Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: 72HW on January 15, 2004, 04:44:49 AM
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OK, so I checked the FAQ, the archive, did a search and skimmed subject lines until I thought any more time spent doing this may be futile. My question is a fairly specific one, though if you have recorded shows in a similar venue feel free to offer suggestions. Here we go:
The 411-
I have a ticket for Dave Matthews at Staples Center in L.A. on the 15th. My seat is located in section 107, row 7, seat 18 placing me just about dead center and above the floor a bit. (See visual aid and don't ask about the floor 107 section - not me)
The Question-
Using Sound Pro SP-CMC-10 cards and a Sound Pro's baterybox with bass rolloff running into a Sharp MT877 minidisc, where should the rolloff be set?
The Background-
See, it's my first time taping in the Staples Center so I will be running a dual set up. The primary rig will be the one above, the secondary a set of binaurals running straight into a Sony MZ-R37. Why? Well, thanks to our pal Bagtagsell, I now have what I consider a very nice rig! But being as it's new to me and all, I thought it would be interesting to hear the differences betwix the two and provide a handy backup to boot.....pun intention open to debate.
The Visual Aid -
A seating chart for the Staples Center
(http://www.ontheedgepr.com/dmf_me.gif)
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i've stealthed from Section 109. i ran AT831b > Hosa MIT transformer > M1. i didn't roll off and the tape sounded fine, a bit boomy due to the acoustics, but fine.
marc
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160Hz i think would work well. I had mine set to 195Hz when i taped at MSG, i was much closer than you and it came out a bit thin during the acoustic set, but crisp and enjoyable nonetheless and when the full band came out the bass was pretty tight.
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id roll at 95hz
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I wouldn't rolloff at all way back there
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I like the ambient rumble personally....drowns out the voices in my head.
Thanks for the replies all, I will take the advice and flip a coin. ;-)
I may run the battbox to the older rig set to roll at 69 just to hear what happens unless there is strong advice to run the cards through it to the new one. New to the Large Venue thing......One other question - I don't need to stealth it for this one do I?
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nope, open taping from your seat...
have fun!
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The cards have a natural roloff that you won't get with the omnis. I run my SP cards on the lowest roloff setting pretty much every time. If I end up with too much bass I just EQ it on my PC, but that never seems to happen.
It seems likely which ever set of mics doesn't get the BB power may brickwall. That will be a bigger issue IMO.
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you can brickwall these mics if you are getting high enough SPLs (ie too damn close to the stack) even if it is running into a batt box, but from where you are sitting you should be fine.
Nick
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Keep in mind that if you're using line in, the rolloff won't do a thing due to the input impedance. It only works with mic in (which I wouldn't use if you have enough output to drive the line in).
You can always rolloff in software later <jumps out of the line of fire>
Also, mics don't brickwall...preamps do. And I don't think your Sharp MD has the required 'gain hole' - that's a feature exclusive to Sony DATs :o So no worries.
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Also, mics don't brickwall...preamps do.
true, but what I should have said is that these mics do distort at less than their rated SPLs due to the 9 V powering scheme that Sound Pros uses for them.
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Also, mics don't brickwall...preamps do.
true, but what I should have said is that these mics do distort at less than their rated SPLs due to the 9 V powering scheme that Sound Pros uses for them.
excellent clarification. There are many ways to achieve a distorted recording and sometimes it's hard to figure you which one you've got! :lol:
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i've stealthed from Section 109.
how did you sneak your stuff in?
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Cheers to all for the great advice and explinations regarding brickwalling, something I had wondered about. No kidding! I did!
Tried to pull 2 recordings, one from omnis w/rolloff and one with cards as explained previously. Neither recording is what I would call great, but for my own Learning How To Do This Shit Right uses they are invaluable as tools.....and remiders of what "not" to do.
Regarding the Line Of Fire dklein neatly dodged, I for one have no problem with people cleaning recordings up on the PC. Don't have a problem if they use a Mac either really, but I do think that if a recording has been EQ'd, Normalized, Editied or simply f-ed around with after becoming a wav the taper should list modification and reasons each was made.
For example, here is a bit from a Firewater show txt file I taped late last year:
Due to the strict anti-taper policy of the house (not the band) I set rec levels in the car not wanting to draw un-wanted attention by fiddling around with my deck. That said, things could have come out a whole lot worse than they did. As you will hear there is distortion in Tod A's vocals and the drunken shouts of the crowd too. I tried to fix
this, and the horrible level drops caused by people moving too close in front of me, to the best of my ability using Sound Forge. I will be re-mastering from the source MD as time permits and am confident that Version 2 will be better.
Aside from the distortion, my less-than-ideal setup is evident on the recording at a few spots in the form of monkeys dancing on the diaphram. (Most notably at the start of t01 & t12 as well as the end of t11.) Making matters worse, a bad habit of rolling the 'Disc Switch Dice' came up boxcars again. My idiocy caused the closing 20 or 30 seconds of 'Dropping Like Flies' (t11) to be cut off.
Too much info? Too many bad attempts at self edification?
If shows from these guys were not so damned rare I would probably not let the recording out into the pool, but they are and I did.
If anyone would like to hear the recording Set 1 (D&T Acoustic) from the 1-15 Staples Center show I made last night let me know ok? (Yes, I have made a couple of tweaks to the sound)
Email me if you do at: chris -at- ontheedgepr.com