NH900 w/ Sony ECM-10..

[The Low Volta]

hello all, first a little introduction and then some relevant questions I hope, so give me a chance...

I bought my setup to record lectures and interviews so I've only got a Sony ECM-10 mono omnidirectional mic (50-15,000Hz and 110dBspl) with my NH900.

As I am a frequent visitor of one of the best Belgian clubs (Abcienne Belgique in Brussels), and I really love concert memorabilia (i.e. recordings of concerts I personally visited, other live recordings just don't sound as good ) I ried recording two shows I recently saw... Of course I realised that my mic probably wasn't intended for this work, but then again it was only a test/tryout also because I wasn't really sure how easy stealthrecording and sneeking the material past security (pretty strict around here) would be.

Of course, I really messed uo the first time (manual 10/30, mic in, but High sensitivity) and the resulting recording was all, well let's say awfull! (too bad, it was a 'the mars volta' (loud prog rock) concert

second time a 'Mastodon' (metal), I did switch to low sensitivity (mic in) and even turned the vol down to 05/30(!). the resulting recording was very quiet but a lot better than the first one, but still distorted at times (the bass and the vocals overloaded something mic? pre-amp? I know very little of this stuff!)

now my question is: what caused the disortion? the mic and what parameter? (Hz or dB range?) and/or the pre-amp (try line in in stead of mic in?) and most importantly, will my problems disappear if I go for the sound professionals SP-BMC-2 mics (20-20,000Hz and 105/120dB) and SP-SPSB-6 mini battery box? Is the bass-rolloff usefull? (and how does it work? seems to be quite complicated, not minispecs?)

hope somebody has some tips,

P.S. does anybody know of european selling points for these products (or very similar ones) or does anybody have good/bad experiences with the overseas shipping service of soundprofessionals/minidisco

Edited March 15, 2005 by The Low Volta

[A440]

[This should really be its own thread, maybe a moderator can move it.]

Your pre-amp is overloading because it's hypersensitive to bass. It's the curse of the MD.

I don't know if you have Radio Shack in Belgium, but if you do, try the attentuator solution suggested above and settings: the Radio Shack Headphone Volume Control (pictured with my signature), with volume all the way up, which cuts the signal going into the MD. Mic-->RS-->mic-in. Then: Low Sensitivity, Manual Volume, somewhere between 15-20/30.

You could also run Mic--Battery Box--Line-in for a loud show, but that will be a quieter recording.

The battery box prevents the mics themselves from overloading with ultra-loud music, but doesn't address the bass problem with the preamp.

Bass roll-off also lessens overload, but at a price: no bass.

To hear bass roll-off, listen to the sound samples here, with a similar mic--battery box--plus bass rolloff. (It doesn't say whether they're line-in or mic-in.)

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs...redbattery1.htm

To me, they're way too tinny.

The RS solution is cheaper and it works better. You can hear how it sounds by going to Yahoo Mail and the box livefrommd with the password 1minidisc1 .

Sound Professionals are great at mail-order within the US, and I can't see why international shipping would be any different except for the time lag. With the exchange rate on the Euro you probably can get extreme bargains.

[Featfan80]

I had a similar problem with drum distortion with Mic-in, low sensitivity. Sound Professionals recommended an inexpensive battery box that was around $45. I now use Line-in with the battery box and can turn the recording level up to about 22-24, even up to 27 if the volume is not real loud, without any distortion.