Topic: Need help with equipment.

[Toki]

Hi, I am relatively new to taping, and hope you can help me to complete my equipment.
I am recording with RODE Stereo Videomic (it is stereo X/Y condenser mic with standard 3.5mm jack output) to rockboxed Cowon iAudio X5. On some shows I really need to have more gain from the mic, so I think I need a preamp. Unfortunately my budget is quite limited, so I really dont know which preamp in range of 80-100$ would be suitable? Maybe I am missing something besides preamp? Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[terrapinj]

contact Chris Church @ Church Audio, he should have a product for you

http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=profile;u=14500
or
http://stores.ebay.ca/CHURCH-AUDIO

[Toki]

Thank you for the suggestion. I dropped a email to him but have no answer for more than a week... Perhaps his ST-20A is the best choice for me, but still I want to be sure about compatibility with my mic etc.

[vanark]

I think PM'ing him would be best.

[Toki]

Should have thought about that, thanks

[china_rider]

Not sure... But I don't think new members can PM now.  A few have had an issue trying to PM me.  If you have an issue let me know and I will PM him for you and ask him to get back with you.

Stay Kind,
Dana

[Toki]

Thanks, but it seems that new members can send PM's
Chris said that, unfortunately, my mic doesnt suite my taping needs because it is a video mic, and his preamp wouldn't help. 
Hope someone can explain me what my mic lacks in terms of music recording, and what kind of different mic do I have to get instead of it.

[Church-Audio]

Thanks, but it seems that new members can send PM's
Chris said that, unfortunately, my mic doesnt suite my taping needs because it is a video mic, and his preamp wouldn't help. 
Hope someone can explain me what my mic lacks in terms of music recording, and what kind of different mic do I have to get instead of it.

The mic you have would be perfect for general recording but not loud concerts and not really quiet events.

[Toki]

The mic you have would be perfect for general recording but not loud concerts and not really quiet events.

[/quote]

But it is the loud shows that are recorded quite well with this mic, at least in my experience. I have nothing to compare the results with (except for the ones taken with camera built-in mic that sucks), but it never gets overloaded with bass, never distort even in very poor recording conditions. If someone will be interested I can put some samples for someone to tell how it compares to other mics. May be they are not hi-fi quality, but satisfy me well enough.

The quiet ones is a problem indeed... The sound itself is great, but even when I turn the gain to a maximum value the signal is still too weak, and I have to boost it in wavelab to at least +20db, which makes the result VERY noisy. That is why I thought that addind a preamp in a chain will help to amplify the signal between a mic and recorder and thus reduce this "boost" noise.
Besides, the player itself adds a noise during HDD write too. And in some conditions the sound of silent recordings is not "warm enough". As I never had used a preamp and being a newbie in this I thought it will be all-in-1 solution for all my problems
Pity to know that nothing can be done here...

P.S. I have bought this mic even though I knew I will be using it directly with mp3 player and NOT with video camera because of some reasons. First, it was the only mic available for me at the time of buying. Second, it is stereo, and in my recording conditions (semi-stealth I wouldnt be able to use a pair of mics, especially while holding a camera in other hand. And 3rd, it has very good max SPL value that helps me taping very loud heavy metal bands even in small venues.

P.P.S. Thank you for your patience and help

[Toki]

sorry for flooding again... but I still have a problem and hope that someone give me an answer.
when I record not so loud shows, the signal from the mic is too silent. will the preamp like church audio st-20 help me increase the sound from mic so that I will be able to set player's gain level to a lower value and thus reduce signal/noise ratio in a resulting file (I thought this is what preamp generally used to)? and will such preamp will be compatible with my mic?

[Microbe]

IMHO,

The only thing you will change about the signal to noise ratio, is the difference between your recorders preamp and any other external preamp.  Depending on the quality of the mic, you will still be amplifying it's inherent characteristics.  For a quieter show, more than likely, the bad mic characteristics (noise floor) will be more prominent with more preamp gain.  You may end up buying a preamp and not being satisfied because of the mic.

[Toki]

Aha, thanks, it becomes more clear... So, I need to know wether its a microphone or player's preamp which is responsible for that amplified noise... According to mic's specs, its sensitivity is "-44 dB re 1V/Pa (6.3 mV/Pa @ 94 dB SPL) +/- 3 dB @ 1kHz". How good these specs are? Will it be possible to record silent shows with this sensitivity? And how sensitive the mic should be to be able to record normally, for example, typical acoustic concert?

P.S. when I was buying this mic I've heared from users that it has low self-noise and good sensitivity, so it made me thing that player's internal noise should be the one I'm getting in a resulting file...

P.S. Important thing... signal/noise ratio is depending on gain settings in player... when gain is set to low level, the s/n ratio is low (and after post-amplification the recording is noisy). when gain is high - s/n is better. so I believe it is the evidence that mic is not responsible for this noise - because in this case the noise wouldnt be depending on gain settings in player during recording. is it right?