Topic: HELP WHIT MY NEW PREAMP

[ribbons]

HI I´M NEW HERE, MY NAME´S DIEGO, AND I´M FROM MADRID (SPAIN)

I started to tape about 3 years ago, and my equipment is a sony hi-md mzrh10 + church audio batery box+ ca11
i had a good result whit this but i had a problem:
using  line in and manual gain ,and  turning the volume limiter the entire way up, the maximum volume is still too low.
Always the recordings was great but a bit low, I normally use soundforge to remaster a bit and i´m quite happy whit the result.
now I got the SP PREAMP so my question is how do i put the levels(both md and pream)for having a good recording???

I don´t know so much about preamp so I´ll need your help
looking in the net i found out this:

normally I tape loud gigs so, do i have to use 0db in the premp?? if so, the other 2 options in which situations??

about the minidisc I think the limiter should have to be all the way up(for the best overall dinamic range and lowest signal noise ratio)??

and about the preamp the knob at the beggining all the way down and start to put it up untill I get a decent level that doesn´t brickwalling???

ANY EXPERIENCE WHIT BOTH THE PREAMP AND THE HI-MD??

any advise will be very helpfull

thanks in advance

[Chris K]

if I read this correctly, you are using a Sound Professionals SP-Preamp.  if so I would think that if your recording levels are too low and that you would NOT want to use the 0dB seting, but would rather use the HIGH gain setting using the dipswitch. Try with the high gain setting and the level knob at 50%. If its too much gain and you are overloading, try using the LOW. It is going to take a bit of experimentation on your behalf.

Good luck Diego from Madrid

[ribbons]

thanks for replying me Chris K.
my english is not as good as i´d like   


yes i got the sound profesional preamp.(http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PREAMP)

but haven´t had the chance to use it yet, probably in a couple of weeks in a gig

I mean that i got low levels whit the church audio batery box!   
using line in whit the bateryy box and whit the recorder level all the way up,the maximum volumen was still too low

"it´s because I decided to buy the preamp"

and my question is how to adjust the levels correctly

i want to know when to use 0db or 22db?? I normally go to rock shows whit loud music

and I want to know if it´s true that in the minidisc the recording level should be at the maximum using manual gain of course???
and adjust the level from the knob in the preamp

this is what i found out in the net but as i haven´t had the chance to use the SP preamp, i´m not familiar whit it yet

so if someone have this preamp and know how to use it properly, any advise will be welcome...

[sunjan]

The RH10 is supposed to have a good quality built-in pre. I don't really see that the SP pre would give any major improvement, as long as your settings are right.

CA-11 > CA bbox > RH10 should work fine, but you must remember to go mic-in, not line-in.
CA-11 > SP preamp > RH10 might be OK too, going line-in. (with this chain you would add the gain using the pre, no gain from the recorder)

The potential issue juggling Church and SP gear is that the Church mics won't get powered properly. I'd ask Chris Church what he thinks about this.

[Church-Audio]

thanks for replying me Chris K.
my english is not as good as i´d like   


yes i got the sound profesional preamp.(http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PREAMP)

but haven´t had the chance to use it yet, probably in a couple of weeks in a gig

I mean that i got low levels whit the church audio batery box!   
using line in whit the bateryy box and whit the recorder level all the way up,the maximum volumen was still too low

"it´s because I decided to buy the preamp"

and my question is how to adjust the levels correctly

i want to know when to use 0db or 22db?? I normally go to rock shows whit loud music

and I want to know if it´s true that in the minidisc the recording level should be at the maximum using manual gain of course???
and adjust the level from the knob in the preamp

this is what i found out in the net but as i haven´t had the chance to use the SP preamp, i´m not familiar whit it yet

so if someone have this preamp and know how to use it properly, any advise will be welcome...

My battery box is not a preamp so you will not get any gain from it. I suggest using the battery box with the mic input on your MD. That should give you plenty of gain for most applications.

If you want to use the SP preamp I suggest using it line in only and using the +22 db setting or medium gain. Because 0 DB will be just like my battery box and +50 will be to much gain for a concert.

Remember you don't need to shoot for 0 db on the meters as a matter of fact I recommend going for -10 to -15 db on average and getting the remainder of the gain in post.

Also just testing this at home... will not give you the same type of levels you will get at an actual concert. You will have to tweak things at the show for the first few times until you get a handle on your rig. Nobody here can say set it like this and it will work.. Not even me. All I can say is the preamp set to +22 line input you should be in the ball park or battery box mic input low sens you should be in the ball park. But until you get to the ball park you wont know

Hope this helps.


Chris Church