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Re: inverting a track on a stereo recording to increase gain....huh?

Subject: Re: inverting a track on a stereo recording to increase gain....huh?
From: "John Crockett" naturalcontemplative
Date: Tue May 7, 2013 8:18 am ((PDT))
Hi Chris

At the risk of repeating what others have said, there are two types of adap=
ter for attaching a 3-pin XLR (balanced) microphone to a recorder with a 3.=
5mm stereo (unbalanced) input. They look identical but are wired differentl=
y. One is meant for attaching a stereo XLR microphone and the other is for =
attaching a mono XLR microphone. You want the mono one. Generally the cable=
 description will say "wired for dual mono."

The Hosa XVM-102F is one example of the type of "dual mono" cable you are l=
ooking for.

Another type of adapter uses a transformer to convert the balanced signal f=
rom the microphone to unbalanced for the recorder. This also raises the imp=
edance, which is not ideal for some recorders, the LS-11 being one of those=
.

Nevertheless, I have had good results using the Hosa MIT-156 with the LS-11=
. I get more gain using this transformer type than with the simple XLR-3.5m=
m cable, I think because it is using both sides of the balanced signal rath=
er than simply dropping one side to unbalance the signal. Sorry if that's m=
ore information than you want!

You could buy both and try them and keep the one that works best for you, o=
r keep the other on hand as a backup. These cables are not as robust in the=
 field as I would like. I have repaired mine a couple of times.

With Hosa cables, if you unscrew the 3.5mm connector, you might find that t=
he two metal tabs that are supposed to fold down and hold the cable wires i=
n place are not folded down. This puts extra strain on the solder points. F=
old those down with a pair of pliers and the cable will last much longer.

John

--- In  "Chris Harrison" <> wro=
te:
>
> OK,
>
>
>
> I'm a novice at this and all my formal training is in biology, not
> engineering or electronics.  I did take physics as an undergrad, but I th=
ink
> my professor was Isaac Newton. ;-)
>
>
>
> I have been making some frog recordings with a Sennheiser K6/ME66 shotgun
> into a LS-11 recorder.  I recently purchased a 90 elbow microphone plug
> extension for the recorder to stop me from bending plugs.
>
>
>
> Recently a new problem has arisen.  When I import the recordings into
> Audacity, I can't get the gain up high enough even though there is plenty=
 of
> gain in the recording as far as I can tell.
>
>
>
> Doing a little research on the internet, I saw a suggestion to split the
> stereo track, invert one of the two resulting tracks, then recombine the =
two
> tracks back into a new stereo track.   Surprisingly (to me) this works li=
ke
> a charm.  I now have plenty of gain.
>
>
>
> I have no idea what "inverting" the right channel does, or why this works=
,
> and might not understand if you explained it to me.  But what can I do to
> avoid having to do this?
>
>
>
> If I record directly off the LS-11 built in mics, I have no such problem.
>
>
>
> Any gentle input?
>
>
>
> Chris Harrison
>
> San Antonio, TX
>
>
>
>








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