Need your Microphone expertise folks

[spodek]

So, my set-up needs to be as un-noticable as possible. This is why I had hoped for a simple mic that just juts out a bit from the MD body(I have a new RH-10)

I've been reading a bit about the use of a battery with a microphone. Are there any good mikes in the $75 or so range that will give me nice quality WITHOUT using one? Or very compelling reasons I should look into it. I must admit I don't even know where one plugs the battery in relation to the Mic and player.

Also, in such a "close" environment, I can't use headphones to establish correct levels, are there very general setting guidelines that will give me a little margin for error so I can take a quick peak and forget it.

All very naive questions I know, but my head just swims when I just to piece together all the various posts.

Thanks for the direct download from your brains!

[Top Cat]

Hi

Just wanted to share how I made my first live recording yesterday with the mics made by myself..

First of, the recording came out simply amazing even before post-processing (NR'ing & EQ'ing)

Take a "hear": Wedding Song #3

Keep in mind, the whole mic setup cost me less than $2 (including 2 capsules of $.25 each)

The pecularity about cheap mic capsules is that they usually have very low sensitivity while at the same time exposing a decent frequency responce, so hopefully you won't need a battery module for loud settings.

Concerning levels.. Headphones are unreliable for that anyway. You gotta find the best levels by trial & error. (And afterwards it's fairly easy to select the levels blindly)

It is even easier to choose the right level when you regard the fact that an average mic's useful dynamic range is some 20dB narrower than that of the MD system - you really just need to make sure you don't clip. Don't worry if you later find out your recording's peak is -10dBFS, better be on the safe side 'cause clip restoration is a painful task

[spodek]

Hi

Just wanted to share how I made my first live recording yesterday with the mics made by myself..

First of, the recording came out simply amazing even before post-processing (NR'ing & EQ'ing)

Take a "hear": Wedding Song #3

Keep in mind, the whole mic setup cost me less than $2 (including 2 capsules of $.25 each)

The pecularity about cheap mic capsules is that they usually have very low sensitivity while at the same time exposing a decent frequency responce, so hopefully you won't need a battery module for loud settings.

Concerning levels.. Headphones are unreliable for that anyway. You gotta find the best levels by trial & error. (And afterwards it's fairly easy to select the levels blindly)

It is even easier to choose the right level when you regard the fact that an average mic's useful dynamic range is some 20dB narrower than that of the MD system - you really just need to make sure you don't clip. Don't worry if you later find out your recording's peak is -10dBFS, better be on the safe side 'cause clip restoration is a painful task

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Nice recording you made especially with inexpensive mics. When do think a battery module is needed? Is there an advantage to using one for Every recording?

[greenmachine]

A battery module is mainly needed for high Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) when the microphones' output overloads the preamp. A battery module powers the mics when there's no bias voltage ('plug in power') provided from the recorder. The line-in in combination with a battery module lets you record high SPLs with no significant distortion. If you use low sensitive microphones you won't overload the preamp too often and thus don't necessarily need a battery module. At high SPLs the higher voltage of a battery module (~9V vs. ~2-4V) can be of advantage though as it lets you use the mics' full dynamic range. In normal use (mics to mic-in) there's propably no real advantage using a battery module, although the higher voltage is said to slightly improve the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).

[gregbed]

Check out Sound Professionals (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category/110/mics). Keep an eye on their closeouts, they have some pretty good deals from time to time. I picked up the SP-BMC-2 or 3 (can't remember which) to record a conference. There was an impromptu jazz session by 4 of the particpants afterwards. I was really impressed by the quality of the recording I captured. I did this on a netMD (707). I just got an RH10 and have only done a small amount of recording but my guitar teacher was impressed by the quality.

Don't forget you do have two settings for mic sensitivity on the RH10. If you are going to record concerts you will probably want a lower sensitivity mic.