BillyBoy

Feedback after the concerts... First of all... thanks for all your help and advice... All 3 concert recordings were a great success... I used the EMC-719 mic with my HiMD.. Volume set at 20/30.. with NO attenuator.. the concerts were very bass.. but the recording is almost perfect.. No distortion.. and no overwhelming bass.. in fact I have added a bit of bass using Audition... The result is very near excellent My friend recorded some of the concerts usinh her MD.. and a very cheap mic.. She used the attenuator with the volume at 95%.. there was no distortion.. but the recording was very bass.. I had to lift it quite a lot in Audition.. The result is very acceptable .. Thakns again for your help..

Thanks Volta for all your help.. I'm having trouble fixing the mic under the collar.. nothing to clip it to.. However I will experiment and persevere.. thanks again..

HeHeHe... LOL... you might be right.. I would look funny.. I will be attending the concerts with friends.. I think if I wore a baseball cap I would lose all my street cred. HeHeHe.. but then it might be worth it.. I have a smallish mic Sony ECM-719.. I think I'll stick with this one.. but I am concerned about getting spotted and being thrown out on my arse.. I'm not sure I get your suggestion about clipping it to my collar ... would the mic fit under the collar?.. if so, would the same fabric rubbing still be a problem??..

Thanks for this Volta.. I can see you have put a lot of thought into this... Problem is... I am in the UK.. and the only people who wear baseball caps here are teenagers and dick heads... I am well past the teenage stage.. and hope I'll never reach the dick head stage.. but thanks all the same.... How does this grab you?? .. I was thinking about fitting a band around the upper part of my chest.. either elastic.. or a bandage.. and clipping the mic to it.. I could then cover it when required with my shirt.. but for recording.. undo the top buttons and expose it... just a thought... I'm still thinking.. but I don't have much time.. my first concert is tomorrow night...

Thanks Volta, The rubbing of the fabric against the mic never occurred to me.. but it does now... I will try to disguise it somehow at collar level.. Thanks again

At a concert, is it OK to position the mic at chest level.. concealed under a thin shirt ?.. or does the mic really need to be in the open.. totally uncovered? thanks

Thank you so much for all the help.. There are 5 concerts over the next week that we will record.. My friend will record 2 of them in Birmingham, I will record 2 in London.. and we will both record a MAJOR concert at Woburn Abbey.. on Sat June 4th.. we expect about 80,000 people there.. and we have 4th row centre stage seats.. This one is veeeeery important to us..

I will try to do this during the concerts that I attend .. Tue... Wed.. and Sat June 4th... However I'm not sure if I can get my friend to do this ...tomorrow and Sunday.. but I will try...

No support act for any of the concerts that we are going to record.... At a concert in Manchester last week my friend set her NetMd to 50%.. attenuator to maximum... mic on low sens... vol control on manual... Her mic does not have battery support.. She sent me the resulting minidisc.. I recorded it into Audition.. and the volume was so low .. it appeared almost as a straight lint... I had to pump it up soooo much just to hear it .. this was totally unacceptable... This is why I have asked her to use the attenuator but turn the vol setting to maximum for Saturday's concert.. If this still doesn't produce a decent volume.. I will ger her to try the Sunday concert without the attenuator.. and set the vol to 50%.. and see what we get...

Nooooo... Greenmachine is correct... she set the volume control on her NetMd to 50% .. the attenuator was set to 100% (Maximum) she also stuck some tape over the wheel on the attenuator to prevent it being altered accidentally... I will report back on the ECM 719 without the attenuator after next Tue/Wed.. I will try to get a look at the level meter during the concert if poss... and if I can see it in the dark.. but I've got to start somewhere.. so I'm gonna go with 20/30 to begin with..

Thanks everybody.. You have given me a lot of food for thought.. My friend has 2 concerts coming up this Sat - Sun in Birmingham.. I have suggested that for the first night she uses the attenuator and sets the volume to maximum.. (last time she set it to 50% and got very little sound) I have 2 concerts coming up next Tue - Wed in London.. I am not going to use the attenuator for the first one I will set my volume at 20/30 and see what happens.. a case uf suck-it-and-see I guess.. Thanks for all the advice..

My friend tells me that she recorded the concert with the mic on top of her bag.. which was ond the floor in front of her.. there was nothing covering the mic... Not the best position.. I know.. but she is very nervous about getting caught.. and being thrown out on her arse..

I took a dB reading in Audition as you suggested.. Directly from the mic set at 20/30 the peak amplitude was -7.04dB With the attenuator and the mic battery ON.. it was -19.02

The voice/music switch on the mic.. Voice = is for picking up voice in meetings or lectures the setting is directional for focusing on a single sound source music = picks up broader sound such as sound in concerts, a wide range of sound is picked up.. 1/4 of the volume I got when recording directly with the mic... I don't know how to measure it in dB.. but when I imported the 2 files into Audition.. the one recorded with the mic only.. was about 1 inch wide.. and the one recorded with the attenuator with the mic battery on.. was about 1/4 inch wide.. that's about the best I can do to explain it.. I will test it with line in tomorrow if you think it's worth it ... should I use the attenuator with this?..

Thanks for this.. The mic instructions simply say to switch to voice at meetings etc. and to music for things like concerts.. . what's the point of having a battery in the mic if they suggest you don't use it.. I've done a bit more experimenting in front of my hi-fi... 1) recorded directly from mic with battery off.... result.. not bad volume 2) recorded directly from mic with battery on.... result.. same as above 3) recorded from mic with attenuator . mic battery on.... result.. 1/4 of the above volume 4) recorded from mic with attenuator mic battery off.... result.. almost zero.. the volume on the hi-fi was the same throughout... interesting ain't it?.. the attenuator really does drastically restrict the sound getting to the MD I bought 3 of these attenuatots.. and thge result is the same on all of them...

Thank you so much, you have been most helpful.. I will talk to my friend about putting the mic in a more suitable position... before her next concert ... I must say that I dont have too much faith in the attenuator.. but I will do some more experimenting at home in front of my hi-fi.. at loud volume Thanks again..

Thanks, It would seem that the best thing for us both to try .... is to stop using the attenuator .. it does seem to drastically reduce the volue input to the MD.. I appreciate that a bit of trial-and-error is probably on the cards.. I think I will try these settings: mic on low sens manual volume control 20/30 for my Hi-MD ... and about 50% on my friend's NetMD Should I use my mic with its battery turned on... or leave it off and draw the power from the MD? Thanks

Thank you for your reply.. Here are the details of my friend's mic DAT / MiniDisc / MD Walkman / Laptop / Camcorder (must have a Mic Input not Linein) High Quality Ultra-Miniature Omni Directional Electret Microphone Freq Response: 20hz - 20Khz 3.5mm Swiss Made Neutrik Gold Plated Stereo Jack Plug 24mm long Anodized Black Body Brand New & Sealed Very sensitive, discreet, and no wires. Ideal for Journalists Reporters Musicians/Rappers recording meetings live music concerts etc. MIC Spec: Direction: Omnidirectional Electret: Foil Sensitivity: -41+/- 3db (RL=1.0K ohm,V=4.5 VDC) (1KHz 0db=1v/Pa) Impedance: Max 2.2K ohms Frequency Range: 20Hz-20KHz S/N ratio: Min 60dB Max sound pressure level: 115dB Operating Voltage: 1.5V to 10V Sensitivity reduction: less than 3dB variation from 2 to 1.5V Current Consumption: Max 0.5ma I also have a similar volume problem with my Hi-MD using the Maplin attenuator, my mic is .. Sony ECM-719 Thanks..

Thanks, I will give your ideas a few trial runs in front of my hi-fi before the concerts... My friend with the NetMd doesn't have a battery in her mic.. she draws the power from the MD..

It would seem so... Do you think I should dump it.. or change the settings on the MD??..

I will ask her, but I don't think so.. she has recorded stuff through the mic before.. but it was usually distorted bu loud volume.. She used to use auto volume control.. mic on high sens and no attenuator.. She used the low sens, manual volume control and the attenuator at my suggestion.. but it's still no good.. I have some concerts that I want to record near the end of the month.. I have a Hi-MD My mic has it's own battery.. I tried recording in front of my hi-fi at loud volume.. with low sens, manual volume set at 20/30.. and the attenuator set at max.. with the mic battery off the volume was VERY low.. with the mic battery on.. the volume was just about high enough to be acceptable..

Thanks for your suggestions.. She assures me that she used the mic-in The attenuator was set to maximum It's a mystery.. ain't it?..

A friend went to a Neil Diamond concert in Manchester UK the other night.. with a NetMd.. I advised her to set the MD at (mic = Low sens)... RecSet at (Manual.. about 50%) She used the UK version of the attenuator connected and set at full volume.. She placed the MD and Mic on the floor in front of her.. The result was that the volume was so low it was almost useless.. Although I was able to pump up the volume in Audition.. I had to pump it up so much that the quality was poor and it introduced unwanted artifacts.. She is going to some more concerts over the next week.. could someone please offer some advice on how to do better.. Should she get rid of the attenuator.. alter the mic sens settings... set the manual rec level higher?... Any advice would be very much appreciated..

Thanks A440, With all the good advice I've received on this subject, I feel much more confident about live recording. I think I'm just about ready to go for it.. Diamond always does all the old favourites, including the 2 songs you mention.. Thanks again for all the help with this.. it is very much appreciated..