Topic: Mic and pre recommendations

[austaper]

I already have purchased a microtrack and I am getting ready to purchase mics and either a battery box or preamp.  I will likely go with the sound pro mini to dual quarter inch converter to go in the 1/4 inch line inputs rather than the mini plug on the microtrack.

Looking at the church audio cards with the 9100, the core sound cards with battery box or possibly the aT831's.  Trying to do as much research as I can myself
and I have listened to some samples from dime recorded with each mic but as you all know there are a lot of differences in quality due to venue, taper location etc. so I wanted to get some more opinions

a)  it appears from the samples I have heard the core audio cards are a bit limited in bass and high end response.  I know they have the roll off but their spec page lists 40-18000hz.  Most others are at least 20-2000  Am I missing something here?

b) seems like the edirol is used by many people here but since I have already purchased the microtrack I am particularly interested in opinions of which mics work best with it

c) This is a great forum!

[jerryfreak]

if you want to get the most out of your microtrack, feed it spdif, the fromt end doesnt sound so great. get a pre/ad combo that can power your mics and output spdif to the recorder. there are many device slike this that range in price from $200-$2000+

[guysonic]

Microtrack is best appreciated keeping it simple with small external preamp into TRS inputs set in "L" line setting (either in balanced or unbalanced input configuration) and can make excellent sounding recordings depending mostly on your mics and how you are using them. 

Microtrack is a little different in how it operates and internal battery has running time issues best to know about before you use it to record important events. 

A MT deck review on my site should help with the settings learning curve and other external preamp/power suggestions within postings here and at: www.sonicstudios.com/mt2496rv.htm

Samples of music venue MT deck recordings using specific mic/preamp models found at www.sonicstudios.com/mp3_2slp.htm

[ilduclo]

coresounds recommended against, IMO, fragile and poorly put together, poor customer service as well. Just my experience, but search this board for others opinions before purchasing

[manitouman]

I actually had a good pair of Core Sound Binaurals that I used for 4 years and never really had a problem with them except understanding the difference between omni-directional, cardioid and so on. I'm guessing you are stealthing since your mic options seem to scream that. I recently went from stealthing to open taping BUT I ordered Church-Audio's mics and 9100 preamp for my stealth rig. Which by the way I also use the MT. From what he has told me about his mics is that they are in-between omni-directional and cardioid, which for my stealthing needs would be just about perfect. Don't take my word for it though, I haven't taped a show using that set-up yet but I'll be sure to give my review come October when I will need to stealth a show.

When I tried to upgrade to the Core Sound High End Binaurals (HEB) which cost over $1000 and mind you this is still without knowing the difference between cardioid, omni etc. I really had a hard time getting a refund from Core Sound. It took 2 weeks after they received them, wouldn't answer emails, I finally had to call him and ask him what was going on. He finally gave me a refund via PayPal but it took another week for the funds to clear! So that was my bad experience with their service but the Core Sound Binaurals that I bought in 2003, never had a problem with them.

So take it for what it's worth.

I'd go over to the Archive and search the microphone you are contemplating and the Microtrack to see what those recordings sound like. And it will make a world of difference in your taping position, venue, etc. Hope some of that helps?