Topic: Need taping advice (bass roll off) with DAT and SP-CMC-19's

[killer37]

Hi guys,

I'll firstly start by saying i'm not a taper, so go easy.    I'm using borrowed gear. I'd never taped a show until last night.

So basically i have this setup:

Sound Pros-CMC-19 (mounted in hat SP-HMS-1) -> Sound Pros-SPSB-1 -> Sony TCD-D100 (DAT)

I used this setup to tape a band last night in a large arena. I had the bass-roll off set at 95hz, and the recording came out like this (30-second MP3 clip):

http://www.simonkilmore.co.uk/clip.mp3

Very bassy and overdriven. So my question is what can i do to improve this results for tomorrow night in a similar arena venue? The obvious thing seems to be to increase the bass-roll off, but to what would be reccomended? I had the DAT set to 20db MIC ATT and manually set the levels at about halfway.

Also, i have floor tickets, what distance is recommended to be from the stage?

Thanks for any help.

[Liquid Drum]

Hmmmmm...

Judging my the sample, no bass roll-off will help you. That is waaaaaaaaay too distorted to have been a roll-off issue. Plus it sounds like all the high-end is distorted also.

This sounds very strange. I'm not a pro so could be wrong, but I think you might have had the input level too high maybe??

[killer37]

Hmmmmm...

Judging my the sample, no bass roll-off will help you. That is waaaaaaaaay too distorted to have been a roll-off issue. Plus it sounds like all the high-end is distorted also.

This sounds very strange. I'm not a pro so could be wrong, but I think you might have had the input level too high maybe??

Input level was at about -12db throughout. Do you think it is just the limit of the mics? I may have been too close to the source aswell, although they did another set in the middle of the arena much further away and it still has the same issues.

[Liquid Drum]

Hmmmmm...

Judging my the sample, no bass roll-off will help you. That is waaaaaaaaay too distorted to have been a roll-off issue. Plus it sounds like all the high-end is distorted also.

This sounds very strange. I'm not a pro so could be wrong, but I think you might have had the input level too high maybe??

Input level was at about -12db throughout. Do you think it is just the limit of the mics? I may have been too close to the source aswell, although they did another set in the middle of the arena much further away and it still has the same issues.

Yea, might be the mics overloading. I can't be sure though 100% because I'm not good with all this technical stuff, lol.

[hi and lo]

With a sony D100/M1, running mic in and the attenuator pad on, the preamp is overloading if you have to set the levels below 4.5 to prevent clipping. Essentially, the signal is too hot regardless of what your levels are at. If you run into this situation, you'll notice the levels become less responsive and don't 'jump' with the peaks in the music.

The solution is to use an attenuator cable between the battery box and deck. If you don't have an attenuator cable, switch to line in. You're levels might be less than desirable, but it won't be distorted.