problems with Marantz PMD-670

[roderick]

I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
Anyone any ideas??

One more problem, when recording in mp3 format on my Sandisk 512 mb
compact flash card, recording stops unexpectedly after 40 to 50
seconds (recording in mp2 of wav format with the sandisk card works
fine). When using the 64 mb card that came with the pmd670 recording
in mp3 format seems to work ok. Are more people experiencing this
with larger size compact flash cards??

[Scott Dorsey]

roderick > wrote:
>I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
>having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
>the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
>with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
>tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
>record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
>clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
>Anyone any ideas??

Use the pad, or use a mike preamp with more headroom.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Chip Gallo]

roderick wrote:
> I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
> having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
> the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
> with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
> tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
> record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
> clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
> Anyone any ideas??
>
> One more problem, when recording in mp3 format on my Sandisk 512 mb
> compact flash card, recording stops unexpectedly after 40 to 50
> seconds (recording in mp2 of wav format with the sandisk card works
> fine). When using the 64 mb card that came with the pmd670 recording
> in mp3 format seems to work ok. Are more people experiencing this
> with larger size compact flash cards??

Just did 22 hours of conference with a Sandisk 512MB cf card no problems.
Used mp2, 192/48 mono.

Chip Gallo

[Chris Tomlinson]

I've been using the PMD670 for about a 500 hours of recording with two
different Sandisk 1GB standard CF cards with no problems. There is a
statement somewhere regarding NOT using Ultra or or fast types of CF
card with the PMD670. I haven't experienced any clipping problems with
the ATM 33a or GT 30 mics.

(roderick) wrote in message >...
> I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
> having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
> the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
> with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
> tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
> record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
> clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
> Anyone any ideas??
>
> One more problem, when recording in mp3 format on my Sandisk 512 mb
> compact flash card, recording stops unexpectedly after 40 to 50
> seconds (recording in mp2 of wav format with the sandisk card works
> fine). When using the 64 mb card that came with the pmd670 recording
> in mp3 format seems to work ok. Are more people experiencing this
> with larger size compact flash cards??

[Len Moskowitz]

roderick > wrote:

>I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
>having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
>the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
>with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
>tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
>record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
>clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
>Anyone any ideas??

Mic pre-amp overload. Use the 20 dB pad.

--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com
Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 micophone (together with K-6) and I'm
> having problems. Sounds clip eventhough I'm far below 0 db. I tried
> the mic on different recorders, sounds great. so I figure it has to do
> with pre-amps or something. tried also with line-in, no problems.
> tried with mic atten -20 db, then it seems to be gone. but I want to
> record environments at 0 db mic atten. with occasional peaks. they
> clip, even when the record level is set low (-6 db for maximum peaks).
> Anyone any ideas??

Yes. The microphone is clipping the stage before the attenuator. You
can turn the record level down and you'll still be recording a clipped
signal. Try putting a 6 or 10 dB pad between the mic and the
recorder's input. Shure makes an adjustable one but it's 15 dB
attenuation and greater, which isn't significantly different from your
20 dB switch. Markertek has a 10 dB in-line mic attenuator (MAX-10)
that costs $20.

Can't help you with your flash card problem.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[roderick]

Chip gallo wrote:

> Just did 22 hours of conference with a Sandisk 512MB cf card no problems.
> Used mp2, 192/48 mono.
>
> Chip Gallo


MP2 works fine with me too, it's mp3 where things go wrong.

roderick

[[email protected]]

> Can't help you with your flash card problem.

I've had problems with Compact Flash cards that have been formated on
Windows XP. Sometimes the Marantz does not know how much space is on
the card. Sometimes it just stops in the middle of the recording. I
formated the card on the Marantz and it worked just fine.

[roderick]

wrote in message >...
> > Can't help you with your flash card problem.
>
> I've had problems with Compact Flash cards that have been formated on
> Windows XP. Sometimes the Marantz does not know how much space is on
> the card. Sometimes it just stops in the middle of the recording. I
> formated the card on the Marantz and it worked just fine.


I Tried formatting the card with both the marantz as well as windows
xp...problem remains.
Problem is that the files become corrupt during recording. I did a
test by recording on mp2 non-stop for 8 hours, which went ok until i
tried to upload to my pc. the windows said file was corrupt.

[Chip Gallo]

roderick wrote:
> wrote in message
> >...
>>> Can't help you with your flash card problem.
>>
>> I've had problems with Compact Flash cards that have been formated on
>> Windows XP. Sometimes the Marantz does not know how much space is on
>> the card. Sometimes it just stops in the middle of the recording. I
>> formated the card on the Marantz and it worked just fine.
>
>
> I Tried formatting the card with both the marantz as well as windows
> xp...problem remains.
> Problem is that the files become corrupt during recording. I did a
> test by recording on mp2 non-stop for 8 hours, which went ok until i
> tried to upload to my pc. the windows said file was corrupt.

A similar problem happens to me, but only with one certain XP machine and
not with several Win2K boxes. When I attempt to transfer it either hangs or
says that the file is in use. If I pull the CF card out of the recorder and
plug it into a Xs drive (stand alone file store), it transfers the file OK.
I always reformat the card in the Marantz to clean this up. This has only
happened with one of two Sandisk 512 cards that we bought. It is scary that
the files can appear corrupted, and points out a distinct advantage to
physical tape.

A footnote -- I contacted tech support and they thought it might be a bad CF
card. And why did they put a USB 1.1 port on a device released in July 2003?

Chip Gallo

[roderick]

Is there anyone that needs to use an external mic attenuator to
prevent clipping?? (I mean with internal mic atten set to 0 db, since
-20 db is way too much).
Because is seems to me there is no other way you will get clear
recordings when intern mic attenuator is set to 0 dB. Unless your in
the middle of a forest.

please help!! :(

[ScotFraser]

<< Problem is that the files become corrupt during recording. I did a
test by recording on mp2 non-stop for 8 hours, which went ok until i
tried to upload to my pc. the windows said file was corrupt. >>

How has it been for uncompressed PCM recording?


Scott Fraser

[roderick]

(ScotFraser) wrote in message >...
> << Problem is that the files become corrupt during recording. I did a
> test by recording on mp2 non-stop for 8 hours, which went ok until i
> tried to upload to my pc. the windows said file was corrupt. >>
>
> How has it been for uncompressed PCM recording?
>
>
> Scott Fraser


hi scott,

uncompressed pcm seems to work ok. but I have not jet tried to record
for a long period of time. I only did record up to 5 minutes. I will
try.