curefans.com

About Giant Squid Audio Lab, here's something that's not widely known. All of the battery boxes that guy sells come with fixed bass roll-off. He doesn't make this clear at all. In fact, he charges $2 extra to have it set as fixed. But the truth is, it's always fixed no matter how you order it! I find this very deceptive, but I think the mics are pretty decent for the price range.

So what I would recommend. Get these:

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs-poweredbattery1.htm


But be sure to get this option:

Make my mics disconnectable from the battery box!


It costs $15 extra, but this way you can unplug the mics and use a different battery box (to get a better sound).


I think any of these battery boxes will work with the mics:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/categories/battery_filter_module_stereo.html


Brian recorded a lot of shows with the bass roll-off. I think they sound good, but they don't have much bass. With a different battery box, I think they would sound much better!

With the setup I suggested, you could get this all for about $150.


If you can come up with $230, though — I think this would be even better:

http://www.core-sound.com/mics/8.php

I don't know what your trick is Jeff, but the last recording I heard of yours had MEGA bass even though the filter was on.

Part of the clipping problem you have is that the MicroTrack automatically has a +20 dB gain boost. I know you can use the attenuator to bring it back down to a neutral 0, but I don't think the levels on the MicroTrack go all the way down to 0. I know that with the Edirol, you can set the input volume from absolute nothing to absolute maximum and everything in between.

My critique of your recordings? I know you had the roll-off filter turned off during the main part of London '06, and it sounded more full. Then you turned it on during the encores, and it sounded thin by comparison. You didn't have an attenuator then, and you were close to clipping many times during that show. However, The Cure doesn't really play that loud compared to a lot of bands, so it worked out.

From what I remember, you told me you recorded the She Wants Revenge show with the attenuator and no roll-off. I think it turned out excellent. And I'm pretty sure you did Sepultura before you had an attenuator, so the roll-off was necessary to keep your levels down. But if had you had the attentuator back then, I think the filter could have stayed off.

I've only heard a handful of recordings by both you and Brian, so it's hard to say which is better. I know Brian's recordings suddenly got better with Sonics, though. I think both Core Sound Binaurals are Sonic Studios DSM6S/L are in a similar league.

Again, I'm not very familiar with the MicroTrack and its levels settings. I just know that CSBs can handle very high sound pressure levels, so I would think you could just turn your input down more and leave the filter off — but I have no way to test this idea.

yeah, the microtrack is odd to say the least.  i have recorded with the levels at zero and still had good sound.  That makes no sense.  So, I added the attnuator and the levels dropped right back in.

I was in no way fishing for complements....nor trying to make it a competition between Brian and I.  We both have different rigs.  I love mine and am very comfortable with it, as I believe Brian is.

I sold my police tickets, so I really don't have any shows anytime soon.  Thanks for the kind words!

I was in no way fishing for complements....nor trying to make it a competition between Brian and I.

If you use the attenuator and set it at 0, will it still pick stuff up?

And what about the next level up from 0?

Interesting tips on getting your gear into the more difficult places:


http://www.solorb.com/dat-heads/digests/V6.700/D789


My favorite — the Jedi Mind Trick!

Found this on taperssection.com and thought someone might be interested. 

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=89080.0

Used pair of Giant Squid Audiolab Omnis going for $45.  The guy is now taking reasonable offers and will pay for shipping.  A really good deal here for a nice pair of starter mics.  The battery box isn't included, which is a good thing. Buy one elsewhere since GSAL adds a fixed roll-off filter to theirs.  So, if you're thinking about getting into recording, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg, I'd snatch these up. 

Not that it's worth much, but my opinion is if you can, stay away from MD. I found the changing discs to be a pain in the neck especially when you've got people sitting near you and the chance of being caught.

if you can find something with a hard disc there's less chance you can be seen messing with your rig..

but that's just me..

thanks to Brian and Caley for their advice to me earlier..

Other HDs are better in this respect- the iRiver 20gb can record something like 4 million hours or so without swapping out any media

Same with my Nomad JB3. I haven't deleted a show from it yet! Of course, I tape in sporadic spurts, but there are plenty of long sets on there, entire shows w/openers (some w/o even pausing between sets), etc.

And it uses a laptop drive. I had read somewhere about people replacing the stock 20gb drives with even larger ones, although I imagine that heat and maybe battery life issues may arise after a certain point.

Yeah, that seemless track split is the downfall of the MT.  Supposedly the next gen MT is going to have that seemeless split.  I have heard of the MT being able to use a 16 GB Microdrive, but you'd definitely need an external power source because of the MT's stupid internal battery.  Just something else that I need to jock...a USB power source to run off of.

One other thing about the Microdrive- I have read people complaining about a very light hum from the spinning of the microdrive. 

Sort of related here....now that I have 2 complete rigs, I will be introducing my 12 year old son (he's 12 today!) to the fine art of stealth taping.  I'm taking him to see Interpol in Philly and he asked if he could tape them.