Distorted Recording....

[lg]

This past Friday night, our band x Double Cross x, played a Gig and I recorded the
entire performance using the built-in mic. I placed the BR on the floor in front of me
on stage and adjusted the input level to 80%. And I recorded to an mp3, so as
to get the entire concert recorded without having to fiddle around with the BR
whilst on stage.
I'm sure you can imagine my frustration when later the next day, I listened to what
was recorded and discovered the it was distorted a bit!
I am disappointed of course, but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for me,
for future instances?
Do I need a better mic? Or is it an operator error?
HELP?

LG

[Dmann]

 move the MicroBR farther away and up off the floor level, Always record dry. Do a 20 second warm up and use headphones to check it before proceeding with the show. People will understand that you need to a quick sound check prior to playing.

 I've been doing just that and recording our jams. I only run Vocals through my small PA and I don't have mains, so I'm just using 2 wedge floor monitors and nothing else is mic'd. I found that floor level dosen't grab the frequencies well, so we use a small coffee table that sits about 2.5 feet off the ground, and place the Micro BR at least 5 feet away from the drums, Usually behind the guy in the middle (stage center). We all stand facing the drums. My jam room is about 300 square feet. We play pretty loud too.

 In addition, I also use no effects and record dry, setting the sensitivity around -5 to -8 depending on how loud we are playing because my son is always screwing with his sound. Anyways, I always record to 2 tracks (stereo link) and remember it's recorded digitally so even though the level seems low all the frequiencies are recorded. you can then master it to bring up the overall level and add some dynamics and EQ.

 hope this helps. I'll post a sample in a bit.

[guitarron]

laying flat it on the floor is probably not the best way to situate it
Being it only has one mic-youre  gonna have to find a sweet spot in the room to catch every thing evenly
your could use a electret type stereo mic(Sony's for $2 plus $8 shipping from
China)-which would probably sound a little better
best to get a feed from the mixer and use it line in if ya can-

keep in mind if you use a mixer whatever is not micd or line into the mixer will not show up on-except for the bleed thru of course-which sometimes is helpful


you must trial and error to find the levels if mixed

you must trial and error different spots and levels to ya get it right if ya mic it

search this forum there-are many- i mean many people who record live with this little wonder box
ya just gotta find what works


distortion could be from setting input levels too high or from the vibrations from the floor
hope this helps

[Davo]

You need to tilt it towards the stage, set input levels in the ballpark, and if nothing else-under effects SET TO LIMIT ONLY.

Digital overload is not a good thing.  Set the mic back for better results-what you hear on stage is not what the crowd wants to hear.  Thats  sometimes hard for musicians to accept, since we can "hear" just fine-and it sounds good

Sound is a crazy mofo-and if physics taught me one thing-its that sound rarely works in the way you think it does.

[Tony W]

All the above, and I can't recommend this enough

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=4386.0

I'm using this non-stop now, especially with acoustic work. I Leave the mic clip on it when the MBR is sitting on the desk. If you have a spare mic stand this is exactly how I'd go with it.

Again, you'll probably want to drop the gain of the mic input. It's much easier to bump audio up than to work with clipped audio.

[Davo]

Tony is right-I just got my clip and it already is giving me better recordings.

[Glenn Mitchell]

I love mine too.(home made). Use it all the time