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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: Raw data on March 07, 2015, 11:11:03 PM

Title: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: Raw data on March 07, 2015, 11:11:03 PM
Suppose I feed an actress' mono lavalier mic into M10's Line-in.

AFAIK there is no built-in safety track feature on M10, where I could set one channel's level to be say 12dB lower in case she yells.

On the other hand, since I keep Limiter (but not AGC) always engaged, do we even need safety track? I hear you can't overload M10 with Limiter on - is it true?
Title: Re: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: yug du nord on March 08, 2015, 11:01:50 AM
the discontinued tascam dr-2d has that "safety" feature.
the sony m10 does not.
Title: Re: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: Phil Zone on March 08, 2015, 11:03:48 AM
If it has a limiter that is the point to now allow distortion, to only way it could distort is if the microphone were overloaded which usually takes quite a bit. Just set it lower if your worried and them bump it up in post
Title: Re: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B) on March 08, 2015, 03:42:42 PM
I've accidentally recorded peaking at around -24db and had no significant issues bumping it up to -1db. And that was for an acoustic performance where I would suspect the noise floor would be more audible.

If you're in a situation where you can't get a good look at your levels just run them low and you should be fine.

The safety track would be nice, but I don't think I'd ever use it (and I do record  >:D on a fairly regular basis). Once you get to know your recorder it's pretty easy to set it pre-show and feel fairly comfortable.
Title: Re: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: Raw data on March 09, 2015, 01:19:35 AM
If it has a limiter that is the point to now allow distortion

Sure, but I'm afraid limiter will sound very flat.

I'll actually try to wire the right channel via the 2-resistor attenuator. The thinking is, the lav is already getting its power via Left channel (tip); so then M10's Right channel could be fed with 1/4 of a mic volume and it should work as a safety track...

I'll try to rewire the lav and test that theory soon.
Title: Re: Sony PCM-M10: safety track?
Post by: udovdh on March 09, 2015, 10:59:16 AM
On the other hand, since I keep Limiter (but not AGC) always engaged, do we even need safety track? I hear you can't overload M10 with Limiter on - is it true?
First get familiar with the levels your actress and your gear produce; then set levels conservatively.