Distorted Recording...

[erker]

Hi!

Need your help!

After recording a little concert a few days ago i had to find out that

most parts of the recording were distorted. It was a nice little concert

- so it hurts. And it hurts a little more, because while recording i did'nt

notice when and why it happens!

Would be nice, if someone could confirm the cause, that i'm supposing...

First of all: it was not my first recording, but maybe the first recording

under specific circumstances (mics, location, recording position, music...)

Used Equipment:

MZ-RH1 - Using Mic-Input (MicSense set to High)

SP-TFB2 (mics from Sound Professionals 'In-Ear holders, that slip right into the ear

structure'. I have the version with high sensitivity, that means 'Maximum Input

Sound Level: 98 dB SPL, 1 kHz at 1% T.H.D. (113dB with battery module)')

Battery module (Sound Professionals)

Recording Level manually about 6-7 (from 20)

Recording location: a small concert hall (school festivity hall)

Recording position: 3rd row (from front)

Music/musicians: chamber orchestra (strings plus piano), accordeon,

bandoneon, mouthharp (in different combinations)

At the beginning for a few seconds the record level was set too high and therefore

distortion also high. But from this time on the level was 'under control' and

mostly only one/two points higher than -12dB. The only effect, that i noticed while

recording was, that the 'level meter' for right and left channel did not respond

'separately', but seem to be 'blocked'.

Now then, after listening to the converted material i had to find out, that louder

music passages were definitley distorted! Even Solo-passages (accordeon + bandoneon,

none amplified) were affected. In addition to the somehow 'blocked level meters' the

waveform of the distorted parts were also peakless 'blocks'.

Now, to cut a long story short, after meditating for hours and hours about the

cause, i'm supposing, that it was not the recorder (mic-amp, battery etc) or the

battery module (battery ok!), but the 'rest': the mic's! With the conclusion, that

i bought the wrong mic-version (high sensitivity), because under specific

circumstances 113db SPL cannot be enough.

Can anyone confirm that or ... ?

[raintheory]

Have a read here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15573

I don't know too much about the subject, but I do know that you definiitely want to use low mic sensitivity for almost everything, except perhaps quiet/ambient sounds.

Good luck, and I hope the link helps.

Welcome to the forums, btw.

[Strungup]

first off , Mic sens High , at 113 spl , is bad , the Hi sens on the RH1 is good enough to pick up mouse farts ok. depending on the mic in question.

I have Taiko drums ( The BIG Ones) on this forum somewhere , all I had was the RH1 , and AT822 (Sens Low). practically NO distortion , but good clean audio, (After audacity of course)

But for Baroque instruments , I have a nice sample of that to, same setup Mic sens High level about half 30 feet away from the stage , no amplification.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?act=A...st&id=2315( Taiko)

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?act=A...ost&id=2313 ( Baroque)

If it aint Baroque ...dont fix it !

[A440]

Could you have mistakenly plugged the battery module into Mic-in rather than Line-in? The battery module has to go through Line-in for just about any music.

[raintheory]

Could you have mistakenly plugged the battery module into Mic-in rather than Line-in? The battery module has to go through Line-in for just about any music.

good call!