H Series Live Recording Guide v1.0

[kashman]

wow dude, nice one... ive to say ive been using int mic for recording of my uni lectures and its been fine so far!! but im sure ill be using this alot when i take my iriver to concerts and things

[walm]

Originally Posted by framesaver

Well only external preamps would have indicators and they're not cheap. The Mic2496 from Core has clip indicators, but it's $499. That'd probably be the cheapest and most portable too.

The BoostBox of Reactivesounds also has an Clipping LED/distortion alert and is only $199. It's also mobile but doesn't have A/D-converter like the Mic2496 and the quality is of course not the same.

[framesaver]

Thanks walm - Will add these various bits n bobs to v1.1 should I ever get round to it.

[mhart]

Isn't there some sort of knighthood for services to the iRiver
community we can give this guy!?

Excellent inspiring stuff.

[topf]

Hi again,
back to the stereo recording issue with the external mic.
There is a stereo checkbox in the options/recording section. I recently upgraded to 1.06 so I don't know if it has been there all the time and I've overssen it or if it was added with 1.06.
In any case, it works know.

It is quite funny that this option is not in the recording settings menu but hidden in the preferences. But let's not talk about the user interface anyway .

Bye,
Thomas

[mhart]

As a related topic does anyone happen to know a good
place to buy binaural microphones (that you actually can
wear in your ears). I'm in the UK an would appreciate
any links to good sites or actual shops...

matt

[FlameGrilled]

Well, there aint no knighthoods, just 21-nuke salutes and open-bar bunker parties - but sadly, i already booked them for today for Jeff's birthday.

Still, anyone who contributed to the topic can feel free to call by the bunker (remember to bribe the hellcats with some kidnapped iPoders), and come join in the party... :P

[walm]

Originally Posted by mhart

As a related topic does anyone happen to know a good
place to buy binaural microphones (that you actually can
wear in your ears). I'm in the UK an would appreciate
any links to good sites or actual shops...

matt

There are a lot of webshops that sell mini binaural mic's (soundprofessionals, Coresounds, giant-squid-audio-lab, reactivesounds), but not that many has specially designed mic's for wearing in-ear. Right now I only find them at soundprofessionals (SP-TFB-2), but i've seen more around.

BTW Framesaver another portable pre-amp I found is the SP-PREAMP of soundprofessionals, at roughly the same price as the Boostbox. Core-sound also has pre-amps, these are sligthly bigger.

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by walm

There are a lot of webshops that sell mini binaural mic's (soundprofessionals, Coresounds, giant-squid-audio-lab, reactivesounds), but not that many has specially designed mic's for wearing in-ear. Right now I only find them at soundprofessionals (SP-TFB-2), but i've seen more around.

BTW Framesaver another portable pre-amp I found is the SP-PREAMP of soundprofessionals, at roughly the same price as the Boostbox. Core-sound also has pre-amps, these are sligthly bigger.

Thanks walm....

A little update: here's some more links to applicable stuff:


Binaural Microphones:

Sound Pro In-Ears: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cg.../item/SP-TFB-2




Soundman OKM's: http://www.dacs-audio.com/Distributi...ndman_main.htm
(I don't know if this site sells to the public, but it is UK-based...)




Microphone Madness In-Ears: http://www.microphonemadness.com/pro...trunathook.htm





Preamps:

Sound Pro: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cg...item/SP-PREAMP




Microphone Madness:
http://www.microphonemadness.com/cat...rs_stereo.html




Reactive Sounds:
http://www.minidisco.com/spa-1.html




The Core Sound ones aren't really designed for portability, so I'll leave them off here.



Call for submissions:

If someone would like to rattle together a post that refers to the differences in recording in the H3xx when compared to the stuff I've covered for the H1xx, I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate it. (Don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon)

[onlyconnect]

Originally Posted by austonia

i tested the external mic recording function awhile back and the biggest problem i found is that you can't monitor the sound while it's recording (nothing plays through the headphone-out)

I can't remember if it was there before, but the latest firmware (1.63E) *does* have this feature. It is in the Record menu as "voice monitor". In iRiver-speak, voice==microphone.

Tim

[onlyconnect]

Originally Posted by framesaver

Power: The H-series can provide Plug-In Power to condenser electret mics, feeding 2.5V to the mic (this is 1V more than most MD decks etc) in the EXT MIC setting.

I have an old Sony, ECM-727P. It uses plug-in power and works great with my Sony MD. However on the H140 I find the level too low, even with ext. mic volume set to 20. The supplied external mic (which I've lost, any offers?) was more sensitive although mono and poor quality.

Note that I'm not recording rock concerts, but quieter events.

Do you think my mic is just rather low output, or has the supplied mic got particularly high output? I was thinking of buying the Skytronic/Yoga as a substitute - does this give equivalent levels to the supplied mic?

Tim

[urbantus]

Bloody fantastic

[spread]

they still haven't fixed the optical in glitch?
had the thing for over a year now and have since gotten an archos with the same prob and now a JB3..
love my 120 for tunes, just want it to record .wav properly..

no one cooked up some rouge firmware?
or how about a 24bit hack?

please email me with any info if you have it and want to keep it off the board.. can promise many great concerts for trade....
tpoff@mail.com

This thing bsmokes the ipod away in so many ways..
love it!!!!

[framesaver]

Originally Posted by onlyconnect

I have an old Sony, ECM-727P. It uses plug-in power and works great with my Sony MD. However on the H140 I find the level too low, even with ext. mic volume set to 20. The supplied external mic (which I've lost, any offers?) was more sensitive although mono and poor quality.

Note that I'm not recording rock concerts, but quieter events.

Do you think my mic is just rather low output, or has the supplied mic got particularly high output? I was thinking of buying the Skytronic/Yoga as a substitute - does this give equivalent levels to the supplied mic?

Tim

I think the problem with Sony mics is that they make them with fairly low sensitivity so that they can be used in conjunction with the 'Auto Record Level' setting on minidisc decks - Anyone who's used an MD will testify how easy it was to get overload distortion on the auto setting - A 'hot' preamp if you will.

The iRiver is clearly better suited to higher sensitivity/self-powering mics. The Skytronic/Yoga one would give you much improved results I'm sure.

[Andretti]

Guys, your going about this the wrong way, you want something to complement the portability and cordlessness of your iriver, check out the Audio Technica AT822, u just plug it in and record stereo with a high quality condenser mic (internal battery). It is well worth the $279 dollars if your going to use it to record live music, you just connect the 2 foot cord designed for miniplug devices like the iriver and press record. Ive used the setup extensivelly, and turned heads at concerts in the taping section with my recording setup that was nothing more than a mic and mp3 player on a stand, no bags or chords or battery packs, just sweet sweet live music

[framesaver]

The AT822 is a very adaptable mic, certainly, but at 20cm long, I wouldn't call it the most portable of solutions, and obviously couldn't be used as a stealthing option. It does save you the hassle of pointing your mics correctly though, and it has its own built-in bass roll-off... However it can't quite reach the maximum sound input level of the mics running on 9V battery boxes (due to the 1.5V AA power) - But I would certainly recommend it for stand/clamp recording in a taping section. I can see why it would turn heads, that's for sure.

[withak]

When using binaural mics that you wear in your ears, how do the recordings come out? I imagine that if you are sitting still in a chair then it would sound fine, but if you are standing in the middle of a crowd and either moving around and turning your head a lot, can you hear changes in the sound? Listening to something recorded by someone moving back and forth in front the stage for an hour has to be annoying.

[framesaver]

Well I suppose the golden rule of taping with mics on your person is not to move at all anyway. i.e. Don't tape if you feel like getting into the music maaaaaaaaan.

Certainly you would hear a bit of a 'phase shift' (if that's the best way to put it) on a recording by someone turning their head, but as the mics are omnis it probably wouldn't be too bad - General jostling or shifting your weight wouldn't really be noticeable at all.

Cardiod mics clipped to a hat being turned around would sound a hell of a lot weirder...

[Andretti]

Well, it turns out that it does fit in your pocket and is smaller than you, or at least someone like me might think (stupid american here aint to go with that metric system). I wouldnt recomend for on your person though, and i will say that the result has to be equalized to account for a slight drop in the mid range volume, but im not sure what the volume limitation is that your refering to, could you please elaborate.

[framesaver]

What I refer to is thus:

The AT822 (running on internal 1.5V battery) has a Max Sound Input Level of 125dB. A SoundPro-modded twin set of AT831s (running on external 9V power) has a Max Sound Input Level of 131dB. i.e. The 9V set can take an increased volume level before distorting. That's all.

Note that the 9V AT831 set would also be cheaper - Currently about 185 bucks from soundpros.

And certainly most mics will need their output equalised after laying down the track.

[Andretti]

Thanx for clearing that up. This whole clipping thing, im not hearing it on the files i recorded when i had the 120, is it possible not all units have the problem? It is probably true that the clipping im familiar with, back in the day when i used the piece of shit tascam 448 or whatever it was called with a computer and it would audibly click and cut out randomly, is this a more subtle version of that or something else

[lukelukeluke]

I use a Rode NT4 microphone. Extremely high quality, but probably not good if you're trying to be covert.