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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: ryansee on February 12, 2020, 02:49:40 AM
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I'm very much a beginner still, bought an m10 last year and have only done a few recordings with just the internal mics, nothing else. I finally decided to buy some external mics, some used CA-14s and the guy I bought them from also sold me a church audio ST-20A preamp. I'm gonna be honest and it's embarrassing, but I'm not certain how to use everything and set everything up. Do I still need a battery box? Do the mics go line in, into the preamp, and then use a 3.5mm cable line out into the m10? Do I switch the S20 A up (-27) or down (+30) for a very loud show at a small club? Should I leave the volume on the m10 at 3? Any help is appreciated, thank you.
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im not sure of the specs on the st-20, it probably takes the place of a battery box. you want to use the preamp as the primary source of gain, and use the M10 at line-in at 30-50% input gain on the knob
it would be unusual if the preamp had both "-27" and "+30" gain - that would be a huge range
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https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=133659.0
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im not sure of the specs on the st-20, it probably takes the place of a battery box. you want to use the preamp as the primary source of gain, and use the M10 at line-in at 30-50% input gain on the knob
it would be unusual if the preamp had both "-27" and "+30" gain - that would be a huge range
thank you, based on another post about the preamp i think it's possible the numbers are misprinted, not sure though. Actually I just found a thread in which church audio said it actually means "+6db and +30db". Which should I set it to when recording?
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Go to some shows that you don't care about recording, try different reccommended combinations of the setup.
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Go to some shows that you don't care about recording, try different reccommended combinations of the setup.
+1 Similar types of music too. Practicing on a quiet acoustic show they going to tape a loud metal show won't tell you as much about your configuration.
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Go to some shows that you don't care about recording, try different reccommended combinations of the setup.
+1 Similar types of music too. Practicing on a quiet acoustic show they going to tape a loud metal show won't tell you as much about your configuration.
thanks definitely gonna be experimenting
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Go to some shows that you don't care about recording, try different reccommended combinations of the setup.
Practice on a "stack tape" - Set it up a foot from your stereo speaker at home and crank it up to rock and roll.
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thats still a large range
+6dB and then using the gain on the M10 would be 'safer'
+30dB risks brickwalling the M10 input.
i would say if you can run +30 and your levels arent peaking to hot with the M10 at 30% of input level or more youre in safe territory.
if you find yourself having to reduce the M10 to below 20% of input level, switch to +6dB and use the M10 at 40-60% of input level instead
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thats still a large range
+6dB and then using the gain on the M10 would be 'safer'
+30dB risks brickwalling the M10 input.
i would say if you can run +30 and your levels arent peaking to hot with the M10 at 30% of input level or more youre in safe territory.
if you find yourself having to reduce the M10 to below 20% of input level, switch to +6dB and use the M10 at 40-60% of input level instead
Thank you that's really helpful information for me to get started
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can anyone help me figure out a problem with my s20-a I bought? when i plug in the mics to the preamp, and then plug the preamp into the m10, I only get right side sound, no left side. But when i plug the mics directly into the m10, i get sound on both sides, left and right. I was hoping to try out the whole set up with the preamp tonight at a show, but can't figure out if there's something wrong with the preamp or if i'm doing something wrong.
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Is the mini plug > mini plug interconnect cable between the preamp and the recorder a stereo cable?
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/whats-the-difference-between-ts-and-trs-cables/
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Is the mini plug > mini plug interconnect cable between the preamp and the recorder a stereo cable?
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/whats-the-difference-between-ts-and-trs-cables/
ah, that might be it actually, thank you, i just bought whatever 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable i found at best buy, they only had one option. so I need to make sure I buy a TRS cable, and i need both ends to be 3.5mm, correct? and just based on a quick google search it was hard to find a 3.5mm to 3.5mm, so I might have to buy an adapter?
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Is the mini plug > mini plug interconnect cable between the preamp and the recorder a stereo cable?
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/whats-the-difference-between-ts-and-trs-cables/
ah, that might be it actually, thank you, i just bought whatever 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable i found at best buy, they only had one option. so I need to make sure I buy a TRS cable, and i need both ends to be 3.5mm, correct? and just based on a quick google search it was hard to find a 3.5mm to 3.5mm, so I might have to buy an adapter?
they are actually quite common. search amazon for 'stereo miniplug cable'
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i would say if you can run +30 and your levels arent peaking to hot with the M10 at 30% of input level or more youre in safe territory.
if you find yourself having to reduce the M10 to below 20% of input level, switch to +6dB and use the M10 at 40-60% of input level instead
I think I've run the M10 (with limiter) down to a record level of 1 without brickwalling, but if you have to lower the level below 1 of 10 on a Sony recorder, the input is definitely too hot.
For Sony recorders I've used, (D6 cassette, D7, D8, D100, M1 DAT, and also the M10) input level of 4-5 of 10 is the best range. Up to 7 is OK, but above that seems to be a gain stage where noise gets boosted too.