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My Dumbest Recording Mistake

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A440

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Everyone who goofs up a recording feels like a fool. This thread is to show you're not alone.

I'll start with mine:

Amazingly enough, I got the MD unit into a Bob Dylan concert, where his own security is very anti-recording and knows what to look for. During intermission, went to the restroom and plugged in the battery module and remote, started recording, set manual levels, put on pause, hid unit in pocket and remote also hidden in pocket. Got back to seat, clipped mics to collar in darkness, started recording with remote, not looking at levels so as not to get busted. Never plugged the mic jack into the battery module. A super stealth recording of total silence. And it was a good night, too....

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Or you can get the same result by plugging in the line-in with a mic not designed for it.

Bob Dylan was actually my first try at tapping, and I did set the levels far too high, ending up with a completely saturated/distorted recording. Never expect your first recording to be succesfull.

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i always tap both mics and look at the levels move before recording. nothing really bad has happened to me yet other than once while moshing my mic got unplugged but i felt the battery module hitting my thigh and fixed it a couple seconds later and once it happened and i didn't notice until the middle of the last song so i only got about 20% of the show.

Edited by bayoubilly
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  • 3 weeks later...

Egads...more recording mistakes than I care to remember!! Once I had a show where I brought what I thought was a blank and I taped over a perfect, perfect, perfect recording!! I was and still am so bummed on that one. Oh god WHY didn't I check that the disc was empty first! I blame that stupid Sony thing where it records from the beginning unless you seek the end first (on older machines). Then I've had mics coming unattached, and recordings just dissappearing (probably battery issues) and then there's the lovely audience noise :-). Next I've had recordings ruined by my own enthusiasm...I'm not the best at staying quiet when I love the act. Some others, are ones where I recorded from beneath my feet (being a scaredy cat). Another one was ruined by having the wrong levels of course! Another one that was particularly important ruined by using new equipment and not having the balls to bring my bass reduction equipment into (stealth of course). What else? Jumping up and down and dancing and losing a couple of seconds to the skipping! I'm a fan first and a recordist second. Can't we just set up a recorder for hire thing? I'd pay ticket price to have a recorder come in and watch a show from the best spot and not talk or dance, and get a great recording! :-)

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Can't we just set up a recorder for hire thing? I'd pay ticket price to have a recorder come in and watch a show from the best spot and not talk or dance, and get a great recording! :-)

haha... this is exactly the way I'm going to concerts nowadays... except I AM the recordist for hire :lol:
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  • 2 weeks later...

LOL i've recorded an entire show of silence too... got past the metal detectors, the show was great setlist, no distractions from the crowd noise, it definately woulda been a good recording. but no, my mics came unplugged before i ever made it to my seat :(

oh, and nobody else recorded the show... so yeah.. it still sucks LOL

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I 've recorded 60 minutes of total silence, though I have no idea what went wrong. The mic was plugged in at the right place, I checked it twice (I know what nerves can lead to, and I know I still get nevous when seeing my favorite band for the 35th time :blush:)

When they came on stage I pushed the micplug again, to make sure it was still connected. What I didn't check (I was standing first row, security right in front of me) was if the levels were moving. The gig was amazing, I had a hard time not to sing along...

Dissapointment was enormous when I got home and plugged in the headphones :(

Checked the equipment later on, and it seemed to work fine...

I was lucky in a way, they played another set in my country the next day, blinding set again and those recordings were perfect, but still totally different from what they did the day before ...

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I've recorded my first show with a higly sensitive mic, plugged into the mic-in jack, mic sensitivity set to high. It was a really loud and bassy show. Got approx. 5% music and 95% distortion, the music was hardly audible. Then i've read about attenuators here at mdcf and the recording improved to approx. 70% music and 30% distortion. Having built my first battery box (also read about it here first) was the best thing to do for quite some time, the distortion was virtually gone and i could finally enjoy the music. Too bad my first recording was a pretty important one for me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello all...

I screwed up with the most basic of all caveats!!! During the recording of a concert, I noticed the battery power level drop one unit (from full)...didn't think much of it until the end of the show when there was only one unit of power left (I gasped, realizing my defeat). I knew that if I hit stop, there would be no more power to "DATA SAVE" so yeah I lost that recording simply because I didn't start with a fresh battery. Although, something occurred to me afterwards, I was wondering if I still might have been able to save that recording if I placed a gumstick battery into the MD unit as a back-up source of power - does anyone think that would have worked? Might be a great back-up idea for next time if you're ever in a situation where you can't pick up fresh batteries.

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It works only if the battery is in a good condition. I would't rely on it. For tips how to keep your rechargeables in good shape, go here:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

Rechargeables are usually the better choice for recording (better high current handling), but they need to be maintained to perform best.

Anyway, back to topic. For further questions, please use the search and/or open a new thread.

Edited by greenmachine
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As a newbie, I've only made one mistake so far, but it seems to qualify. Recording a 90-minute set at a jazz festival, the low battery warning began flashing after 25 minutes. So I figured I'd put new batteries in, and a blank MD to cover the remaining 65 minutes. I pushed stop, ejected the batteries, and inserted new batteries and MD. The new recording is OK, but the first disc comes up as blank - I now realise I must have ejected the batteries too quickly.

So I have a question - is there any possibility that the first part of the concert is still somehow stored on disc 1, and is there any chance it may be retrieved? Or is it, sob, sob, gone for ever?

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So I have a question - is there any possibility that the first part of the concert is still somehow stored on disc 1, and is there any chance it may be retrieved? Or is it, sob, sob, gone for ever?

If it's standard MD, send me a PM... I can do TOC cloning with my current equipment and may be able to get the recording back for you.. :)

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