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Author Topic: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?  (Read 4481 times)

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Offline Humbug

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #15 on: August 23, 2020, 04:00:25 AM »
Running AT853 caps (with whatever body, 853 or 943/933) 3-wire into a preamp gets great results.

I rate Church Audio CA9100 and CA9200 3-wire preamps very highly.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2020, 04:02:18 AM by Humbug »
UK based taper: MK4>Nbox Platinum>PCM-M10
AT853C>CA9200 / PIPsqueak>Tascam DR-2D

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Offline swordfish

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #16 on: August 23, 2020, 05:25:05 AM »
The microphone is the single biggest factor in the quality of your recording.  If you seriously want to upgrade, go big or go home. 

This is what I did, I went from Church to AT Mikes to DPA to Schoeps. 

I listened to 100 of my favorite dowloads and made a note of the microphone used for each.  Surprisingly, Church mikes occupied a couple of those favorites, but what I found was about 30% of the best recordings were Neuman KM 184s or 84s or other varients; about 30% were Schoeps.  The Schoeps were easier to stealth, and there was an established group of Schoeps tapers with NBoxes in my area. 

I ultimately picked Schoeps and have 2 pair. 

But do the process yourself and judge with your own ears.  No one can tell you that a single microphone is best for you.

+1

Offline mrfender

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #17 on: August 23, 2020, 07:46:49 AM »
Running AT853 caps (with whatever body, 853 or 943/933) 3-wire into a preamp gets great results.

I rate Church Audio CA9100 and CA9200 3-wire preamps very highly.

Agree. There are many more here with better ears and knowledge but here's my $.02 

Just picked up some AT853s to test against my CA14s earlier this year and ran them side by side once before the shutdown.  Build quality is better and the longer cable length is nice but non-stealthy.  To my ears, the CAs were a little warmer/fuller (mics >CA9100>M10) but the ATs were a little clearer (mics>AT battery box>DR05). Slight differences that could be the result of recording equipment.  Two shows scheduled for same venue in late Oct (hopefully) so more testing to be done.
DR2d, DR-05, DR-22wl, DR-40, DR-44wl, DR-608, PCM-M10, Roland R-07, PCM, PCM-A10
CA-14 card/omni, AT853 cards/omni, Nak CM-300 cards/omni, Line Audio CM4

Offline MakersMarc

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #18 on: August 23, 2020, 08:35:36 PM »
I liked my CA14 fine, never let me down, when located close in a good room. When it became clear that I was going to be  >:D 90% of the time (and frankly, as Scooter mentioned, sneaking in schoeps, a bnb and deck isn't any harder than a Church rig to sneak in), I wanted better tapes. Much better. So for me, schoeps caps/actives>baby nbox>deck. Yeah its expensive, but caps can be had used, a complete  >:D package should run around $2500 new, maybe 2k if the bnb and/or actives are used. That's a steal and a fraction of what a CMC64v>Sonosax or VMS setup still would run you. What, 6k?

I also like the DPA 4061 tapes I've heard, but omni indoors as your sole setup won't always go well. And you won't pay that much less than the Schoeps setup.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2020, 08:37:40 PM by MakersMarc »
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Offline jj69

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #19 on: August 24, 2020, 02:04:37 PM »
Humbug,

Please PM me your solution!  I have those adapters and 853 caps.  The weight was just too much for me using standard SP clips.  I'd love to see your solution. 

Offline Scooter123

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #20 on: August 24, 2020, 09:43:47 PM »
DPA sound amazing in a small jazz club and produce excellent close in stack tapes. I owned a pair for a year.

But once you get in the middle of an arena, they pick up way too much ambient noise for me
Regards,
Scooter123

mk41 > N Box  > Sony M-10
mk4 > N Box > Sony M-10

Offline edtyre

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #21 on: September 08, 2020, 11:10:35 AM »
Get a hat! No matter what kind of mics
you use, moving the mics to the top of your
head will get you the best results! Stop trying to do
what is easy and convenient and start trying to get
the best results you can. Moving the mics up and using
the proper pattern and spacing (along with the right capsule
for the location) is key to making better recordings.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2020, 11:12:13 AM by edtyre »
music>mics>pre>recorder

Offline Scooter123

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Re: Can anyone suggest an upgrade from Church CA-14 cards?
« Reply #22 on: September 09, 2020, 01:06:04 PM »
+1 for Ed.

Ed makes the best tapes out there.  I don't think I've heard a bad tape from Ed. 
Regards,
Scooter123

mk41 > N Box  > Sony M-10
mk4 > N Box > Sony M-10

 

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