Topic: DPA4061s -> DPA MMA6000 -> MT24/96 - PROBLEMATIC Gain levels & Slight clipping

[pfife]

I don't record loud music, and you're lumping me in with the PA tapers.

if its too loud, you're too old.   

[udovdh]

Of course I was referencing to dactylus' situation. He doesn't need 70-ish dB's of gain.
He gets signal in the input range of the recorder with 0 dB of gain.

[pfife]

Of course I was referencing to dactylus' situation. He doesn't need 70-ish dB's of gain.
He gets signal in the input range of the recorder with 0 dB of gain.

ah, sorry for the mistake - I personally thought you were talking "in general".

[dactylus]

Of course I was referencing to dactylus' situation. He doesn't need 70-ish dB's of gain.
He gets signal in the input range of the recorder with 0 dB of gain.

All is well with dactylus now my friends, thanks to your advice!!  I've taped a couple of shows since acquiring the "right" cables and needed less than 15 db of gain in both situations out of the mma6k (with mt2496 settings at lowest gain level)

thanks again!!

 

[udovdh]

Of course I was referencing to dactylus' situation. He doesn't need 70-ish dB's of gain.
He gets signal in the input range of the recorder with 0 dB of gain.

All is well with dactylus now my friends, thanks to your advice!!  I've taped a couple of shows since acquiring the "right" cables and needed less than 15 db of gain in both situations out of the mma6k (with mt2496 settings at lowest gain level)

In what kind of setting was this?
'Rock' concert in arena? Small concert hall? Open air?

[dactylus]

Of course I was referencing to dactylus' situation. He doesn't need 70-ish dB's of gain.
He gets signal in the input range of the recorder with 0 dB of gain.

All is well with dactylus now my friends, thanks to your advice!!  I've taped a couple of shows since acquiring the "right" cables and needed less than 15 db of gain in both situations out of the mma6k (with mt2496 settings at lowest gain level)

In what kind of setting was this?
'Rock' concert in arena? Small concert hall? Open air?

One show was open air "taste of minnesota" - 15 feet in front of sbd - about 100' from the stage - STEALTHING - the sound folks did NOT do a very good job here - very muddy sound coming out of the pa - one thing that I noticed about this show was that besides the muddy sound there were periods where the sound sorta sounded like it was being directed 180 degrees, backwards, away from the crowd - what might account for this?  Very odd to my "newbie ears" and of course not conducive to a good recording - I swear it sounded like they "rotated the stacks 180 degrees for several minutes" and then the sound seemed to rotate another 180 degrees and be directed back towards the crowd, the way it should have been - this happened numerous times during the show -   I'm sure that this is a common occurrence, it is just something that I never thought about before at other live shows other than the passing annoyance of "screwy sound".  Any ideas on the cause of this?  A little breeze during the show, but nothing significant and not really breezy during these "180 degree "flip" episodes...

But the show was free (and I got to hear alice cooper perform "Eighteen" 30+ years after hearing it on my transistor radio   ) and this was my first test run since acquiring the right cables and going "line in" to the mt2496 - i think that I used about 7.5 db gain and that was a little too conservative, I was just paranoid about another session of clipping and it was definitely a stealthing situation - I think that I should have probably used 10-15 db gain here

2nd show - small bar - NOT stealth - 25 feet from the stage at the Turf Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota - a "Vibro Champs" show - gain at lowest setting from the mt2496 - 15 db gain from mma6000 - perfect levels - but the sound was pretty crappy in that club - once again, another test run and a learning experience - The Vibro Champs used to be a staple of the bar scene in The Twin Cities before one of the guitarists moved to Austin, TX to pursue new avenues as an artist - Lots of rockabilly from the Vibro Champs and if you're into rockabilly they have a couple of really good albums for sale -

I recorded this show 24/48 and sweated the "2 gb split" which occurred about 8 seconds after a song break - I would have started another file sooner but they never took a set break and played for about 2.5 hours straight...

Two good learning experiences for me!!  I'm still pissed that I hosed the emmylou/knopfler show and the elvis costello show with clipping problems - SF 8.0 is on the way and I'm gonna play around with both shows that had clipping and see if I can do anything with them.

once again many thanks to all of you!