Topic: Sony PCM-M10 (Part 2)

[swordfish]

No, unity gain would apply only to line in not mic in. If you are using an external preamp like the CA-9100 or littlebox and have the M10 at less than 5-6 (or whatever unity really is) then you are attenuating the signal coming from your preamp.

What he said 
Set you recorder at unity and control your levels with the preamp.
You'll have the best of both worlds.
Take care.

I just picked up Sony a M 10...unfortnunately I can't find the unity gain info in the thread...on my Edirol its 40.  But i read different numbers for the the M10 in the thread/board  it varies from 2.5 up to 4-5- or 6.

Takling about using a preamp CA 9100/Tiny box ---> line in ....hoping the show/source is loud enough to control the level with the preamp and leaving the rec at unity gain.

Any help is highly appreciated.

swordfish

[Cheesecadet]

I think it's 5...I read that on a few different boards.  2.5 sounds way low to me and this was the first mention that I have heard of that number.  I keep mine at 5 and control with preamp and recordings sound great.

[willndmb]

when i get a chance i am going to make a white nosie file and use my svu1 to see what i get for unity because i have seen from 2.5 to 6
most seems to say 4 that i read

[Gordon]

I asked Cheesecadet this but just wanted others opinions.  I'm borrowing a 4061 > 9100 > m10 for a low pro show this weekend.  it will have to be a "set it and forget" thing.  actually set it before hand and hope for the best

so I know it varies by type of music etc but how would others do this?  it is sort of singer songwriter, not really rocking or loud but not very quite either.  loudest part will be vocals I'm sure.  if it were open I would go 30-35 on the v3.  so thinking a full 20 on the pre and then what on the m10?  5 or so?  but that would only get me 20dbs correct?  again I'm gonna have to have it set up and rolling before the show with no chance to bump the levels if needed.

I know I can bump them in post but want to as little as possible.  I'm not a low pro guy but have done a few and one with a sax > r9 the levels were very low and when I bumped them in wavelab (it was 24 bit) there was very noticeable noise.  so much so I had to run it through a de noiser plugin.

[Napo]

Gordon,

wihich denoiser plug-in did you use?

[Gordon]

the standard denoiser plugin in wavelab.

[ts]

Anyone using battery powered mics directly into the M10? Mic-in is the way to go I guess.

[fmaderjr]

Anyone using battery powered mics directly into the M10? Mic-in is the way to go I guess.

illconditioned loves the mic in. Says even some plug in power mics work great with it including AT 853's and CA-11's.

As to unity gain, guysonic tested it some time ago and says that it is 6.

[ts]

Anyone using battery powered mics directly into the M10? Mic-in is the way to go I guess.

illconditioned loves the mic in. Says even some plug in power mics work great with it including AT 853's and CA-11's.

As to unity gain, guysonic tested it some time ago and says that it is 6.

Sorry, I meant mics that have batteries in the mic body. Think stock Nakamichi. No external batt box. Not sure unity gain applies here? Thanks.

[fmaderjr]

Mic in is good. Should work great with battery powered mics.

Unity gain was in response to a previous question in this thread.

[kingtut38]

Is it just me or does the M10 sound a little sterile?  I've been using a h4n for awhile now and I got the m10 a few days ago.  I've got some of Chris's binaural mics and some ultra low noise binaural mics from pipmics.com.  The h4n sounds a lot warmer and seems to have more space.  Maybe I'm hearing the accuracy of the m10 vs the inaccuracy of the h4n.  Just curious if anyone else noticed.  Nothing a little eq won't fix.

[guysonic]

Is it just me or does the M10 sound a little sterile?  I've been using a h4n for awhile now and I got the m10 a few days ago.  I've got some of Chris's binaural mics and some ultra low noise binaural mics from pipmics.com.  The h4n sounds a lot warmer and seems to have more space.  Maybe I'm hearing the accuracy of the m10 vs the inaccuracy of the h4n.  Just curious if anyone else noticed.  Nothing a little eq won't fix.

This is a common perception when one is used to the high coloration of one recorder/microphones verses the accuracy of a more honest accurate devices. 

Had the same impression of the coloration of the Edirol R-09HR mic input verses the same deck/mic using an accurate preamplifier going Line in bypassing the deck's less accurate mic preamp. 

This was part of the tests done in TS thread: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=109703.0;all

[kingtut38]

I thought that could be the case.  It will take some time though.  My pseudo-binaural recordings now sound a little lifeless to me where before they didn't.  I've set en eq preset that helps a bit.  The only reason I really sold the h4n was the noise factor.  The m10 is so much quieter especially using these little electret mics (if you can find one with low enough noise)

[ts]

Mic in is good. Should work great with battery powered mics.

Unity gain was in response to a previous question in this thread.

Great. I didn't think unity gain applied here. Since my 700's have batterys in the mic itself, I should probably turn off plug-in power on mic-in.

I don't have the mic cables yet so I haven't done any in home testing, but I'm thinking these mics may even work well with line-in.

*update* got the mic cables. did some testing with the M10. getting really low levels. going mic in plug in power off. i switched mic sens to high and that helped. still very low levels. gain is up to 10 and just reaching -12db with home stereo cranked.  again, the setup is nak700's>M10. the 700's are running on the 6V internal batterys.

[listener2]

ts, I just got my Sony PCM-M10 today and tested it out and it is one fine small portable unit.  I am wondering if your low recording level readings is because perhaps you have your M10 recording gain level set to "Automatic" instead of "Manual"?  There is a little switch underneath the unit on the side by the record level knob.  Set it to "Manual" and you should have tons of gain for your mic input.

I made a couple of test recordings with my low sensitivity Countryman B3 mics using the M10's internal mic powering.  Damm fine accurate recording quality sound I must say.
What do I have to compare it to and say such a rave?  I have its big brother the Sony PCM-D50 as well as a Sound Devices 702 recorder.  I also have an Edirol R-09.
The Sony recorder units are the best of them all.  Sound Devices 702, way over-rated for the money I spent on it.  The Sony D50 and M10 make just as good or better sounding recordings and have much better user interface controls.

For those on the fence on whether or not to get the Sony PCM-M10, I can tell you go for it!  Especially the price of it is so low!  I got mine for about $235 after Bing Instant cashback award from eBay! Unbeatable quality for the price. Nice!