RH10, In Ears, Batt Pack or attenuator?

[minispecs]

Okay, very last minute, just got my new in ear mics in the post today, the other in ear mics gave out wires pulled? Here:

RH10 recorder

In Ear Binaurals Sound Pros

I have an RS Attenuator

I have a Battery Pack with level select and bass rolloff

I have HiMD discs

So, I'm going to a rock concert in a largish hall, will be kinda loud. I'll be up front in the venue (this is for Thursday the 2nd of May!) GA, right against the stage (yeah, not the best, I don't care)!

There will be bass at times, sometimes heavy sometimes not

Should I do Line in with the Batt box, or do you think the attenuator will take care of the excess bass? I hate, hate, hate the extra battery box for security purposes (it's rather large) and I have no experience with this recorder and line in (I can turn the time marks off). This is the only show I will see this tour. What's the least risk filled with the best reward? Any experiences positive or negative? I want simple but I also don't want to get home to find even a little of that awful distortion. Batt box, right? Attenuator Mic In, is so tempting due to size...I hate this experimentation and decision making. Help in either direction? If I lower the levels enough, will the attenuator take care of the clipping? I've re-read stuff and now I'm getting confused once again! Last I recorded was Symphony and after that it was a quieter rock show. I used the attenuator with good results, but the batt box reviews are also tempting, but I haven't used that since I stopped using the R37.

minispecs!

[A440]

Use the battery box into Line-in unless you have to be super stealthy.

The battery box gives the mic more dynamic range and lets it handle more sound pressure. It also lets you bypass the mic preamp at mic-in, which is usually what overloads first.

Whereas the attenuator actually limits dynamic range and lowers the amount of sound pressure the mic can handle, because not only is it lowering the signal from the mic to the mic preamp--to keep that from overloading--but it's also lowering the amount of plug-in power that gets to the mic. If the mic overloads, you still get a bad recording. So at a loud concert, you want the additional sound pressure handling that the battery box can provide.

Unless the bass is really rattling the fillings in your teeth, try to record without bass rolloff. You can always roll it off during playback, and without it you'll have a more accurate recording.

Edited May 3, 2007 by A440

[greenmachine]

... said the person with an attenuator in his avatar j/k

I wonder how long it will take until we finally don't need these workarounds anymore. Basically a recorder with one input jack for everything, a wide variable gain range and switchable plug in power.

[minispecs]

Thank you guys so much for your replies. I was so freaked out that I used the Attenuator and mic in. I put my levels really low and just left it, afraid to change it. It's not bad at all, but it is fairly quiet when my volume is maxed on my player...I suppose I can fix that with software...No distortion as of yet to be heard!

Thanks for helping us fairweather tapers out! I wish I had more technical understanding so I could make better decisions. I also wish I weren't so chicken. They wouldn't have noticed my Battery Box if I had taken it in. I'll try to remember this next year when I'm ready to record again so I don't bug y'all...that, or I'll try to get organized at least a couple weeks ahead of time. I just didn't know if my mics would make it in time and then the dominoes started falling when they did arrive. Now my computer at home has crashed from some kind of BIOS attack or other. At least these are personal momentos for me and not something I'd really want to try and be serious about sharing except for those with very patient ears.

I hope someone else was taping!! :-)

minispecs

[A440]

... said the person with an attenuator in his avatar j/k

That's not an attenuator. That's a self-portrait. Just a coincidence that it happens to look like an attenuator.

[boojum]

Thank you guys so much for your replies. I was so freaked out that I used the Attenuator and mic in. I put my levels really low and just left it, afraid to change it. It's not bad at all, but it is fairly quiet when my volume is maxed on my player...I suppose I can fix that with software...No distortion as of yet to be heard!

Thanks for helping us fairweather tapers out! I wish I had more technical understanding so I could make better decisions. I also wish I weren't so chicken. They wouldn't have noticed my Battery Box if I had taken it in. I'll try to remember this next year when I'm ready to record again so I don't bug y'all...that, or I'll try to get organized at least a couple weeks ahead of time. I just didn't know if my mics would make it in time and then the dominoes started falling when they did arrive. Now my computer at home has crashed from some kind of BIOS attack or other. At least these are personal momentos for me and not something I'd really want to try and be serious about sharing except for those with very patient ears.

I hope someone else was taping!! :-)

minispecs

Software fixes that I know of from personal use:

1) Normalizing. Not great.

2) Compressing (not an audio codec like LAME) and this can be good when judiciously used. Audacity has it built in and at it preset values it is OK. Try it, listen to the new file and if you like, save it. Otherwise back it out (an edit function).

3) ReplayGain. This raises the sound to where the maximum is loud but not loud enough to clip, usually 89dB. I use the one in foobar2000 as it has the smallest increments. It can be taken out later if you wish, also. It cannot be applied to WAV files but works on FLAC and MP3 and a few others.

Keep us in the loop and keep asking questions.

[Strungup]

That's not an attenuator. That's a self-portrait. Just a coincidence that it happens to look like an attenuator.

440 , I been tellin you you need to eat something , your wire gets any thinner it mught break ya know