Topic: Left channel dropouts on M-10?

[hardrain62]

I sifted through as many pages of the M-10 mega-threads as possible before breaking down and starting a new thread. My apologies if this has already been covered.

Anyway, I taped (rig: CMC8 >SPSB10> M10) a gig on Tuesday night and noticed while checking the levels on my barely-used M-10 that sometimes when I checked, nothing was registering in the left channel. Upon playback, it is clear that the left channel is dropping out from time to time. It can last from just a few seconds to 7 or 8 minutes. I had another gig lined up for last night, so before the show, I did some minor adjustments to my rig -- unscrewed and rescrewed the mic caps, inspected all my cables, etc. and my product for last night's gig was similar, with the left channel dropouts. I really don't know what to attribute the dropouts to. I've used my M-10 probably only about 10 - 15 times so far and it has never been dropped or damaged. My CMC8's have been used less than 10 times. The batt box and its cable have been used probably 50-75 times. Any ideas? Luckily I'm not terribly distraught over the experience because the right channel was unaffected, so the recordings in dual-mono will still sound good, but it's still very troublesome...

Would appreciate any feedback/experience!

[Toke]

I would feed in a totally different signal as a test, like an mp3 player or something and see if it's the unit or elsewhere in your chain.  Use a different cable if you can.

[Drgiggles1]

I had the same thing happen to me last year but with the right channel My problem turned out to be a low budget cable I used to connect a pre to the M10. Haven't had any issues since having Ted make me a short quality cable.

[ilduclo]

I had my d50 go out starting in a similar fashion, first dropouts on one channel, then the on/off went wanky. it had to go to sony for fixies, not on warranty.....

[earmonger]

Just check each part of the chain.

Start by connecting something else to the PCM-M10.

If it really is the jack, you should still be under warranty--but my first suspects would be the battbox and cables.

[fmaderjr]

Not likely to be something seriously wrong with the M10. Most likely its dirty 1/8 plugs/jacks in the microphone > battery box > M10 chain.

Following guysonic's advice has cured this type of problem for a lot of tapers:
Clean & recondition noisy mic. jacks with 91 - 99% pure isopropyl alcohol. Repeatedly insert a headphone type plug soaked to the point of dripping (filling the alcohol bottle cap and dipping only the metal part of the mini-plug works well) into the mic. jack until any connection noise disappears. Monitor the progress with a set of headphones while the deck is in a record function. Rotating the microphones plug should not produce audible noise with cleaned and conditioned contacts. Applying a contact conditioner to already cleaned plug and jack metal parts (Stereo retailer & Sonic Studios available Pro-Gold by Caig Labs works great) once to several times a year will help protect contacts from corrosion/wear and from producing noise for much longer between cleanings.

CAUTION ADVISED: AVOID PLACING CONTACT CLEANER ON ANYTHING BUT THE METAL CONNECTOR PARTS; Plastics can be softened, discolored, and even dissolved! This may actually coat the very metal contacts intended for cleaning! Fortunately, deck input jacks are reasonably resistant to alcohol and most ‘plastic safe’ cleaners when used occasionally and with care.
WARNING: Never spray anything into the jacks on a deck. Most Mini-DECK jacks are not the enclosed type anymore, but are open, allowing sprays to go where they can cause mechanical problems with the tape transport mechanisms and coat the tape heads. Use the method described above with the mini-plug OR purchase a special insertable cleaning brush from CAIG or Sonic Studios (a round shaver cleaning brush may also be used with careful attention to the delicate nature of these mini-jacks).

Do this with all 3 connections (mic to battery box, battery box to 1/8 cable, and 1/8 cable to M10 and most likely you'll be fine.

[adrianf74]

My first thought is a cable in the chain.   Have you tried recording line in from a regular source (other than the mics) to test to see if it's the M10?  Have you attempted to re-create this issue?  Perhaps one of the mic cables has a short in it?  Or the lead from the battery box to the M10 has a small break in it?  Barring that, what fmadejr says is the next logical step.   Sucks when this happen.

I had a similar issue happen with newly built mics and it turned out to be a termination issue in the minijack connector (when I opened that, I could see the ground wire was slightly lose causing intermittent loss).   

[fmaderjr]

Certainly could be the cable, but the battery box and cable have been used 50-75 times. Plenty of chance for the connections to get dirty. I would first follow guy's cleaning instructions to see if that's the problem. Basically dip the mic plug in iso alcohol and twist it around in the battery box jack. Then do the same with the battery box cable's plug. Since the cable has been successfully used 50-75 times, I think it's more likely to have gotten dirty than gone bad. It'd easy to do and has a great chance of solving the problem.