[framesaver]

DISTORTION

Many people starting out in taping suffer from the dreaded distortion that has ruined a perfectly good recording of a great gig. Note there are two distortion types you can have issues with:

1. Overloading your mic at very high sound pressures (+120dB etc)

2. Electronic clipping, when your deck receives too high a signal from the mics to record within the amplitude parameters (ie you should turn down your gain)

The best way to avoid distortion when you are say, recording a gig from the audience is thus:

- Use cardiod mics which will eliminate much of the noise of the crowd behind you
- Power your mics as best you can (Like I’ve already said, plug-in power on the iRiver will only be able to give you some of the max dynamic range of the mics. Adding a 9V battery box is probably the way to go for a small-size, low budget solution.
- Don’t get too close to the venue amplifiers where sound pressure is high (but don’t stand right at the back where you will get mostly audience chatter)
- Run line-in when it's REALLY loud to avoid clipping that may be introduced by the gain when running mic-in
- Most importantly though, like I’ve said, if you want good sound, get good mics.