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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: Josephine on June 05, 2008, 03:16:45 PM

Title: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: Josephine on June 05, 2008, 03:16:45 PM
I've been recording w/ an R-09 for some time and have ALWAYS run my mics "line-in."
It was just brought to my attention that some folks run "mic-in."
I did a little searching and found a couple posts which mentioned running "mic-in" for very intimate acoustic performances.
Guess I'd like to hear about running "mic-in."  Is there some benefit (over "line-in") I don't know about?
TIA.
:)
Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: Dede2002 on June 05, 2008, 03:22:11 PM
I've been recording w/ an R-09 for some time and have ALWAYS run my mics "line-in."
It was just brought to my attention that some folks run "mic-in."
I did a little searching and found a couple posts which mentioned running "mic-in" for very intimate acoustic performances.
Guess I'd like to hear about running "mic-in."  Is there some benefit (over "line-in") I don't know about?
TIA.
:)

Hi Josephine. You know, I'm always looking for a reasonable answer to your question. Being a Line In R-09 user, I just don't understand why some folks do prefer the more noisy input, Mic In ( so they say).
I'd really like to know too. :hmmm:

Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: Belexes on June 05, 2008, 03:40:20 PM
mic in is noisy and I don't know why some users choose that input, good question.  I run line-in with the 9100 pre and get very clean recordings.
Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: Gutbucket on June 05, 2008, 03:54:13 PM
A year and a half back when the input jack problem first started popping up, my line-in went, so I switched over to using the mic input for about 6 mo. until I finally sent it back to Roland.  I just reduced the gain on my preamp a bit.

In doing so I found a better combination of preamp & R-09 gain settings so when I got the unit back and switched back to using the line-in on the R-09 (after epoxying the jacks down on the replacement board), I kept running my external preamp at lower gain and bumped the R-09 up to the 13-17 range.  I had been trying to keep the R-09 at around gain 10 before and sometimes had to turn it down below 8.  I think that was eating up too much headroom in the external preamp.

Now I feel most comfortable in the 'teen' gain range zone and only use the line-in when using an external preamp, which is almost all the time.  Nice to know I can switch over to the mic in without sonic compromise if the jack ever fails again, though.

No other reason to use the mic-in with an external preamp unless you need the additional gain - the noise performance is technically worse, but I never heard any difference at reasonable gain settings.  I only use the mic-in on my second R-09 for plug-in powered mics without an external pre.

For reference- I'm typically going 4060>MMA6000>R-09 with the R-09 set to 13 (adjusting that if necessary once rolling, rarely) and the MMA6000 set around +10db, never more than +20db, and sometimes closer to +5db depending on the style of music and amplification level to peak between -12 and -6dbFS @24bit.
Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: rastasean on June 05, 2008, 03:54:59 PM
Well, I thought mic in was to power different mics when you're not using a pre-amp. If you have a pre-amp/battery box, like the 9100, I would think you would always want to use the line-in function. Its like using the headphone jack on a CD player when you have a line out...of course you want to use line out.
I generally think people would use mic in when they don't have a pre-amp and the audio they are trying to capture is too quiet.

Any others?
Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: Dede2002 on June 05, 2008, 05:32:05 PM
Well, I thought mic in was to power different mics when you're not using a pre-amp. If you have a pre-amp/battery box, like the 9100, I would think you would always want to use the line-in function. Its like using the headphone jack on a CD player when you have a line out...of course you want to use line out.
I generally think people would use mic in when they don't have a pre-amp and the audio they are trying to capture is too quiet.

Any others?

Agreed. I just can't see any other reason. If you have at least a bb, Line In is the way to go.
Title: Re: Question For R-09 Users
Post by: itook2much on June 06, 2008, 01:41:06 AM
With a busted line-in jack I haven't had fixed yet, I use mic-in all the time.  No extra noise for me so far, not using plug-in power, running with a battery box.  Runs about 8dB hotter than line-in.

Using DPA 4060 (CS HEB) > CS BB > R-09, most loud rock shows I end up running the input levels between 8 and 11.