Welcome Pats and you've come to the right place for information.
Many of us have run all sorts of gear over the years (I started with an analog recordable AIWA walkman and lapel/tie mic back in '92 and have run everything under the sun since.
The Sony M10 is a great little device with a great noise-floor and small form factor. A battery box is definitely a must when it comes to running any small microphone otherwise you'll run into a chance of distortion especially since you like hard rock and metal. You'll also want mics that have a 4.7k mod done (that was devised by Chris Church for Audio Techinica mics like the A853/AT933/AT943 series) -- without the mod, and if you're stack taping, you'll overload the mics; I've managed that a few times over the years before I learned about the mod.
Battery boxes are a simple route to go but I'd really suggest looking at a preamp as it will give you some flexibility. You never know if some hard rock band/artist is gonna do an "unplugged" thing like Chris Cornell just did and a preamp will save your bacon.
As far as mics go, I generally suggest people have both omnis and cards available. Omnis are (generally) more natural sounding as they pick up sounds like our ears do, however, if you've got a lot of chatty people around you, you're gonna pick that up as well. Omnis work well when stack taping. This is where cards come in handy as they're good for deflecting noise on the sides and to the back of you and picking up sound further ahead (when you're standing back in the club). I've always like the CA-14 cards and omnis as well as the Audio Techinica (AT) 853 mics that Darktrain often sells. It's a toss-up between the 853's and the CA-14's (I might give the 853's the edge but others would give the CA-14's the edge so it's really personal preferrence). When Darktrain sells new old stock of those, they usually go for US$130 for a single mic (which is a great deal).
But you couldn't have timed this any better, either, as Chris Church (of Church Audio) just put on a special limited "blowout sale" on his 9200 preamp with TWO sets of CA-14 mics (cardioids and omnis) for US$150 + shipping. Normally he was charging $299 + shipping for this exact package (even with his recent 25 or 30% sales, it doesn't come close to this). The preamp alone runs US$179 + shipping right now and the mics were $119 a piece. I'd strongly suggest picking up the limited edition package if you can get in on it.
Limited edition of 12 packages found here (right now, I see 6 or 7 people). Chris said it doesn't happen unless 12 people are in:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=165920.0Normal pricing is found here:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=162852.0As I posted in that thread, I would've picked up that package had I not placed an order for some other gear he makes. For $150 (for a GREAT preamp and two good sets of mics) + shipping, you'd be foolish to pass it up.
Topic: Microphone Help (Read 1970 times)