Topic: Are my mics being overpowered ?

[pepper]

I recorded a gig on friday night,all seems ok except the snare drum seems to overpower( ?) at times.When i say overpower its like the sound dips very slightly when there is a sudden loud sound,the snare drum seems to be the main problem.Is there anything i can do to sort this out,the mics were not expensive and i think they done a fine job apart from this little problem.

                          cheers pepper 

[Ed.]

sounds like your mics are brickwalling/clipping from the drum.  it might be because your mics can't handle the high spl's.

[hexyjones]

You need to tell us more - what kind of recorder are you using...? A bit more about your setup...?

Sounds more like some sort of auto-level circuit kicking in on higher sound levels...

[mizary]

what are you recording onto?

It sounds like the recording device is automatically controlling the gain/amplification of the signal coming from the mics...  this is how my camcorder works.  When the loud sound hits the levels drop for a second.  Not much you can do unless you can manually contol the levels on your device...  

--damn i'm too slow--

--mizary

[pepper]

im using a sony md mznh700,i got my mics from here http://www.good-audio.com/products.html im using a pair of the ga-m1 mics and a bb from the same place.I always record line in,too so im not sure wht i can do .

[hexyjones]

Do this...goto minidisc.org and find the manual on your machine.

You need to set the record mode to "Manual" - that will disable the auto-level circuit.

edit:

http://www.minidisc.org/manuals/sony/sony_mzr700_manual.pdf

page 29 - (page 15 on the pdf)

[F.O.Bean]

+T corkscrew

[Wedge]

Also - you need to change to manual recording levels EVERY time you start a recording.

Well, that's not strictly true.  If you PAUSE between recordings, you are ok.  But once you actually STOP/CANCEL a recording, it reverts to automatic.

Grrrr....