Topic: recording problem last night -- help with diagnosis

[dmonkey]

I was listening to my DBT recording from last night and found something I haven't encountered before. You can grab a sample of the recording from the link below (careful with the sound, I didn't fade the sample in). About a minute into the sample you'll hear my problem. Is this a cable issue? Sounds like a connection problem, but I could swear that the bag was just sitting there and I wasn't moving things around when this happened. The problem area affects the rest of this song at which point it sort of crackles back over to normal sound similar to how it crackled into this section.

Running MC930s > MixPre > R-09.

Granted, the "normal" sound ain't all that great, but I'm just wondering what would cause this. Patch cable from preamp to deck? Microphone cables? Preamp?   

>>>link removed<<<

The only song this really affected was "The Righteous Path"... so perhaps this is a sign from God.   

[boojum]

It is kind of hard to diagnose without the failing parts: the hardware.  Here is my suggestion: hook it all up as you had it last night.  Hit the record button and wiggle one thing at a time from the mics on back and listen on the earphones.  You will know when you find it, if it is in that chain.   

[jacobmyers]

 It sounds like you were tugging at those wimpy 3.5mm interconnects and then "pop" goes one channel. You know; just "halfway out" of the jack. Then a little wiggle and "pop" it goes back in. Or maybe it's barely making contact in the first place. Or there's a short in the cable, which isn't at all out of the question. Or one of the jacks has broken loose from its position on the circuit board. Again; your problem is the 3.5mm interconnects.

 And, as boojum said, these problems are well-nigh impossible to diagnose without seeing the hardware firsthand. Since you happen to have the hardware handy, it's easiest for you to do your own troubleshooting. And boojum's "wiggle check" is just an easy way of checking for electrical continuity in the cables and jacks. The good news is that repairing cables and jacks is relatively easy.

[dmonkey]

Yeah, in hindsight I suppose trying to troubleshoot something like is next to impossible without seeing the equipment. I'll set it up tomorrow night and play around with it. I just haven't had something like that happen before, and I'm usually pretty "anal" about being careful moving my stuff around and making sure that everything stays plugged in. But who knows...

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.