature set of our industry standard PMD670 into a hand-held compact format. For any professional doing ENG/EFP work on a day-to-day basis, the new PMD660 is the perfect solution.”