Topic: Omni Bass Overload...On stage omni help...

[hexyjones]

I ran a pair of AT10r Omnidirectional Condenser mics on stage this weekend. Hexbelt - guitar driven rock...

The mics only run on phantom power - have an max SPL of 130. These are about 20 years old.

The levels looked good...but there is a lack of dimension to the recording....and there is occasional bass distortion. To me it sounds like analog channel blow out. I'm using a Yamaha mixer as my pre-section. I keep the trimmers low - so there is no red clips. That gets fed to a Flying Calf A/D...I assume that the only penalty for going from 24 to 16 bits is a higher noise floor...??

The mics do seem to be very bass sensitive...I taped Railroad Earth in an fairly ambient room(FOB)...the bass is incredibly concussive.

Should I be using some sort of pad or attenuator?

[creekfreak]

sounds like you need some sort of high pass filter...not sure if your equipment has one...the one on the V3 kicks ass

[Tim]

yes, a high pass filter...

[hexyjones]

I also don't have shockmounts on these...so is vibration/resonance is a possible factor?

[Tim]

yes, you should shockmount them. that will "tighten" the bass up a bit, but a HPF is really what you need.

[hexyjones]

My mixer has a button for that...I did actually turn it on for a moment...I'll have to try to locate that moment - (during opener)

[Tim]

okay, do you have the manual? Do you know at what frequency it engages and what the slope of the rolloff is?

it appears that your mixer has a 3band EQ on each channel, you could use the low frequency rolloff on the channel strip instead of the HPF. What's the slope of the roll off on the low frequency?