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Re: mic pre with headphone out

Subject: Re: mic pre with headphone out
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 17:31:25 -0400
Rob Danielson wrote:

> >I noticed last night that Sound Devices makes a holder for the NP series
> >video camera battery pacs. I use these pacs with my digital camera, so
> >that may be attractive. Those are 7.2 volts and something like 1500mAh
> >for the current ones. I've only got a old one here right now, and it's
> >marked 1200mAh. They are also Li-ion technology. They are common enough
> >that they are a fairly standard item at Radio Shack. They would be far
> >less bulky than your D pac.
>
> Good tip. those D's are ~1/3 weight of normal bats

A NP series battery would weigh about the same as one of your D's.

Do note you'd have to find another way to power the dat.

> Yes, just starting tho. I'm under the impression that since there's
> no encoding-- using m-s  monitoring is just to get an approximate
> idea.  I just saturate both channels and have been able to adjust the
> image with the Hyperpism plug in Peak. The WAVES m-s plug I have is
> non adjustable so maybe avoid this one? But,.. m-s is a pain in this
> regard because all the files need adjustments before they can be
> played.

Since you have Peak, check your plugins under the VST subsection. You
should find mda image, a free decoder. It looks pretty good, several
different adjustments available, I just recently noticed it, need to
record some M/S and see.

If it's not in Peak, you can get it from here:
http://www.maxim.abel.co.uk/effects.htm

The MP-2 allows you to get the stereo directly, either feeding it just
to the headphones or headphones & recorder. So, as long as you are happy
to adjust the image at record, no hassle.

> >Have you used the limiter on the MP-2? How much does it muck things up?
>
> I love the limiter. You can set it to get maximum headroom and
> activate only when distortion is unavoidable without it.  I set my
> line iput level on my DAT (with full mp-2 output falling just below
> clipping on the DAT The factory limiter now eliminates everything
> above -.1dB. Like magic.  The limiter has made many tough luck
> recordings much more usable-- especially when the overmod period is
> short.  There's also a headphone overmod light and I've been
> surprised how many times the headphone amp is actually doing the
> distorting when I thot it was in the record path. But I usually
> monitor the recorder.

Sounds very hopeful.

Yep, headphone amps are often a problem. We turn them up to check
something and then forget to crank them back down.

Instructions I saw somewhere on setting the MP-2 up talked about feeding
it pink noise at a level that just blinked the 16dB LED at full up and
then setting the DAT to -4 dB on it's meter. Then you were supposed to
be able to do all adjustments on the MP-2 without fear of clipping the
DAT. Apparently the MP-2 clips at 20-22 dB. Sound about right?

Walt



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