Hi guys. New to this board. I hear you guys are really friendly with n00bs. I'm hoping it's the case...
I'm not a n00b to taping. I've been doing it for the past five years or so, and run a website where I host my recordings in FLAC and MP3. You can check it out if you want at htp://www.haterhigh.com . Some of my recordings have also ended up on Archive.org and DimeADozen and probably a few other places I'm not aware of. Enough with the intro.
My set up is SP-CMC-2 > SP-SPSB-11-80036 > Edirol R-09hr.
I'm having a problems with this set-up that's driving me crazy. My recordings are coming out crazy distorted (and they seem to be getting worse). If you look at the soundwave, you can see the "bottom" part of the wave on each channel is much smaller. See attached image for a screen grab.
Definitely a problem. I contacted Sound Professionals, the chaps who I bought the Mics from, and they said, "Nope, that's definitely your recorder's A/D converter. Our mics are all analog, so that couldn't possibly be the mics." So, okay. I contact Edirol and they say, "Nope, that's definitely your mics. There's no way our recorder could do that. Check the internal mics and see how they fare." Obviously, the internal mics are fine, but not optimal for my stealth taping jobs.
Anyway, both companies claim the other party is to blame, and are willing to double check their diagnosis...for a fee.
I work a shit part time job and have an 11-month old baby at home. I have no ads on my site, and virtually no budget to play with the back-and-forth on the equipment. Unfortunately, I don't know any other near by tapers well enough to ask to meet up and try their mics in my gear, and vice verse, so I'm hoping one of you people more familiar with how these things work can save me a lot of headache and say "Replace the Edirol" or "Replace the mics." I really, really would appreciate any input your guys have, and you have no idea the stress you would help lift off my shoulder by helping me find a solution to my problem.
If you're so inclined, I'd also be interested in the "why" this happens.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and hopefully help me out. This n00b appreciates it.