Posted by Rick Denney on February 28, 2003 at 15:27:28:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Just bought a mixer..could use some tips posted by Jeff B on February 28, 2003 at 13:07:45:
I'm still not sure I'm buying the notion that your MD recorder doesn't have record level controls. If it has automatic gain control, then spend the money and replace it. You'll hate what it does. It will level out your playing so that the pianissimos sound like fortissimos, with the only thing changing the background noise level. No amount of fancy equipment in front of or behind the MD recorder will solve this problem. Cut your losses now before you waste a bunch of time.
If it allows you to record manually, then I'm 99.9% sure that it will give you the ability to set the record level. If it really can't set the record level, then I bet it only has automatic gain control, in which case see above.
On my own MD recorder, I have to dig down into the menus a bit to set it up for manual levels and to set the levels. That I have to do this every time I record is one thing I don't like about it. But the feature is there.
If you are clipping with the mike 25 feet away and covered by a blanket, and your unit has only automatic gain control, then you have an impedence mismatch or some other similar problem. I can see how that might happen with that mixer, because it requires balanced, low-impedence inputs and your mike is supplying unbalanced, high-impedence signals. The adaptor you bought at Radio Shack not only adapts the stereo mini plug to XLR, but it should also say something about "impedance matching transformer". If it does, then you are doing the right thing.
But at that distance I think you can rule out overloading the microphone. And you should not be overloading an automatic gain control (even though it will turn your dynamics to naught, it won't clip in the process). And with the mike plugged directly into the MD recorder, you should not have a problem with impedance matching. Thus, the only remaining possibility is that you are in manual record level control and the setting is too high, which will overdrive the recording and cause all sorts of distortion and clipping. Please dig into that user manual, because I still bet there's something in there about manual record levels.
If you use a mixer, you should use the line-in jacks on the MD recorder, from the line-out jacks on the mixer. Set your levels on the mixer so that your loudest notes hovering right around 0 dB on the level meter. If you still get distortion with that setup, you have a bad microphone, or the stuff you bought to adapt the mike cables isn't matching the impedance like it should. The thing is, even if you use a mixer, you still have to set the levels on the recorder (or it does it for you with automatic gain control).
If the mike has a battery, make sure it is fresh. That will also cause distortion.
Rick "who cannot even conceive of a manual record level with no way to trim it" Denney