Recording A Loud Band Inside A Small Cabin

[blueloon]

Hi, I'm expecting the MZ M200 in the mail soon. I've read I should forget about using the included stereo mic. I saw this thread and like A440's suggestion of "Mic-->battery module-->LINE-in Rec Volume set to Manual (this requires going through menus on the unit) at about 20/30."

the difference in my case is that I'm not trying to smuggle anything into a gig, and I wonder if there are better mics than the BMC-2 that I could use with the battery module. we've got 2 guitars, bass, drums, and keyboard. and everyone minus the drummer has a loud amp.

[Strungup]

Use a small mixer and seperate Mics for each instrument , the run from the mixer to the RH1 line in put , your will get a MUCH better capture , and good levels , plus individual placement ( Panning left and right) in the stereo field ,

From an Audio guy

[bobt]

line in is my preferred method of capture as well, but sometimes mic does the job.

Bob

[A440]

How does the band sound in the room? Is there one place where it's actually balanced? Guitarfxr's method will let you tweak the balance.

But if by some miracle there is a place in the room that just sounds magically good, you could get away with a stereo omni microphone via battery box and line-in. The thing to do would be to consult a real musicians' store, like http://www.samash.com/, http://www.guitarcenter.com, http://www.zzounds.com or http://www.sweetwater.com or even www.soundprofessionals.com, who make a powered omni mic--basically mics mounted in the battery box.

Call those stores up and talk to someone knowledgeable. They can also sell you the mixer and multiple-mics setup.

And in the meantime, try the Sony mic. It's not awful--though a LOUD band might overload it--but you can get more fidelity.

Edited April 18, 2008 by A440

[raintheory]

I've had surprising luck with fairly loud bands using the little attenuator in A440's signature.. Use this between the mic and the mic-in and set the attenuator basically the whole way up in volume.

Best bet is to record a sound check and see what happens.

Edited April 18, 2008 by raintheory

[A440]

The attenuator, for anyone new to this, is a Radio Shack Headphone Volume Control, about $8. Mic-->RSHVC (at max volume)-->Mic-in. It does work.

But I get better results with Mic-->battery box-->Line-in. It gives more power to the mic, which gives it more dynamic range, so the mic doesn't overload, and there's no mic preamp to overload either. I have managed to overload the line-in setup recently with the subwoofer at a techno show, but it wasn't easy.