Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: markbalogh on December 02, 2016, 11:50:34 AM

Title: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: markbalogh on December 02, 2016, 11:50:34 AM
Does anyone have any concert recording experience with the Roland CS-10EM in-ear binaural mics? In particular I can't seem to find any reference to their max SPL handling. B & H sells them for under $100 and after having a somewhat decent experience w/ the in-ear Microphone Madness model I am curious about the Roland's.

Thanks,
Mark
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: obsidian on December 07, 2016, 07:54:29 PM
Mark, I am very curious about these as well ... very curious.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on January 05, 2017, 08:35:30 AM
Not suitable for loud concerts. I've tried, and failed.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: markbalogh on January 12, 2017, 06:05:44 PM
Thanks for the response. It was the answer I needed!

Not suitable for loud concerts. I've tried, and failed.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: Belexes on May 17, 2017, 11:20:30 AM
Were these used with a battery box/powered properly? I think they would distort if only using the mic power from the deck. I was thinking on trying them with my CA-9100.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on May 24, 2017, 05:43:03 PM
I've tried with a battery box, and failed.

These mics simply cannot handle loud shows, but are very capable for quieter ambiences and music.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: DATBoy on December 13, 2017, 12:47:40 PM
I've tried with a battery box, and failed.

These mics simply cannot handle loud shows, but are very capable for quieter ambiences and music.

I ran across this topic and I felt the urge to reply even though no one has posted in it for a long while.

For starters, I disagree with the statement above. They CAN handle loud shows.

I do own the Roland CS-10EM mics. In fact, I have been using them since 2011. They are my go to mics. My experience is they can work without a battery box, but that can sometimes lead to brickwalling issues at various times - and it's hard to say when that will happen. Since 2013 or so, I've been using them with a battery box, at least three different ones. Here is my take on what battery box works more appropriately with it:

SP-SPSB-1 by Sound Professionals - requires a 9v battery and I can sort of recommend this one. The battery life is good for recording and I never noticed any distortion with it. I think all of my recordings with it have sounded very good. However, this battery box is a bit bulky to carry around. Had some issues with it that required me to get it fixed.

SP-SPSB-4 by Sound Professionals - requires a 12v battery and I don't recommend this one for these reasons: the battery life for recording is a bit short than the 9v ones and I've experienced some distortion with some recordings (not all, some). Some sound great, others not as much as I wished.

MM-CBM-Mini by Microphone Madness  - requires 3x 3v batteries that total 9vs of power. I totally recommend this one. It is much smaller than the SP-SPSB-1 (a bit comparable in size to the SP-SPSB-4), battery life seems to be very good, and I have not had a problem with it so far where I needed to get it fixed or replaced.

So there you have it, at least three different battery boxes I've used on these things that gave comparable and different results.

I'm not going to stop there.

Not meaning to do shameless promotion of my work, but if you want to hear some recordings done with some of these battery boxes, some are posted around the internet on various videos sites like youtube/VIMEO. Here are the videos where I've used these Roland CS-10em mics. I'll even tell you the sample rates I used, as they varied at various times when I recorded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDycCi4tAQ - recorded on a SP-SPSB-1 in 16 bit, 44.1 khz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9GduxyAUCA - recorded on a SP-SPSB-4 in 16 bit, 48 khz

https://vimeo.com/224576507 - recorded on a MM-CBM-Mini in 24 bit, 48 khz
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: gormenghast on December 14, 2017, 12:51:26 PM
The Vimeo recording sounds pretty good to me.  I'm interested to know more about that band.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: DATBoy on December 14, 2017, 01:11:43 PM
The Vimeo recording sounds pretty good to me.  I'm interested to know more about that band.

Hi there,

They are a band called Bone Acre (http://www.boneacre.com/). It is fronted by Caroline Heerwagen. My friend who got me into it (Shawn Bann) was the guitar player in the band, but he unfortunately committed suicide back in October roughly six days after the last show they did at the Resident in LA. They haven't played a show since his suicide, however, they have slowly been coming back together and rehearsing again with a new guitarist. Not sure what the future holds for them from here on, but I hope it all pans out and who knows, maybe they will do more shows or a tour later on. Feel free to contact them and thank you for your interest in them :-)
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on January 27, 2018, 06:44:31 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDycCi4tAQ - recorded on a SP-SPSB-1 in 16 bit, 44.1 khz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9GduxyAUCA - recorded on a SP-SPSB-4 in 16 bit, 48 khz

https://vimeo.com/224576507 - recorded on a MM-CBM-Mini in 24 bit, 48 khz

I can't argue with actual evidence as presented. The CS-10EMs were the first mics I had to use to try and record concerts, into a Sony M10. It failed. I then bought a 9V battery box. It still failed. I then bought some Church Audio mics and never looked back.

The CS-10EMs are still my go to mics for binaural ambiences.

Perhaps I gave in too early? I'll give it another try.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on January 30, 2018, 03:36:08 PM
I might owe an apology here. I've just tried the CS-10EMs with a 9v battery box into my Sony M10 recording my Hi-Fi and managed to crank it up much higher than I thought before brickwalling. Not as high as my Church Audio mics as one would expect, but still much higher than I thought. I've got a gig in a couple of nights, I might try them there.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on February 02, 2018, 08:11:08 AM
So I tried these again last night > 9v battery box > Sony M10 with the gain quite low. The mics brickwalled occasionally. So I guess the answer to the original question depends on how loud the shows are that you plan on recording.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: obsidian on February 02, 2018, 10:05:02 AM
Thanks for the updates!  I think what is happening is "clipping" or "overload" as its succeeding the mics SPL. Brickwalling is a different phenomenon altogether ...

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=82243.0
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: adrianb on February 03, 2018, 05:59:09 AM
Thanks for the updates!  I think what is happening is "clipping" or "overload" as its succeeding the mics SPL. Brickwalling is a different phenomenon altogether ...

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=82243.0

Yes, you are correct. Thanks.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: DATBoy on April 20, 2018, 04:01:44 PM
So I tried these again last night > 9v battery box > Sony M10 with the gain quite low. The mics brickwalled occasionally. So I guess the answer to the original question depends on how loud the shows are that you plan on recording.

I would also argue that sometimes it's just the way the battery box is built. As an example that I mentioned previously, I did record on the SP-SPSB-4 and it brickwalled a bit for some shows. Oddly enough, it gave out more power than the 9v ones since this is 12v. I don't understand why.

Other 9 volt battery boxes I tried haven't been a big issue. I would say that for at least two I have tried and mentioned previously, so I don't know what battery box you have that you are using. It probably shouldn't matter, but again, it could be argued that the SP-SPSB-4 shouldn't have brickwalled like it did to me despite powering the mics with more power.

If you want my recommendation (if you don't have ones of these), get a MM-CBM-Mini by Microphone Madness and see how well it works with that. That might be more suitable for these mics.
Title: Re: Roland CS-10EM Binaural Microphones/Earphones
Post by: webvan on June 01, 2018, 04:07:28 AM
Was looking into these mics to record concerts but did find a few clips on YT where they got overwhelmed when it gets loud. The three examples posted above are nice but to my ears the Vimeo clip overloads a bit too, in spite of the battery box ?