My C-1's sound awful

philboyd studge

philboyd studge

New member
Well not really, but as an experiment I brought in my EMX 860 Yamaha PA head and some speakers to see what they'd sound like in a PA application.

I tried going directly in using the onboard phantom power and no pad reduction on the input. I also tried separate pre amps.
Feedback is obviously a problem and flattening out the eq helps but still there's not much gain. At normal vocal levels the sound is very nice but if I push at all it distorts like crazy no matter what I do....something I've never run across in recording with these mics.

I wonder what it is, lack of compression? I don't know, but I'll try some other condensers later and see what happens.
 
What method are you using to set the gain/trim for the channel preamp? Sounds like you're overdriving the Pre.

Blessings, Terry
 
Nope, that's not it, with the pad engaged and volume up results are the same as with the pad and the preamp somewhat overdriven. Same results with a separate pre.
 
Does the PA sound distroted with other LDC mic's plugged into the same channel also, or just the one mic? Maybe its your PA system?
 
Tried using the second mic on vocals with the same distorted peaks resulting. So I tried an Oktave 012 with a popper stopper.......no distortion. Then I took the windscreens (the ones that come with it) off the C-1's and they worked fine. Hmmm. I also had more gain before feedback. Hmmm again.

I'm confused.
 
Sounds confusing to me as well... The C1 is not the mic I would use live, but Tina Turner does on many of her shows... Either way they are too sensitive for vocals on stage use unless you use them for instrument micing.

Can't explain your problems other than perhaps the PA head is not putting out 48V. Maybe only 24V....
 
Thanks for your interest Alan. No, I don't intend to use my C-1's live, it was just an experiment to see how they and the 012's sounded through a PA head.

The distortion I was getting did sound as if there wasn't enough voltage but with the windscreen removed there's no problem. Go figure. The Yamaha claims 48v and I have occasionally used an AKG C1000 and an old EV BK-1 with no lack of voltage symtoms.

It's the windscreen from hell.
 
I cant even use a LDC right in front of my little studio monitors, much less a PA.....

phil, u get the "DOH" award today:D :D :p :p :eek: :eek: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :) :)
 
I'm gonna have to back you up on that one Gidge.
Now, am I thnking about the right C1? The studio projects? I couldnt imagine Tina Turner using a project studio mic. Much less live. Am I mistaken?
 
ScienceOne said:
I'm gonna have to back you up on that one Gidge.
Now, am I thnking about the right C1? The studio projects? I couldnt imagine Tina Turner using a project studio mic. Much less live. Am I mistaken?
Click to expand...

This is the first I've heard of this.
 
alanhyatt said:
Sounds confusing to me as well... The C1 is not the mic I would use live, but Tina Turner does on many of her shows... Either way they are too sensitive for vocals on stage use unless you use them for instrument micing.
Click to expand...
He said it.
 
Any chance you are overloading the input and the meters are not showing it? Seems like I ran into something like that on a Yamaha mini disk recorder/mixer where it crapped out on a strong line level-in at full pad.
Also, for P/A and up close, did you try a low cut?
Wayne
 
I was getting some hi freq distortion off the C1 and a focusrite voicemaster last weekend, it was peaking the highs on the pre-in and so I had to back off the gain and pump up the output to make it stop. Around 5-6K I would guess.

Seems that high end sheen characteristic really drives some pres and if they can't handle the transients you get this occurance. Alan, you seen this elsewhere?
 
Yeah, but wouldn't he say "Tina Turner's band"? Cause she doesn't even play an instrument, much less have much of anything to do with the instrumentation, so saying that "Tina Turner uses it" would be quite misleading. Besides, even if it was the band using it, wouldnt it still feedback like......... like...... um....... a condenser next to some PA gear?????
 
Live recordings are made in such ways, with LDC mics. Ive heard the Tina Thing elsewhere, like in a magazine revue somewhere. On stage if she isnt moving it will work positioned correctly.
 
Wow, I want to know how to do that. I can barely have my ldc's a room away from my monitors without horrendous feedback.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
On stage if she isnt moving it will work positioned correctly.
Click to expand...

I want to know how your going to get Tina Turner not to move on stage during a live show? lol
 
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