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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: herkyjerky on November 23, 2006, 02:34:21 AM
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Hiya all, I've been lurking here for about a month trying to pick up what knowledge I can, and you guys have been a great help in giving me ideas for future taping experiments.
I've seen that few (if any) people have tried the Belkin TuneTalk microphone adapter (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=277661) for the iPod, and since I got one pretty much on a whim (I had a gift certificate for the Apple store online) I've been fiddling around with it to see what sort of settings work the best... I've got a pair of Giant Squid Omnis w/ battery box and bass roll-off feeding into the TuneTalk - it's only got one switch for setting it to either mic in or line in, and with no way of checking levels on the iPod it's been a matter of guesstimating which way the switch should be... it says that the recording light on the TuneTalk blinks to let you know if it's clipping, but I've covered mine with electrical tape to be even less of a giveaway. So far I've only done a handful of recordings to see how it works in different situations, but nothing that I think is decent enough to share (yet!). I do have some observations with this setup, though:
1st recording: Driving around with some friends, using the built-in microphone set to mic in... good levels for normal conversational volume, battery lasted about 90 minutes on high-quality recording for about a half-charge on the iPod.
2nd recording: "Zappa Plays Zappa" concert, Warner Theater, Washington DC
This show I recorded from mid-balcony with just the built-in microphone on the TuneTalk set to mic in... odd static (due to clipping, i suppose), kinda hard to hear at parts, but better than I expected for the built-in microphones for my location in the theater. Battery died after about 2 1/2 hours with a close to (if not) full charge.
3rd recording: Piano bar (Howl at the Moon), Baltimore, MD
There's two pianos set up on stage next to each other, with speakers set to the left, center, and right above the stage, and me sitting front and center. Used the Giant Squid omnis clipped to the collar of my jacket draped on the chair behind me, with the TuneTalk set to mic in... static due to clipping, battery died again after about 2 1/2 hours.
4th recording: Piano bar (same location)
Sat off to the left of the stage, same setup except the mics were clipped to the bottom of my jacket and on a higher bar-stool type chair... more audience noise than #3 due to not being so close to the speakers. First recording set to line in, and that seems to have taken care of the clipping... did a normalize on the audio and turned out fine for the most part. Stopped recording before battery died, recorded about 90 minutes on full charge.
5th recording: Steve Wozniak presentation / book signing, Washington, DC
Small bookstore, sitting in center about 5 or 6 rows back... the bookstore had a microphone set up at the podium with the audio piped through the store's in-ceiling speakers, and my mics were clipped to the sides of my jacket on my chair and faced forwards and up. Recorded as line in and lasted just under 2 hours on full charge, stopping before battery died. Had forgotten to turn the battery box on, so all I got was about 2 hours of silence. :'( Really sad too since I would have liked to listen to his presentation again as he's a very entertaining speaker.
After all that I got to thinking about the battery box and realized I didn't know too much about it other than the fact that it's got a battery in there and an on/off switch. What kind of usage can I expect to get out of this thing before the battery needs replacing? Would it be ok to leave the battery box on all the time (does it continue to supply power to the mics even when they're not plugged into a line in jack), or would it just drain the battery? Any suggestions for remembering to turn the battery box off/on as needed? I keep forgetting to turn it off and remember it an hour or so later.
The actual recordings last ~1 gig = 90 minutes, or around 1.2-1.5 gigs for 2 1/2 hours, so being able to record direct to the iPod's hard drive is very nice... the only problem is with the hard drive constantly writing it's using up all of the iPod's battery. However, I do have an idea for the iPod's battery lasting only about 2 1/2 hours or so at a full charge (the Belkin's manual says that you'd get just under 3 hours under perfect circumstances)...the Minty Boost (http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/) USB battery box would be perfect, giving about another 3 hours of use... (you wouldn't be able to use something like the TuneJuice from Griffin (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/tunejuice/) since the TuneTalk is already connected via the dock connector... BUT the TuneTalk DOES have a mini USB port and comes with a USB -> mini USB cable so you can still have it connect to your computer and get power while connected, so all that would be needed would be a Minty Boost power charger and connect that to the TuneTalk/iPod via the USB/mini USB cable!)
Hopefully I'll be able to get some more recordings with this experimented out and can post some examples for review! Though I'm going to see The Who this weekend, I'd be too nervous about sneaking my gear in to do a stealth recording when they're already releasing CDs/DVDs of all of their tour performances and I've already asked for one for Christmas. ;)
Let me know if you've got any questions and I'll see what I can do to answer them!
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wow thanks for sharing your experiment with us! :D
could u post some samples of each recording? :)
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WOW. Cool
I 'm buying one TuneTalk.
This help me a lot.
Was thinking in buying some mics.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Anderson
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What do u think about this mics:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SONY-Electret-Condenser-Stereo-Microphone-ECM-DS70P_W0QQitemZ260062227162QQihZ016QQcategoryZ67852QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SONY-Electret-Condenser-Stereo-Microphone-ECM-DS70P_W0QQitemZ260062227162QQihZ016QQcategoryZ67852QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Thanks
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What do u think about this mics:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SONY-Electret-Condenser-Stereo-Microphone-ECM-DS70P_W0QQitemZ260062227162QQihZ016QQcategoryZ67852QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SONY-Electret-Condenser-Stereo-Microphone-ECM-DS70P_W0QQitemZ260062227162QQihZ016QQcategoryZ67852QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Thanks
what are you looking to record?
if you want to record loud rock shows.... this will probably distort and not sound great
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Yeah.
I'm looking for some BINAURAL at the moment.
Thanks
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Yeah.
I'm looking for some BINAURAL at the moment.
Thanks
you can find some at Core Sound, or The Sound Professionals. i also hear good things about Church Audio mics
or you can make some yourself for about $5
all you need are some Panasonic WM-61A capsules and some headphone wires
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Hey guys.
What u think about this:
- iPod 60Gb
- Belkin TuneTalk Stereo
- USB Portable AA Battery Box
- SP-BMC-2 Sound Professionals Mini Binaural microphones
Can I make some good records?
Somebody have try this?
Thanks
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instead of ipod and the belkin thing
just get an iRiver h120 and a 9v battery box
SP-BMC-2 will make some decent recordings
SP-BMC-2>9vBattbox>H120 looks like a good starter rig :)
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instead of ipod and the belkin thing
just get an iRiver h120 and a 9v battery box
SP-BMC-2 will make some decent recordings
SP-BMC-2>9vBattbox>H120 looks like a good starter rig :)
Thanks man, but I already have ipod and TuneTalk :'(
Peace
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instead of ipod and the belkin thing
just get an iRiver h120 and a 9v battery box
SP-BMC-2 will make some decent recordings
SP-BMC-2>9vBattbox>H120 looks like a good starter rig :)
Thanks man, but I already have ipod and TuneTalk :'(
Peace
well if thats what u got for now then that will work
then u can upgrade your rig later when u feel this is the right hobby for you :)
remember - a 'lower quality' rig is better than no rig at all :D
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Hi guys
Here is one sample that I did with Tunetalk.
Just for test with Sound Professional mic and battery.
http://www.blackcrowes.com.br/sample_01.wav (http://www.blackcrowes.com.br/sample_01.wav)
SP-BMC-2 > SP-SPSB-8 Battery >Tunetalk > Ipod 60Gb > USB > MACBOOK
Is not so clean.
Have some ups and downs.
I'll try use Audio Cleaning Lab to see what happen
Any help with ACL or how can I make this record better? How can I clean this?
Thanks
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wow that sounds kinda shitty :(
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wow that sounds kinda shitty :(
Yup. I know :(
I'll make some other tests.
Peace
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Just curious if you've had any luck with this setup. I will soon have the same setup as soon as Darren at Giant Squid gets around to sending me my mic!
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Come on guys, let's be nice. It's not shitty, it's just a stage of an experiment in progress. ;D
I wonder if this is operating on AGC (automatic gain control)? What AGC does is try to raise the gain in the quiet parts, and lower it in loud parts. Good for recording a meeting in a conference room, bad for rock concerts. If you can disable that, you probably should. One constant level is probably better, even if you can't control it. At least I would say it's worth a try.
I noticed that when I play it (I use xmms, like media player) the bar graphs show lots of low end, lots of high end, and low in the middle. Not typical. I think you've got something EQ'ing the hell out of it.
Were you running those mics in stealth mode, even in a show like the black crowes which allows open taping? if you tape a band that allows taping (like the crows), get your mics out in the open, even if it's just a little over everyone's head taped to a stick or something. Ever notice that when you sit down at a show when everyone else is standing up it gets muffled? It might sound something like that recording.
I would say make sure everything works in steps:
step 1: confirm the ability to record a line level output under controlled conditions.... run line out of a computer or stereo into the Belkin and get a good result. Then you can walk up to one of us tapers with bigger gear and say "Can I please get a patch?" and get good results.
step 2: go to your buddies place with a huge stereo and crank it all the way up through his speakers, and try to record that on your mics. Make sure you can do that. Chances are a concert will be several dBs louder than that, but it's a good start.
Hope that helps.
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Well, I couldn't get my Belkin to work very well. With autogain on I got no sound, with it off I got VERY low sound. No I used the mics without the battery box. I need to get a 9Volt before I can try that.
Luckily, I won a R-09 on eBay so hopefully my mics will work with that.
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Heh, it's been a while since I've been able to get on here, and though I was able to get a sample online I never got around to posting it! :-X These FLACs should provide a good comparison... the first one is a "good" recording of a Zappa Plays Zappa concert several months ago that someone made as a stack recording, and the second one is the iPod + TuneTalk (with the auto-gain turned on, if I remember right... it sounds a bit clippy to me anyway, but it's something I can live with for an experiment) from up in the mid-balcony with the TuneTalk and its built-in mics aimed kind of towards the ceiling, heh (I'm not sure exactly what direction they're really aimed - outwards? upwards?). It's the same song ("The Black Page") and it starts out with solely percussion and then guitars etc. about halfway through. Unfortunately, I don't have the details of the "good" recording anymore so all I remember from the .torrent was that it was a stack recording. I don't think I fiddled with the TuneTalk version of the recording much, though, so it should give you a pretty good idea of how it might stand up against more standard equipment.
"good" version (http://www.radiokrud.com/krud/sample_tunetalk_recordings/good-the_black_page.flac)
tunetalk version (http://www.radiokrud.com/krud/sample_tunetalk_recordings/tunetalk-the_black_page.flac)