Topic: line in or mic in that is the question!

[nicegrin]

I know this subject has been touched before, but I want to hear more opinions about it...

The question is should one use line in or mic in when recording with an edirol r09 + a batterybox?

The standard answer seem to be line in for moderately to loud shows and mic in otherwise...

But...

Some days ago i recorded a pretty loud rock concert with Edirol r09 + bb box + sony ecm 717.
Then there was another show afterwards (also RNR) that i recorded. For the first gig i used line in, for the second gig i used mic in.

I much more prefer the sound i had from mic in than line in. Sounds more "present" in some way... Hm... Hard to describe soundimage with words but I kind of got a "warmer" sound with mic in even though i set the levels to pretty much the same. Atleast that is my impression.

Normally i use other mics (hlsc-1) so i need to try to record also some shows with them using both line in and mic in for comparison reasons. But since I recorded a pretty loud rock concert with the ecm 717 mic in without brickwalling I guess the HLSCs will not have any problem either when used with mic in... Or am i missing something in my way of reasoning here?

What are your experiances? What are the pros and cons of using line in and mic in? Is there any reason why i should not use mic in except for the possibility of brickwalling?

Thanx!

[itook2much]

I've used mic-in (due to busted line-in jack) with no problems.  I've found that the mic-in runs 8dB hotter than the line-in.

[Arni99]

Your Sony ecm-719 is a low-sensitivity mic.
Actually the only mic I could use on MIC-in with my old MD-recorders at loud rock shows.

That´s why you should use mic-in on your R09 with THIS particular mic.

Using high-sensitive mics, LINE-IN is the way to go for loud rock-shows as the output of the mic coming into the R09 is much higher compared to your Sony ecm-719.

I would choose plug-in power activated on the R09 and remove the sony-ecm-719 internal battery.
 

[nicegrin]

so an additional question.  If you are recording mic in or line in - 8 db (this corresponds to 8 steps on the edirol right?) you are suppose to get the same results? true?
Or is there also a difference in soundimage between line in and mic in, that' s what i would like to know...

Thanx!

[tms]

Wow, I've been wondering that too.  Glad to see you heard a difference, I'll have to try it and see which is better to my ears too. 

Mines a little different b/c there would be an extention cord in the mix, the SP AT-853 mics don't have a very long cord.  Not sure which is better, mics>ext cord>mic-in R-09 or mics>SPSB-1>line-in R-09?

[itook2much]

Not sure which is better, mics>ext cord>mic-in R-09 or mics>SPSB-1>line-in R-09?

You'll want to go mics > SPSB-1 > mic-in if you use it.  Disable the plug-in power using the R-09's menu.  You'll get better powering for the mics using the battery box.

Did my last show mics > SPSB-6 > R-09 mic-in (plug-in power off, lo-cut off).

[Per]

taped slayer in june with mk4 > nbox > r-09 . I was going line in on the r-09, but then the inevitable happened. The line input broke (as on many r-09 decks it seems). I noticed it and was forced to switch to mic input. The result was a crunching overloading bass (even though the levels were not up to 0db/clipping). I think the mic input overloaded.

[itook2much]

I think the mic input overloaded.

It very well may have.  I don't know about your specific nbox, but I've seen them listed as providing 17-20dB gain, which may have caused the overloading.

[nicegrin]

someone wrote here that he found out that the mic-in adds another 8 db compared to line in. Does this mean that the optimal levels on the edirol should be -8 notches compared with the perfect levels when using line in, regardless what the levelindicators show on the edirol while recording mic in?
If so you might want to use mic in but peaking at -8 db at most?  Anyone who did some experiments?

[itook2much]

Only experiment I did was to feed the same signal comparing the levels.  Line-in required 8dB more to match levels on the mic-in.