Thank you all for those very instructive bits.
Chris Church recommends setting the recorder at unity gain to start (about 38 for the HR) and the ST-9100 at 90-100% of full gain (assuming the clipping light isn't coming on, and the show would need to be really loud for that to happen). Then if more gain needed you can get it from the recorder. This is how most members here that have posted about it use the 9100/HR combo.
That's a good way to start, thank you for the tip !
Regardless of what you decide for your gain mix, I'd make sure you're aware of the unity gain setting on the R-09HR and set your R-09HR accordingly. While it's not a requirement to stay below it, you risk having distorted recordings (without realizing it until you get home) on the louder live shows if you set the R-09HR above the unity gain setting.
Thank you, I wasn't aware about the unity gain at all !!
Does that mean that if I set the ST-9100 at 90-100% of full gain and the Edirol R09-HR above 38, there's a risk of distortion ?
My mics are 4.7k (Chris Chruch) modded MM-HLSC-1's. I made a test yesterday at home in front of a speaker. I pushed the volume high, but it was definitely not as high as an average rock concert would be.
With the ST-9100 set at 90-100% of full gain and the Edirol R09-HR set at 38, the results were barely audible.
I had to crank up the input level of the Edirol at 80 (100%) to get good results (and no distortion).
I got my MM-HLSC-1's modded because they couldn't handle loud hard rock concerts bass and bass drums.
They were prefect for David Gray, but I got distorted results with Skunk Anansie or Nickelback for example. Still, the input volume never reached the 0dB limit in my Skunk Anansie or Nickelback tapes and the peak indicator never lighted on the Edirol during recording. So the problem was not about a bad input level setting I guess.
Tonedeaf : when you're talking about possible distortion with gain set above unity on the R09-HR, is it a general statement made on the average loud rock shows sound level or has it more to do with the rig parts capacity to handle loud bass / bass drums ? (I mean, whatever if the input levels settings are good and never reach the 0dB peak).
I'm asking this because you're talking about
distorted recordings (without realizing it until you get home) and that's exactly what happened before my mics got modded. (didn't try the modded mics + ST-9100 preamp yet).