Topic: What should I set my rec. level at?

[strick9nineprod]

Hi,
I'm taping Good Charlotte tomorrow night and i'm using a Mic->Batt. Box->MZ-R700, and I really want to try and get the best results I can for this show and was wondering what I should set my levels at since I can't do it "on-the-fly", and should I go into Mic In or Line In? And anything else you can think of with this type of set-up. Any info would be great.
thanks,
jayce

[jesse]

Go line in. You're tapes will sound much better.  Going line in isn't going to be as hot as mic in with the rec levels cranked.   I used to stealth with the MZ-R700 and would have to run music through sound forge to add volume even with the rec levels cranked all the way.   Mic in will add more db than line in but the pre on the MZ-R700 sounds like shit.   So go line and crank it up.

[jkoch]

always use line in. get there early and get stuff rolling (but not recording) and test things out during the opener(s). chances are if the opener(s) is/are full band, the sound level will be similar to GC.

[kingbean]

So can I ask what the difference between mic in and line in is exactly?  I'm using a Sony MZ-N710 with ECM-DS70P mic (plug-in power) and have thus far always used mic in, and I've been able to get some pretty impressive recordings.  I always manually set the recording volume to be quite low but manage to be able to pump it up okay when transferring to CD.

Thanks

[pfife]

mic in supplies more power for the mic- I am quite sure, with that mic, you'd need to use mic in.  When people use a battery box, they can start to use line in, cause the battery box usually supplies about 9v of power for the mic, where your mic prolly runs off a AA, which is like 1.5v

Mic-in is usually a noisier, less clean input than a line in.

[kingbean]

Okay yeah, I've got a 1.5v battery in the MD.  So if I used the line-in with this, would I be bale to get a cleaner recording?  I guess if there's less power going to hte mic it won't record as well?  I should probably just test it out sometime.

Thanks for your help!

[pfife]

No, I think you need to use mic-in with that mic- I mean the battery in the microphone is AA, or 1.5v, whereas battery boxes usually supply 9v

You can always test both and see if line in works too- just set it up in front of a stereo really loud.