Levels Never High Enough? (stealthy)

[tomluvsgiants]

First of all, thanks for all the great help at this wonderful site!!

I've been recording MD (mostly stealth at medium to large concerts) for about 6 months and have been getting better results thanks to this great forum. If I am armed with my gear, and able to get myself located where I'd LIKE to be....I seem to have pretty good luck.

My rig: Sony MZ-N707 (blue!)

Sound Professionals BUDGET MINI BINAURAL MICROPHONES

SP-SPSB-2 SOUND PROFESSIONALS SUPER MINI BATTERY MODULE (ADD ATEN CABLE OUTPUT )

I've been very happy with the results, since my earlier recordings were all rather 'blown out' sounding due to the lack of a battery source.....though now I find myself cranking the level meter up to the maximum level at most club gigs and concerts. Even then I find that the levels are much lower than I'd like and I think that I shall need to get myself a mic preamp....as my GUESS is that it would give a boost in power to the mics and enable me to record the quieter, acoustic, club performances with better (higher) levels. I've taken to a direct SBD patch in cases where I think the concert may be too quiet to record AUD.....which works great, but I'm going to be seeing similar concerts where SBD access is absolutely NOT an option and would like to be able to make a high-quality recording while remaining STEALTH.

looking for suggestions on these items-

1. my *next* mic purchase (something stealthy that can also be used for recording small club/bar gigs where I have full access, loud rock to solo acoustic) price range of under $250-$300 for the pair??

2. (these are obviously not in order of neccesity) New Soundcard for my compaq presario XP machine. not trying to break the bank, but i understand that replacing the original card that came with the computer will enhance my final (CDR always) product?

3. when patching into a SBD or AUD source (as I'll do when attening a taper-friendly show where other, more professional tapers are located) I picked up an optical cable since the diagram on the box at FRYs said MD-->DAT....but I don't leave the house with it any longer after getting laughed out of a couple taper sections. So I've been using a cable just like the one currently linking my MD to my compaq via the headphone jacks....in the above situations, LINE IN or MIC in???

Thanks SOOO much for any assistance or stories any of you'd be kind enough to share!

[A440]

Are you recording through Mic-In with your current setup? It should be the equivalent of what I usually use-- just a mic through the attenuator--plus the added headroom provided by the battery box. My MZ-N707 used to be nice and loud with that setup. Make sure the volume control on the attenuator (I'm pretty sure it's the same gizmo that Radio Shack sells) is all the way UP. If you're using Line-In, you're going to get those low levels.

I don't know if you can remove the attenuator or not from that battery box. If you can, you should try going mic--batt box--mic-in for an acoustic show.

You should be able to get some amazing mics with that budget--look around at Sound Professionals, www.reactivesounds.com and www.core-sound.com . Unfortunately, they're out of my own price range, so someone else is going to have to recommend particular models. Since you already have binaurals, you might want to try cardioids for more flexibility. Another place where this stuff is discussed to the point of madness is

http://taperssection.com/

Is your computer a desktop, with room to install a new soundcard, or do you need an external one? Some brands to look at are Turtle Beach, Creative Labs (though some audiophiles say they're too geared to games rather than music), M-Audio, Terratec, Lynxstudio and Philips.

I just Googled "audiophile soundcard" and found this page which suggests some possibilties, though I don't know how old these models are (and they're UK versions).

http://www.computeraudio.co.uk/caw/cawbgsndcards.html

"Audiophile sound card" (with a space) also turns up some interesting info

Line-In from the soundboard.

[andrewhall]

On soundcards - I recommend that you do not go with Creative. I have heard (from my partners son who is a musician / recording geek) that mAudio tends to be well priced and high quality.

Andrew

[dex Otaku]

M-Audio's consumer offerings are good quality-wise, but their drivers leave something to be desired. They also use similar if not identical hardware as that $20 Chaintech sound card that kurisu is always suggesting.

If anything, I'd suggest the Chaintech card, too. Search the fora for "chaintech" and you should find a post recommend a good inexpensive card [that also has an optical SP/DIF output].

I would also stay away from literally anything made by Creative Labs. While the features of their hardware are impressive, and the front-panel I/O bays are great, the audio capabilities of the cards themselves are what I'd put in the mediocre department. I've read reviews of that Chaintech card and it could outdo Audigy cards in terms of recording.

Mic suggestions: not sure about the price range, but try looking at http://www.quietamerican.org/ .. The gentleman who runs that site uses some pretty nice pseudobinaural mics that I can't remember the price of, but sound great. He has links to the company that makes them, as well.

When patching from a sound board, use line-in. Sound boards have line outputs. The tape outputs on some boards might need attenuation [or switching to the -10dB mode] before plugging into an MD, as well - I've never run into problems with this, myself. Using manual levels generally works fine for bringing the signal down enough to record if the board is cranking a super-hot +4 signal.