Cymbal distortion on live recordings

[doublelife]

I'm hoping somebody out there can help me out here real quick! Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

I've taped the same band 6 or 7 times, and the last 3 or 4 times got noticable and annoying cymbal distoriton. My equipment is MZ-R90, Sound porfessionals basic binaurals and sound pro mini battery box. The first recording i didn't use bass roll-off and got no cymbal distortion, just way too much bass that was difficult to EQ. The second recording I rolled off at 69kHz and also got no cymbal distortion, but again too much bass and not enough mid-range frequency. The 3rd/4th/5th times I recorded this band I rolled off at 109kHz. This time the bass was really good, very prominent but not overbearing, but now I'm getting the cymbal distortion. I use manual levels always, conservatively set, with average levels about half way or slightly below on the MZ-R90. My last effort the bar was one notch below mid-way all the time. Its nothing to do with transfer or compression of the files as the cymbal whoosh noise also occurs when playing the master discs on the MD player.

I have 2 questions:

1. What can I do to avoid my recordings having this cymbal distortion in future - I'm taping the same band on Friday this week! Is it something to do with bass roll-off (don't understand why it would be) or is it just a coincidence, or something else? My recording levels are already fairly low, or do they need to be even lower to avoid this problem.

2. Are there any functions in digital audio editing software such as Goldwave or Audacity that can at least reduce the extent of the high-end cymbal problem on my existing master recordings, maybe a compressor or filter of some sort?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

[greenmachine]

If you are taping real loud stuff, I would suspect that the mics have reached their limitations and you would need different mics with a handle higher SPLs handling. The problem might be less noticeable with a prominent bass. As far as I know, recorded distortion is irreversible. If new mics are not within your budget, try not to surface mount them during recording, i.e. far from reflective surfaces like your body, walls, etc.