Topic: Sony PCM M10 with Preamp level balance

[BinauralBrisbane]

Hi, I'm still climbing the learning curve for using recording equipment & have read many a thread to try & answer this question- when using external mics with a preamp plugged into the Sony PCM M10's line-in, is it better (quieter) to have a higher signal output level on the preamp with lower signal input level on the recorder, lower on the preamp & higher on the recorder or have a similar level on both to reach the desired peak recording level? I'm sure the answer is already in some of the threads I've read but my relative inexperience makes it difficult sometimes to wade through the technical terminology.
Thanks for reading.

[Belexes]

Run unity on the M10 (measured to be about 4 - 5) and use the gain structure from your pre for the remainder, that is what it is there for.

[F.O.Bean]

Run unity on the M10 (measured to be about 4 - 5) and use the gain structure from your pre for the remainder, that is what it is there for.

Agreed! I keep my M10 set at 4

[adrianf74]

Run unity on the M10 (measured to be about 4 - 5) and use the gain structure from your pre for the remainder, that is what it is there for.

Agreed! I keep my M10 set at 4

Interesting.  I keep mine at 4.5.  I was at another theatre show and had to run the preamp (9100) at around 2 o'clock to get decent levels but that's the nice part of having a pre at a quieter show.

[Muddy Das]

I am also a noob and recorded one show i had my m-10 at 4 and it came out very quiet almost to quiet for my ears. I was a little nervous about having my preamp turned up to much (just a cheap art pre) didn't want to overload the m-10. Should i have  turned up the m-10?

[eclark]

I've got mine set at about 4.85 which is -20db according to my MixPre-D

[Cheesecadet]

I keep my M10 @ 4 as well...get the rest of the necessary gain from the preamp.

[bryonsos]

I am also a noob and recorded one show i had my m-10 at 4 and it came out very quiet almost to quiet for my ears. I was a little nervous about having my preamp turned up to much (just a cheap art pre) didn't want to overload the m-10. Should i have  turned up the m-10?

If you set your M10 at 4, and your pre wasn't running too hot or too low, you should be fine. If the levels on the M10 were peaking at -6 or less, you can normalize in post to bring the volume up. IMHO, peaks higher than that on the M10, and you're taking chances, lower and you might hit the noise floor. My best recordings have it set at 4 with regular but not constant pulses of the -12 green lights that are next to the built in mics.

[F.O.Bean]

I peak at around -6 now that I am used to my M10

[F.O.Bean]

Oh yeah, I also have my M10 at 4 and get the rest of my gain from my Preamps

[illconditioned]

The Sony units have great preamps, no need for any external gain!

- Ambient/household recording: Mic in, high sens, level #4, plug in power on,
- Moderate shows: Mic in, low sens, level #4, plug in power on,
- Loud shows: standard (2-wire) battery box, Line in, level #10, decrease until you get right levels,

By the way, this is using Countryman B3, regular sensitivity mics, with 4.7k source resistor.

  Richard

[Cheesecadet]

I set M10 at 4 and usually adjust my preamp gain so I achieve peaks around -6...sometimes it will go up to -4 or -3 even and I have never had any distortion.  This is using DPA4061s and a CA-9100 v4.4 pre.  Great results everytime.

[F.O.Bean]

I set M10 at 4 and usually adjust my preamp gain so I achieve peaks around -6...sometimes it will go up to -4 or -3 even and I have never had any distortion.

Same here

[BinauralBrisbane]

Looks like setting the M10 around 4 is the consensus- will start from there & trial different combos to see what works best, thanks very much for all the great advice

[morst]

levels? I run line in to the M10, using the built-in limiter and CRUSH my levels.

You can get the red over lights flashing on, but margin of -1dB if you set it carefully. In fact, if you only briefly light the OVER indicator on the LCD, the resultant signal will sometimes not even hit -0dB(full scale!)

Anywhere from 4-6 is pretty safe on the M10's knob. If you're running the knob between 1.5 and 2, I would worry that you could brickwall your inputs, but the thing is rated to take 2.0 volts on the line inputs!!!