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Line in is better than Mic in ?

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monradon

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If I understand this right the line in records cleaner than the mic in ??? And if I use a battery box this is enough power for the line in for recording on my sharp mdmt 15??? Thought I knew the route I was going to take but now not sure :scratchhead:

I noticed on the Sharp that I had , the Mic input was extremely noisy when compared to my 7 sony MD's and 1 very old Kenwood

I was using an AT 822 , and a Sony ECM 959a for checking , The AT 822 is my Fav tho just a beautifull mic

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For pre-polarized condenser mics (the most common type) use battery box + line-in for recording loud sounds which require no pre-amplification. Mic-in (no batt box required) is for recording quieter sounds which need to be pre-amplified to be loud enough. If your mic has very low sensitivity, you may use mic-in for everything.

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The mic preamp in the MD unit is pretty good by itself. A preamp is only useful for quiet sounds--quieter than speech. Decent preamps are as big as your MD recorder and cost $100 and up: look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com , http://www.microphonemadness.com and "Church-Audio" on eBay.

What microphone are you using and what are you recording? That's what will determine whether you need a preamp or battery box.

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I was testing some of my basic mics just to see what they sounded like . I have enough adapters to make it stereo for testing. I found out with the headphones on I could listen to what is being recorded and in the process found lots of noise even before I hit record . Just holding the mic in my hand the smallest movement really had lots of noise. Heck it was noisy just laying there so thats why I got thinking of using the line in somehow for recording. I do not do stealth recording just jams and and stuff outside or indoors picking up some of the old songs so I can learn how they are supposed to be played. I really enjoy recording some of the older players that are doing some of the old mountain , blue grass or what we call old timey. I want to pick up a stereo mic for this sharp I have, mine are the ones I used with a mixer and power amps, not high end but decent for doing live sound etc at small concerts etc. Thanks to too many back operations I have sold the heavy stuff and do not do live sound anymore just now for my own enjoyment and going to some of the smaller out of the way music festivals where you run into some of the older players.

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I was testing some of my basic mics just to see what they sounded like . I have enough adapters to make it stereo for testing. I found out with the headphones on I could listen to what is being recorded and in the process found lots of noise even before I hit record . Just holding the mic in my hand the smallest movement really had lots of noise. Heck it was noisy just laying there so thats why I got thinking of using the line in somehow for recording. I do not do stealth recording just jams and and stuff outside or indoors picking up some of the old songs so I can learn how they are supposed to be played. I really enjoy recording some of the older players that are doing some of the old mountain , blue grass or what we call old timey. I want to pick up a stereo mic for this sharp I have, mine are the ones I used with a mixer and power amps, not high end but decent for doing live sound etc at small concerts etc. Thanks to too many back operations I have sold the heavy stuff and do not do live sound anymore just now for my own enjoyment and going to some of the smaller out of the way music festivals where you run into some of the older players.

As I stated before the Sharps mic inputs are VERY noisy , find a used Sony MZ-R50 , you will not be dissappointed with either the price or performance , No it wont Upload to the computer but the Audio youll get is outstanding with even cheap mics , I use some Nice mics as well as cheap mics , there is a Big difference in quality of sound , but the noise floor of the Sony Pre's makes it quite forgiving.

Of course you can find a plethora of other Sony's as well , but Sharp ..... The mic pre's are just plain noisy , it wasnt your mics, at least not as much as you think

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To answer the email I got, I have recorded with the sharp off a mixer through the line in for a couple of years and some of the best recordings and easy to edit I have ever seen. But was really unhappy when I tried to use the mic input in fact have not done it live still been trying to find a noise free way to do it but looks like there is not a way but line in is great .

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If the mics don't get overloaded because u record very loud things, use mic-in.

Impedance of line-in and mic-in is different, which will make a recording made with a microphone via line in sound cold and ugly. Although a lot of people here seem convinced that a battery box connected to a line-in will do, it doesn't sound nice. Even with the attery box connected, you should connect to the mic-in, that's what it's for...

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If the mics don't get overloaded because u record very loud things, use mic-in.

Impedance of line-in and mic-in is different, which will make a recording made with a microphone via line in sound cold and ugly. Although a lot of people here seem convinced that a battery box connected to a line-in will do, it doesn't sound nice. Even with the attery box connected, you should connect to the mic-in, that's what it's for...

Now that's interesting: mic-in is a warmer sound compared to line-in being "cold and ugly." Has anyone else noticed this?? I may have to test this out. Feedback welcome on this.

Cheers B)

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Now that's interesting: mic-in is a warmer sound compared to line-in being "cold and ugly." Has anyone else noticed this?? I may have to test this out. Feedback welcome on this.

Cheers B)

Actually Booj , what he said is somewhat true , what happens is the Dynamics of the Mic get limited , and arent as lively or sensitive , so a lot of the delicate aspects of the sound will be diminished quite substantially . There is a ( for lack of a better word at the moment ) Bouncyness to a good mic thru the Mic input carefully controlled.

Even if you can obtain the same level thru the line input , the dynamics will be different , because of the Impedance load values.

Edited by Guitarfxr
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All things being equal, to me the biggest difference between line in, and mic recordings, is you get more of a sense of "live" with a mic recording, with line in you generally don't get a lot of crowd noise, unless you have a good mixer and mics that don't cut off the crowd.

To me both have there advantages, if I can get permission I like line in because it leaves me free to enjoy the event without worrying about talking etc, but if I really want the being there fell, mic is the way to go.

JMHO

Bob

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I don't understand this. All the mic sellers say the battery box adds dynamic range to the mics by providing more power than the plug-in voltage at the mic-in jack. I have recorded jazz through line-in/battery box and there is a lot of nuance there.

In many cases, you just have to use Line-in--there is no choice because the mic preamp overloads. I once recorded a Norah Jones concert--not exactly heavy metal--while carefully watching the levels, and every time her quiet, tasteful, subdued drummer used the bass drum there was distortion.

BobT, are you talking about line-in from the band's mixer vs. mic-in from a mic? You're comparing different inputs--no wonder you get different results.

Also, there's a perceptual thing going on. One person's "noise" is another person's "warmth." This remains a big part of the analog-vs.-digital battle among audiophiles. The human ear tries to make sense of the noise and hears depth. So a little preamp noise might indeed make the mic recording seem warmer.

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