Topic: looking for preamp advice

[travelinbeat]

I run Coresound Binaurals into either a Sony MZ-RH10 or a iRiver H120.  I've had some issues recently with getting very quiet recordings especially with the RH10 (I am actually yet to tape with the H120).  I'm wondering if anyone might be able to give me any good, stelthable, affordable preamps. 

Thanks in advance--
-beat

[F.O.Bean]

i do not not much at all about stealth mics, but i would imagine if you put a battery box in between your mics and your recorder, you would be a bit happier, or possibly even trying line-transformers would do the trick and take the mic and turn it into a line signal

im sure someone will chime in that knows far more than i do about stealthy mics

good luck and happy taping!

[travelinbeat]

Thanks for the input--  I supposed I did forget to mention that I do also use a 9V Battery Box on the mics.

The problem I'm having is that by the time the sound gets onto the MD it's very quiet, and if / when I boost the volume levels on my computer I end up adding a potentially tremendous amount of noise.  I've spoken to a few people who said that a Pre-Amp would solve this problem, however I'm not sure whether one kind is better than any other for any particular reason.  Please help!

[stirinthesauce]

Chris Church makes some stealthy pre amps that people on here have used and liked that are very low noise and cost efficient.  Shoot him a pm (CHURCH-AUDIO on here) and I'm sure he could set you up with the pre that would best suit your needs.

[poorlyconditioned]

I run Coresound Binaurals into either a Sony MZ-RH10 or a iRiver H120.  I've had some issues recently with getting very quiet recordings especially with the RH10 (I am actually yet to tape with the H120).  I'm wondering if anyone might be able to give me any good, stelthable, affordable preamps. 

Thanks in advance--
-beat

Were you running mic in or line in?  Mic in on the MD should work great.  Set to "LO SENS" and "MANUAL" levels. 

  Richard

[travelinbeat]

I was using line-in--

I think I may be switching over and making my primary unit the H120 though.  How does this unit generally perform?  Do people find themselves requiring a preamp or does it record at attiquit levels right off the bat?

[Church-Audio]

Line in with a mic will always result in a low level recording, unless the mic is very sensitive or the source was very loud. Even with a loud show you can still run into level issues. A good preamp can handle the high signal level coming from the mic, and make it even hotter for the line input.

What this does is maximize your signal to noise ratio ( if the preamp in question has very little self noise) And in cases where the mic output is too hot even for the line input, a good preamp again can be used to attenuate the signal before it reaches the recorder.

The best preseason to use an external preamp is simple, All recorders that use a gain control that is digital * accessed via a single button or via on screen display, uses a digital attenuator. The main problem is that this digital potentiometer is not the first stage of the device's built in preamp. So it can be overloaded even before you ever get a chance to *turn down the signal via on board recorders attenuation.

But the advantage of an external preamp is lost, if it is not as good or better then the signal path in the recording device itself.

Chris Church

I was using line-in--

I think I may be switching over and making my primary unit the H120 though.  How does this unit generally perform?  Do people find themselves requiring a preamp or does it record at attiquit levels right off the bat?