Sony MD unity gain

[dimm0k]

Hello everyone. I have an upcoming show that I'd like to record and in the meantime I've been researching settings and tips to better prepare myself for the show. One thing I've come across is setting the MD player's record volume at "unity gain" and let my preamp do the work when using line-in. Searches here and there keep turning up 18/30 for HiMD players, but I currently have a non-HiMD player and was wondering what the unity gain for that is. The player is the Sony MZ-R700 to be exact and the preamp I have is the Church-Audio ST9100.

EDIT: is setting the MD player's recording volume to unity gain the advice to use when setting the volume at the venue is not possible?

Edited November 11, 2007 by dimm0k

[A440]

I'm pretty sure unity gain for MD recorders was also 17-18/30.

But for your own success, don't go by numbers. Experiment. What you get is going to depend on what the preamp is putting out. At a LOUD concert I usually record at 18-20/30 through line-in. But it's not with a preamp--it's with a battery module, which is simply sending power to the mics. That would be like zero boost from the preamp.

In my very brief experiments with preamps, having them do any amplification at all at a loud concert results in horrible distortion. Maybe other people use them with less sensitive mics or something, but after a few disastrous attempts I just gave up on them. As far as I'm concerned, preamps are for sounds on the quieter end of the spectrum that need cleaner amplification than what the MD can provide. Actually, the MD's own preamp is pretty good.

How your recordings work out is going to depend on how loud the concert is, on the sensitivity of your mics--a crucial question--and what kind of output settings you have on the preamp. The best way to get an idea is to do some home recording with your stereo, and then--if it's a typical rock concert--guesstimate that it's going to be even louder. Maybe your mic-and-preamp combo will work out better than mine did.

[dimm0k]

The mic and preamp combo I have is from Church-Audio where the mic supposedly are less sensitive and the preamp has the option of attenuating and amping depending on where the knob is. Your advice on not going by the numbers is an important one, however because the MD player is incapable of adjusting the volume WHILE recording it looks like I'll have to rely on the preamp to do the job. Still trying to figure out how sensitive the mic is and so far with the preamp turned on all the way my voice into the mic has been pretty low.

[A440]

You can adjust Manual Volume while on Pause. Not ideal, but at least you can do it.

How does the mic record your voice just plugged into mic-in?

I ask because mic-->preamp-->line-in with the preamp on full should not be giving you a weak signal, and it sounds like something in the chain is not working. New batteries in the preamp? Gain switch in the right spot? 30dB gain should make the microphone roar.

[dimm0k]

Thank you A440 for your responses and moreso for the last one because had it not have been for that I may have realized too late that the cable I'm using to connect the preamp to the MD player is "defective". Well I'm not entirely sure if it's defective, but it definitely is impeding on the sound. After reading your message I tried the mic directly to the mic-in followed by the line-in and in both instances they provided a louder sound than my original setup. I then plugged the mic back into the preamp along with a set of earphones into the OUT of the preamp to verify that the preamp was working. It did in fact so everything is working except for that darn 1/8" cable used to connect the MD player and the preamp.