H Series Live Recording Guide v1.0 - Page 8

Pétur · #**281** (**permalink**) April 9th, 2006, 01:04 PM

I'm having troubles recording a rock concert.

Equipment:
- h340 with rockbox of course
- skytronic 173.623 modified to use a 9V battery
- the skytronic mic is T-shaped unlike the pics that show the skytronic

The concert was really very loud, and I'm wondering what limit I've bumped into.

I prepared a short unmodified WAV that shows that the levels are fine and there's no visible clipping.

sample unmodified distorted recording

thanks a lot!
Peter

Datman · #**282** (**permalink**) April 19th, 2006, 07:43 AM

OOOPS...
I'm sorry for the late, but I thought I had posted images of the 1-transistor mic preamp!!!

I'm sorry; I'll post them soon.

Gianluca

Datman · #**283** (**permalink**) April 19th, 2006, 07:51 AM

For kita: you can find the first preamp links in this thread at page 10.
I can't answer to you by a private message because I have posted only 16 times in this forum.

Gianluca

Datman · #**284** (**permalink**) April 20th, 2006, 07:58 AM

Hi, these are the photos and the schematics of my 1-transistor "powerless" preamp!
Ooops... also the stereo version has the 6K8 resistors!

http://i3.tinypic.com/vzigyb.jpg
http://i3.tinypic.com/vzihhy.jpg
http://i3.tinypic.com/vzihr8.jpg
http://i3.tinypic.com/vzikxk.jpg

rjlhughes · #**285** (**permalink**) April 21st, 2006, 09:22 PM

this is a wonderful thorough resource, and has been very helpful to me even before I joined the forum. I wonder about the best mics for recording spoken word material though.....any suggestions on where to look?

B

Datman · #**286** (**permalink**) April 27th, 2006, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjlhughes

I wonder about the best mics for recording spoken word material though.....any suggestions on where to look?
B

For what type of recording you need them: voice recording? Interviews?

. Shure Evolution MD835 (no proximity effect, good if distance is variable, as in interviews);

. Beyerdynamic TGX-58 or Shure SM58 (proximity effect; bass boost for short sound source distance);

. Shure SM94, electret with internal battery (or external 48V Phantom) for a flat frequency response and a minimal handling noise (a couple for stereo music recording);

. Sony ECM907 (stereo, with internal matrix combining the two Mid-Side -MS- capsules in a stereo sound): a fairly good frequency response and a bit of handling noise.

. Behringer C-1, B-1 or B-2 PRO: very good studio 1" condenser microphone (but all them need 48V phantom...)

Gianluca

rjlhughes · #**287** (**permalink**) April 29th, 2006, 05:53 AM

Gianluca,

both voice over and interviews - thanks for the suggestions - I'll research them further on the net. I have the C1 - which has a great sound agt such a low price. And have just recently settled on an audio technica that's not too bassy.

thanks again

Bob

abnullah · #**288** (**permalink**) April 30th, 2006, 05:37 AM

Thanks a lot for writing this. I was looking for information on "plug in power", and the type of microphones to buy - this has been very helpful.

Datman · #**289** (**permalink**) May 2nd, 2006, 04:15 AM

"plug in power"...?

48V Phantom power?

Datman · #**290** (**permalink**) May 2nd, 2006, 04:33 AM

>> I'm having troubles recording a rock concert.
>> The concert was really very loud, and I'm wondering what limit I've bumped into.

Was distorting mic himself? Wav isn't apparently clipped...

Could you record something a bit more quiet?

...

herm · #**291** (**permalink**) May 3rd, 2006, 06:16 AM

my iriver h320 skips like a cd when i playback mix's that i have recorded thru my amp with phono leads

Dr Gang · #**292** (**permalink**) May 4th, 2006, 04:07 PM

I'm using Sony's 719 microphone (can't tell the switch position) for recording my band's rehearsal and I get distortion when the drummer hits the cymbals too hard while the gain is at 5. For the recordings, the mike is usually on the pulpit in front of me in the middle of the room, 1.5m away from the drums, 1.5m above the ground and its axis perpendicular to the drums direction. That way, I get a bit more from the guitar and bass amps that are on each side of the room and also some of the direct sound of the voice.
Apart from that, I can tell this microphone is an improvement from the headphones set I used before (although it was decent). I still suck at mixing and editing, I just can't really dose properly the amount of compression, EQ and reverb to add to the mix yet.
If you have advices on that...
The main issue is the high frequencies that cut through too much, you get too much charleston and snare drums but little bassdrum (but you get bass guitar too).

udovdh · #**293** (**permalink**) May 7th, 2006, 10:31 AM

What is the max signal the H1x0 can handle via line in before clipping?
I.e.: What signal (xxx mV) gives 0dBFS?

pepsi_max2k · #**294** (**permalink**) May 10th, 2006, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pétur

Equipment:
- h340 with rockbox of course
- skytronic 173.623 modified to use a 9V battery
- the skytronic mic is T-shaped unlike the pics that show the skytronic

Hey Peter, how did you modify the skytronic 173.623 to take a 9v battery? I've got the same thing here (well, the same battery box under a different name) and have been looking for a cheap way to power my mic.

Ps. I'd PM the guy but I just signed up and it won't let me

Pétur · #**295** (**permalink**) May 11th, 2006, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepsi_max2k

Hey Peter, how did you modify the skytronic 173.623 to take a 9v battery? I've got the same thing here (well, the same battery box under a different name) and have been looking for a cheap way to power my mic.

A simple hack job, really: opened it up and connected a 9V connector by attaching the wires to plus and minus...

But as mentioned above: it didn't help, the recording was distorted. The mic probably can't handle it no matter what voltage you give it....

pepsi_max2k · #**296** (**permalink**) May 11th, 2006, 12:10 PM

same thing?

i guess my cheap soldering iron'll be getting some use afterall

i've got a different with it which i've used plugged into the mic socket of a minidisc and it worked fine, but the md broke so i settled on a gmini 400 to replace it. unfortunately their forums aren't that active

Pétur · #**297** (**permalink**) May 11th, 2006, 01:29 PM

Looks about the same yeah... don't know where I connected it exactly, I've got enough electronics background to figuere it out

drakehead · #**298** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 12:48 PM

Using IRIVER H320 (Yes, I know mp3!! not wav) with SP-BMC-2 microphones, & SP-SPSB-6 battery box into Line In. I've tried my gain all over the place (0-15ish) and I still get distortion or flat peak files.

I've been recording shows but almost all 5-7 shows I've done have distortion or flat peak files.

These are very loud rock shows in small clubs. I've only had one really good recording but it was in a larger venue with more open space.

The last show I recorded I set the Input Volume to 0 and I still had flattened peaks. Granted I was fairly close up front but in these venues, I kinda have to be.

Thoughts?

Pétur · #**299** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 12:53 PM

drakehead, I recommend you install rockbox for recording, the benifits are obvious:
- control over the whole input gain, not the limited settings iriver gives you
- live peakmeters and on-the-fly gain change
- unlimited wav recording (battery/disk are the limit)
- some other recording settings/tools...

Peter

drakehead · #**300** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 01:28 PM

Wow, I knew Rockbox had wav capabilities. I just had no idea they built the peakmeters in…fantastic. I imagine that would solve most of my problems (or at the very least allow me to correct the problems before it's too late).

I've been contemplating the switch but this might seal the deal.

What build? Point me in the right direction, please...

Pétur · #**301** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 01:48 PM

Rockbox can be found here: http://www.rockbox.org

Installation guideline is here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/vie...RockboxInstall

You will need to run a patch program on a flash file from iriver and flash the resulting file using the iriver firmware. Make sure you do this step exactly as written down because this is the only step that can break your player. Then again, every time you flash your player with official firmware holds the same risk.

And you also need rockbox: http://www.rockbox.org/daily.shtml

If you need more info, feel free to join the #rockbox IRC channel, there's a webclient for easy connection (http://www.rockbox.org/irc/cgiirc/irc.cgi)

**shadesbass** · #**302** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drakehead

Using IRIVER H320 (Yes, I know mp3!! not wav) with SP-BMC-2 microphones, & SP-SPSB-6 battery box into Line In. I've tried my gain all over the place (0-15ish) and I still get distortion or flat peak files.

I've been recording shows but almost all 5-7 shows I've done have distortion or flat peak files.

These are very loud rock shows in small clubs. I've only had one really good recording but it was in a larger venue with more open space.

The last show I recorded I set the Input Volume to 0 and I still had flattened peaks. Granted I was fairly close up front but in these venues, I kinda have to be.

Thoughts?

This could be the microphones physically clipping, hence changing the gain on the player will have no effect. It happened to me at a gig once when I was using a cheap electret condenser.
You could also try an in-line level attenuator.

Rockbox is definitely the way forward. I recorded a gig straight out the sound board just this evening! (There are perks to being the sound engineer you know

)

drakehead · #**303** (**permalink**) May 19th, 2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadesbass

This could be the microphones physically clipping, hence changing the gain on the player will have no effect. It happened to me at a gig once when I was using a cheap electret condenser.
You could also try an in-line level attenuator.

Is there anyway to tell for sure whether it's gain or microphone clipping?