Sam24 Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 I went to record a concert yesterday using a battery box built using greenmachine's instructions, sound professional's BMC-2 mics, and my sony NH-700. I plugged the mic -> battery box -> mic in on the NH-700. I set the levels at 30/30 and put the mics on high sensitivity and pressed record. I went home, listened, and got absolutely nothing. Just a whole bunch of white noise. I did record a louder show before going from the battery box to the mic in and got misteriously low levels at 30/30 and high sensitivity. At home I went from the mics directly -> the mic in jack and everything worked just fine. So something is happenening betwen the mic the battery box and the mic in. My questions is: Is the battery box not working properly? If so how can I fix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boojum Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Had it been me, I would have plugged into line-in, set the mic sensitivity to low and the level at 20/30. If that battery box is working I am guessing it overloaded the MD recorder. Do you have meters or light bars which show if you are getting any sound??? Did you watch them?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 (edited) A properly working box should have no effect on the mic's sensitivity, neither in the positive (well, maybe just a little bit because of the higher voltage) nor the negative direction - it just supplies power. There's no need for a battery box when you get no significant distortion recording directly via mic-in. It's designed for recording without pre-amplification via line-in to avoid distortion when recording loud sounds. Maybe you just forgot to connect a battery or used an empty one? Edited March 17, 2007 by greenmachine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam24 Posted March 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 I understand that you dont need a battery box when recording via mic in and its not too loud. I was just testing to see if the battery box would work and as greenmachine said it shouldn't affect the mic at all. Thats the wierd thing though. It was almost like it was attenuating the signal making it weaker. I didnt check the levels because I was trying to be stealth but I recorded a different show and I got very low levels on high sensitivity at 30/30. That just doesnt seem right. I tried a different battery and results were the same, very low levels from the mic in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you're recording anything amplified, then something is wrong with your battery box. I have recorded speech, close up, using the BMC-2 and a battery module and it's perfectly intelligible. Music is even louder. Line-in expects a strong signal. That's the attenuation you're hearing. The battery box PLUS the strong signal from amplified sound, boosts the level to line level. Somewhere the signal is not getting through, and you have three possibilities: the mics themselves, the battery box or the line-in jack. If you've tried the mics by themseves into mic-in, and they work, you can rule them out. That leaves the battery box or the jack. Let's hope it's the battery box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam24 Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you're recording anything amplified, then something is wrong with your battery box. I have recorded speech, close up, using the BMC-2 and a battery module and it's perfectly intelligible. Music is even louder. Line-in expects a strong signal. That's the attenuation you're hearing. The battery box PLUS the strong signal from amplified sound, boosts the level to line level. Somewhere the signal is not getting through, and you have three possibilities: the mics themselves, the battery box or the line-in jack. If you've tried the mics by themseves into mic-in, and they work, you can rule them out. That leaves the battery box or the jack. Let's hope it's the battery box.I've recorded via the line in and mic in jacks. They work fine. That means its the battery box. Which puts me in a dillema: should I try building another one? or just buy it?decisions....decisions....decisions...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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