Topic: AT4041 with Zoom F3- am I getting clipping due to the mics ?

[grzy7316]

I have a par of audio technica AT4041 mics with a Zoom F3.  Looking at the results of my recording, am I dealing with some clipping here due to the mics ? I was in 32 bit mode for the recording, and did not have any option to adjust gain.   Do I need to put something between the F3 and the mics to lower the gain going into the F3 ?

[LeChti]

No, that's the goal of 32bit float : what looks saturated is possible to recover !
It looks like you're using Audacity : select all your audio > Effect > Amplification ....and if your version works like mine, the "default" amplification will be negative and bring you with a max level of 0 dB : you then recover a good waveform, without any distortion !

[grzy7316]

Thanks for the tip. When I saw the tops of the  waveforms being squared off in audacity, I thought that meant there was clipping coming from  the mics. One more thing I realized  was that the 80hz filter  on the side of the mics was  on when they arrived, which is a bit of a bummer, but I have that turned off for next time

[grawk]

analog clipping wouldn't look like a brick wall (if you peaked below 0), it would just be distortion.