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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: Sean Gallemore on December 07, 2003, 06:41:42 AM
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friday night (12/05) I recorded a show and I ended up with a few problems. This is the source I was running SP AT831s > BatteryBox@69htz. roll-off > mp-2 > MD-MT770
1) my recordings are severely lacking bass. I did not have the 80htz OR 160htz bass roll-off switches enabled on the mp-2, just the one on the battery box.
2) towards the end of the last band there is very discernable static/fuzz on the master tape. And I can think of 3 possible causes.
The first: I noticed after the show, while I was outside and still recording, that the lights on the mp-2 were no longer working. Possible loss of power? I had only had it on for about 3 hours with 2 new batterries.
The second: also after the show, I saw that the switch was flipped to 15V phantom power! how the fuck did that happen? Would this have an effect like the one described above, even if I was using a battery box to power the mics? I tested to see if I fried the SP mics, which I didn't. I don't know when (during, before, after the show?) this switch was flipped.
The third: Could something have gone wrong in the battery box? I had just put in a fresh 9V and these are supposed to last a long time in this BB.
Anything else that could have caused these problems?
I know you guys will have a million more questions for me, so fire away. I appreciate the help.
peace
~schwilly
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hm, i have never ran an mp-2, but i dont think the 15v switch would have done anything, especially if your mics were powered by the batbox.... ???maybe a weird cable connection, thats the first thingthat pops in mind.. :)
in boston phish las tuesday, i was getting weird spiking levels that kept cutting out (this is why i ALWAYS bring headphones), but one of my mics were not hooked in good enuf, and alas, that was the problem, so luckily i caught it before the show started.....but most of my bad experiences have been thru bad/weird cable connections 8)
hope this helps schwilly.....set it up at home and try again, trial and error bro, sorry i dont have a better answer.... :P
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and was the venue lacking bass??? prolly not, but it never hurts to ask.... ;)
if you saw good bands w/ good soundguyz and good musicians, this wouldnt happen :P ;D
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can't offer anything on the low end problem, but the buzz/static is either a power or shorted cable issue, imo. can/did you recreate the scenario at home?
jr
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can you throw a little sample up somewhere?
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I had accidently turned my phantom power on in my V3 w/ an unbalanced feed.
I sat there and scratched my head for a long time as to what was causing this "noise". I finally noticed that I had phantom power on, and the moment I turned it off..... noise gone!
Schwilly,
I bet that noise might have been induced by having phantom power on w/ an unbalanced line feed. ( ? :hmmm: )
great dea mok3, thats prolly your only other option schwill........if it was random, id bet the pharm its a cable, if its steady, its the phantom issue.... 8)
edit, schwill, why do you even use the phantom box,id feel much more secure using the mp-2's phantommyself, especially stealthing, just one more thing to go wrong, ya know.......doesnt the mp-2 have fliters,or curves... ???
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The 9v in your battery box is not dead. I normally have to change my battery once a year (!), and that's with a regular diet of stealthing. I don't use the battery box in open taping situations.
Beyond that, the phantom power issue probably caused the noise. Try recreating the problem at home.
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thanx all, I'm gonna test it out, and I will put up some clips of the show if I can't figure it out.
I still can't figure out the fuggin bass, gah!
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John, the bass was ridiculously overbearing.
EDIT: By the end of Cradle of Filth, something was brickwalling from the double bass drums... either the SBM-1 line input or my 4061s!
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suggestion- if you dont change your battery for a year leave that battery out of the cage when you arent using it. but that goes for all gear- batteries shouldn't be left in if they arent in use.
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what mic pattern / config. are you running Schwilly?
It wasn't that... man, there is something wrong with the setup. When Schwilly stops playing Mario 3 with Kyle, he'll post an mp3... ;)
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AE is for pussies... this is Architecture typing!
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I've used this mic setup tons of times with great results. Mics on either side of the head, facing forward.
Jonny - of course ;) one time I was an idiot and I left the 9V in for 2 weeks. I didn't realize it until I was inside moe. I thought it would still be good, so I used it and it made it through until 30 minutes from the end of the show. What are the odds that it would be plugged in for 2 weeks straight and then die in the last hour while I was recording?!?!?
i'll post mp3's tomorrow
AE IS for pussies ::), let's hear what you'll get in your first AE class :-p
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The first: I noticed after the show, while I was outside and still recording, that the lights on the mp-2 were no longer working. Possible loss of power? I had only had it on for about 3 hours with 2 new batterries.
The second: also after the show, I saw that the switch was flipped to 15V phantom power! how the fuck did that happen? Would this have an effect like the one described above, even if I was using a battery box to power the mics? I tested to see if I fried the SP mics, which I didn't. I don't know when (during, before, after the show?) this switch was flipped.
I've got a feeling that it was the phantom power that probably did the trick. I know my mp-2 only lasts about 60-75 minutes on 2 AA batteries with 48v phantom power and levels at half meter. It sounds reasonable that at 15v it would last about 3. Also, the meter levels seem to draw a lot of power, maybe you might want to consider turning them off once you get your levels set. That'd probably buy you some time.
Dave
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alright here are some mp3s. the torrent is small, will take a few seconds to grab.
in the "good" mp3 you'll notice clear, defined instruments, not a ton of bass. This was from the beginning of the show. In the "bad" mp3, you'll here tons of bass and weird distortion. This distortion is not clipping of levels. It's either overload of the SPL on the mics or something else, althought I don't think it's an SPL issue because the mics were fine for whole beginning of the show.
Dave - I didn't have have the lights on during the show, I just turned the meter on to see if it still had juice and sadly it didn't :(
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Schwilly, try catpuring a screen shot of the waveform in SF. Post those too.
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aight
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a pic of the good sounding waveform
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a pic of the bad sounding clip, both are at 1:4 scale
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those are some seriously low levels.
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a pic of the bad sounding clip, both are at 1:4 scale
Ew.
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those are some seriously low levels.
it's an analog transfer, automatically gets degained by 12dB
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Gotcha. Feel free to get the 520 whenever.
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basically, I used recorded a show on friday night, and I got vary results throughout the show. The opening band had no bass. The beginning of the headlining band had a little more bass (probably because there was more bass at the show) and the at the end of the headlining band there is tons of bass but mad distortion.
here's a link to the torrent of mp3s (http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/attachments/cofcomp.torrent) very small clips
here's a link to the thread that discusses this problem (http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=10412;start=0)
sorry for cross-posting but this is driving me nuts. any thoughts and help are appreciated.
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here is an mp3 of the opening band, moonspell. There was loads more bass at the show, I have no clue where it went.
All my bass are belong somewhere else :'(
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link to the moonspell recording, (http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/attachments/moonspell.mp3) this is the "no bass" problem I'm talking about. Again, to clarify, I didn't use any of the settings on the mp-2, just the "69htz" setting on the battery box which shouldn't be rolling this much bass!
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I'm dumbfounded by the lack of bass problem.
My Sound Pro AT831s (Schwilly used Spargey's 831s, not mine this time) always worked fine for Schwilly with my AD-20. So did Spargey's at some local bands and King Crimson. Bass galore. Sound Pro battery box bass roll-off set at "69" and "95" Hz worked just right. 10k ohms impedance on the AD-20 input.
The MP-2 worked fine with my DPA 4061s and MPS-6010 at Primus. I chose to use the JK Labs homebrew roll-off on my DPA MPS-6010 instead of the MP-2's - I was more familiar with the DPA box and decided not to mess. Worked perfectly... so I seriously doubt that the lack of bass (most evident in the first band, Moonspell) is due to some malfucktion in the MP-2.
There is a SEVERE lack of bass throughout the first band's set, and the entire show, for that matter. It sounds like ass because of that, and they rocked, so this needs to be figured out for next time.
Maybe this lack of bass is due to the combination of the SP-CMC-whatevers (AT831s) > SP-regular battery box, who knows those #s anyway > MP-2. Hell if I know.
Armen
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armen, thanx for more clearly stating my situation. I'm pretty sure the distortion is a power issue of some sort, I guess I will just have to switch batteries after ever set.
But the bass, where or where did my bass go. I thought the mp-2 was supposed to be warm, whatever that means. This sounds more like a Sound pals box :D
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The batts were new, especially for the opener!
I had no trouble using brand new alkalines at Primus, and I had it running for yea around 3 hours.
D'oh!
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next show I'll won't be using the battery box roll-off and see how the mp-2 roll-off fairs.
I also need to get some new rechargables.
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bump... this is bad!
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bump, please help ;(