Topic: Sony PCM-M10 + ECM-719 + Metal concert

[Justinovitch]

Hey guys,

I have sold my Zoom H2N and got myself a PCM-M10. I will record my first show tomorrow and it will be a loud metal concert. I will be standing in the crowd about halfway from the stage ( 1000 seater hall ). I want to use my Sony ECM-719 external mic and clip it on my shirt and put the M10 in my pocket. Any tips on settings? Low cut yes / no, gain settings etc. The band is Cradle of Filth, so it's gonna get really loud

[fandelive]

I don't know about the PCM-M10 settings, but put a battery into your ECM-719 and use the "line-in" of the recorder.

[George]

Low cut off
Try the rec volume at 5 and go from there, not familiar with the microphone at all, but the higher up it is the better sound you will get from it.

[emcdos]

I don't know about the PCM-M10 settings, but put a battery into your ECM-719 and use the "line-in" of the recorder.

I think the ECM-719 has its own battery (button type) inside, so it wound´t be essential to connect it to another one... (I have ran the ECM-717 which I think is similar in this regard).... "line-in" and 24 bits would be very recommended indeed, and try not to be too much close to the stage... I´d go for a stack recording (my ECM-717 never satisficed me in dead center or so), starting around 15 metres from the stack, and after incresing/decreasing the distance depending on the SPL... good luck and happy taping!

[Justinovitch]

I don't know about the PCM-M10 settings, but put a battery into your ECM-719 and use the "line-in" of the recorder.

I think the ECM-719 has its own battery (button type) inside, so it wound´t be essential to connect it to another one... (I have ran the ECM-717 which I think is similar in this regard).... "line-in" and 24 bits would be very recommended indeed, and try not to be too much close to the stage... I´d go for a stack recording (my ECM-717 never satisficed me in dead center or so), starting around 15 metres from the stack, and after incresing/decreasing the distance depending on the SPL... good luck and happy taping!

I can power my mic using the M10 but yes, I can insert a battery in the mic ( LR44 ). Is that better? Thanks in advance and thanks for the advice so far guys

[emcdos]

If you go Line-in, I think you can´t power the mic with just only the M10, ...the plug-in-power would work going through Mic-in... not sure what could be technically better, but in the doubt and considering it´s a metal concert, I´d go for Line-in + LR44 battery...

[yousef]

When I was using a minidisk and an ECM-717 I always found that going mic-in and powering the mic from the deck led to distortion. Putting a cell in the mic and going line-in was fine.

Not sure if the difference was due to the higher sensitivity of the mic input or because the mic was insufficiently powered but if I was taping a loud gig I'd definitely go the safe route and use the line-in.

[Justinovitch]

Got it.

To recap, put in a LR44 battery and go Line-in, switch the mic to the '' music '' setting, no low cut and rec volume at 5? Thanks a bunch I will post something when I'm back tomorrow for those interested

[F.O.Bean]

Got it.

To recap, put in a LR44 battery and go Line-in, switch the mic to the '' music '' setting, no low cut and rec volume at 5? Thanks a bunch I will post something when I'm back tomorrow for those interested

Best of luck

[emcdos]

Got it.

To recap, put in a LR44 battery and go Line-in, switch the mic to the '' music '' setting, no low cut and rec volume at 5? Thanks a bunch I will post something when I'm back tomorrow for those interested

...in a metal concert, be careful with the rec volume at 5 at the knob.. I think it could be a lot depending on the SPL and the distance from the PA... I would start at 3 at the knob and after had started the concert would play with the rec level (knob), trying to keep the bars on the screen at -12db or so... I would go conservative under this circuntances....

[Justinovitch]

Hey guys!

The gig was great, a real shame I had to miss half of it though ( bands were delayed and I had to leave to catch my last train of the night ). I recorded all of the songs I saw and I am pretty pleased with the result. The keyboards  were pretty low in the mix and I used the following settings: Line-in for the ECM-719, switched it to the music setting, low cut off and rec level 5, like you guys told me. Here is one of the songs I recorded ( yes , Youtube is a crappy way to show it )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irlzi9J2aig

HOWEVER, considering it is my first recording, a few things I noticed.

I had to increase the volume bigtime with the audio editing program my M10 came with ( didn't mind that much though ). I can hear some audience noise here and there ( on other recorded songs ) , something to do with the recording / gain settings? And I recorded one song while holding my phone near the mic which caused annoying static on my recording, but that was my own fault ( I had to check my train schedule ).

The band was really loud and I accidentaly recorded some of the warm-up band with the internal mics and they were distorted beyond belief, so the external mic was a good choice ;P

Thanks for the advice everyone

[fmaderjr]

Interesting band.....

Your mic did a surprisingly good just with the spoken intro, but once the music starts it leaves a whole lot to be desired and I'm really not super particular (a good recording in Mini-Disc SP mode sounds great to  me). That's assuming the concert sounded good in the venue. I've recorded shows with CA-14's that were so loud at the venue that the sound system was distorting and of course the recording can't be better than the sound at the venue.

You invested a lot in your recorder, living in Europe. When you have the money I highly recommend getting a battery box and Church Audio CA-14's. You'll notice a clearly audibly improvement in your recordings. Or if you don't want to deal with a battery box you could try the slightly lesser quality (but still great) CA-11's straight into the mic input.  Chris Church doesn't recommend it , but many members here say CA-11's or AT-853's work great straight into an M10.