fix recording done with low battery?

[lunatic]

Hello all,

I have a Sony MZ-RH10 and last night had a gig I wanted to record. Unfortunately I broke the #1 rule of live recording and totally spaced putting in a fresh battery both into the mic battery box or the AA battery attachment on the unit. Subsequently, you can hear the performance but only with the volume CRANKED and there is a lot of hiss from the unit.

So I am wondering if any of you live recording geniuses have any tips or tricks for cleaning up this recording and salvaging something listenable out of it or am I just S.O.L. hosed? And damned if I didn't have some awesome solos on there too.

Thanks for any advice,

Melissa

[A440]

Upload to the PC and you can use Audacity (from Downloads) and Amplify or Normalize to crank the volume. Both will also amplify the hiss. But you can then use a high-frequency filter to cut the hiss. It won't be as good as starting with a better recording, but it's worth a try.

Edited January 14, 2006 by A440

[mrsoul]

Upload to the PC and you can use Audacity (from Downloads) and Amplify or Normalize to crank the volume. Both will also amplify the hiss. But you can then use a high-frequency filter to cut the hiss. It won't be as good as starting with a better recording, but it's worth a try.

The hiss is probably NOT from the low battery but more from the amplification you are employing to hear it at such low levels. Like A440 stated, normalize the tracks first and you will need far less artificial amplification to hear what you recorded. In fact, low battery on the MD won't affect what is recorded, just how long you can record. The battery box really only needs a little juice to power mics. So, more than likely, you should be able to fix your problem with a good normalization. Good luck

[greenmachine]

Chances are that you've simply set the levels too low during recording. As mrsoul stated, a battery box battery should last very long and doesn't need to be replaced too often. The recorder's battery doesn't affect the levels at all.

It's very difficult if not impossible to improve a mediocre recording without doing more damage than good. Try to do it right right from the beginning next time.

[lunatic]

I haven't used the unit in awhile and I have found with my mics that the 9-volt usually goes after a month or so. What I really need to get into the habit of doing is pulling it when I'm not using it. I had the recording set to manual, mic in (should I have used line in? when I tried it I wasn't getting any response from the mics), and the levels cranked to 26 or so. That's why I thought it might be the batteries. When my batteries have been low in the past (with my old Sharp MT877 unit) it seems no matter how high I cranked the levels they were still showing only small response to sound.

Anyway, I DO have Audacity but have only ever used it to split tracks and do simple fade ins/outs. Thanks for the tips - I will try that out and let you know how it worked.

And yes, definitely I will try to give myself more time before the next gig to get everything set up just right!

Thanks again everyone,

Melissa

[raintheory]

Line-In would probably be the best bet when using the battery box to power the mics. Provided that what you are recording is loud enough. If your 9v was dying that may have been why there was no response from the mics when it was plugged into the line-in initially. Perhaps the 9v dying might have been causing some problems when you went to mic-in as well...

Good luck cleaning it up some with Audacity. If you get decent results you should post some in the live recording gallery here.

Edited January 15, 2006 by raintheory