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Gear / Technical Help => Cables => Topic started by: stimuland on June 29, 2008, 04:06:53 PM
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I'm fairly new to taping and am about to record from a SBD for the very first time... I am wondering, what cables or other equipment should I bring with me? I will be using my handy Zoom H2 to record the show. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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hmmm...
cables: XLR's are usually enough, but sometimes the only option is a pair of 1/4" TRS mono outs. i've never had to deal with the problem of converting from TRS > XLR (since my deck has both types of inputs), but you may want to prepare for that if you can. i've also dealt with soundguys that are only willing to give a 1/4" headphone jack out, as well as a stereo RCA (red+white) out. chances are, the XLRs will be all you need - but it all depends on how accommodating the sound guy is, as well as what type of the board he's using
other than the cables, you don't need any other hardware. just make sure you don't send phantom power to the board, and set your levels low - sometimes the board can come in REALLY hot...it's much easier to boost the volume in post than it is to remove clipping/brickwalling.
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Balanced Female XLR Stereo cable > mini
I bring a nice long extension cable so I can be out of the sound engineer's hair once I have my patch.
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Some boards have XLR, some have 1/4", some have RCA. Your H2 is unbalanced 1/8" only. The one thing to watch out for on the H2, is that it has a line input which is overly sensitive to high signal levels. You will probably want to have your levels set at 100, and ask the sound engineer to please send a relatively low level signal to you. On a typical mix on a board like an Allen and Heath which has RCA outputs, you will probably need to have the tape send knob set no higher than 4 out of 10 for the H2. If you run 24-bit, you can run your levels nice and low so they don't clip peaks.
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I got my first local board patch Tuesday night at the Fiddleworms' CD release party. I knew the guy running the board so it was very easy. He gave me a 1/4" phone jack out and I used an adapter for my 1/8" male to male to hook up the R-09's line in. It was mono but every instrument and the vocals were super clear.
I'll be uploading this show in a few days. Donna Jean Godchaux Mackay provided background vocals on about five or six songs. She's married to the band's bassist, David MacKay. Worms' guitarist Rob Malone is a DBT alumnus. Kelvin Holly from Little Richard's touring band and the Amazing Rhythm Aces sat in on a song as did some local guys.
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section members David Hood and Jimmy Johnson were there. Jason Isbell and Mac MacAnally were there but unfortunately didn't play.
I'll include some photos with the torrent if TTD will let me.
I'll admit, I felt like I wasn't really taping since I didn't have to watch my stuff. I just adjusted the levels at the beginning of the show and checked the unit every now and then.
rWc3523