mic pad?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DrJosh
  • Start date Start date
DrJosh

DrJosh

New member
I'm using an AT3035 as a drum OH, running it into my Audiobox, and getting clipping even with the 10dB pad on and the gain turned all the way down. I'm guessing I need to inline pad this mic...how do I know how much attenuation I'll need? M-Audio makes an inline pad for $25, works out to 16dB for my setup. Is this enough?
 
DrJosh said:
...getting clipping even with the 10dB pad on and the gain turned all the way down.
Click to expand...
I would take a look at the signal chain & settings first. Without gain applied from the preamp, there's no way the mic itself should be overloading.

What does the entire signal path look like and where is the gain being applied?
 
Haha pretty much all the gear I have was mentioned in the first post!

mic --> mic cable --> audiobox --> usb cable --> laptop running reaper

Gain is applied at the audiobox preamp.
 
DrJosh said:
mic --> mic cable --> audiobox --> usb cable --> laptop running reaper
Gain is applied at the audiobox preamp.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there's no reason that the signal should be overloading with the gain turned down.

That's not to say the MIC won't distort if it's placed too close to a drum & getting a signal that exceeds its dB limit... next question: Is the signal actually clipping on the meter, or are you just hearing the distortion at low levels? If you're experiencing the latter, it's a mic placement issue which no amount of signal attenuation will fix. Unlikely, as the AT's will handle quite a bit, but possible.

Another odd question, but has the capsule of this AT gotten exposure to moisture? (e.g. singer singing right into it with no pop filter) Moisture can cause odd effects on the response, including distortion at low dB.
 
Thanks for your responses, I appreciate your time.

I bought the mic new and only used it twice so far, both on drums. Once about 30" above the kit and once about 18" in front of the kick. Both times my levels peaked in reaper and the clip light illuminated on the audiobox with the gain turned all the way down. As far as I can tell it's not distorting...something wrong with my mic (or audiobox) maybe? :(
 
Some condensers put out very healthy level that can reach line level' -and don't even need a pre to drive an a/d past full scale.
Some pre's still do some + amount of gain at their minimum setting.
Case in point- I ran QTC-1's on kits for quite a while with no pre -an external phantom box, split the mics to a monitor mixer -and still had to do in-line pads to keep the a/d out of red on hard hitters.
I don't know either of these pieces but I'd be surprised if the AT clipped that far above a kit with the pad on.
So yes, you may need a pad.
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/360652-cheap-comp.html
Not being there, jury's still out in both cases. :)
 
Phase two might be to do some experiments (with the in-lines' in) to get a feel for where the mic (vs the pre or ad) actually does start clipping. From there it's possible to pick up (or not throw away more accurately) some mic side s/n by running the mic wide open, but padded down stream.
 
Im suprised about the level the AT3035 produces. With no gain and a pad, it must be absolutely pumping the electricity down that XLR.

I will be interested to see what effect the inline pad has, whether you have to re-gain it at the interface stage.
 
i was wondering why my mics picked up sound when the gain was turned on. then i realized the built in microphone was being used as an audio input rather than my line in.

oops, gotta watch out for that.
 
Some preamps have a minimum Gain that is quite high...I have some Pre"s from a console that I racked up DIY style and these have 20db of Gain at the Lowest Gain setting which is enough to clip them with a Dynamic mic on say a snare drum.....with these pre"s I need a Pad when miceing drums or other loud sources....


:D
 
Good to know.

On the audiobox, the gain goes from -10 to +25 dB. Seems pretty arbitrary. Presonus might as well label it "min" to "max."
 
Minion said:
Some preamps have a minimum Gain that is quite high...I have some Pre"s from a console that I racked up DIY style and these have 20db of Gain at the Lowest Gain setting which is enough to clip them with a Dynamic mic on say a snare drum.....with these pre"s I need a Pad when miceing drums or other loud sources....
:D
Click to expand...
Yes. Precision 8 here +15 min. Snare and kick the pre gets by ok but in this case I pad line out for the A/D.
DrJosh said:
Good to know.

On the audiobox, the gain goes from -10 to +25 dB. Seems pretty arbitrary. Presonus might as well label it "min" to "max."
Click to expand...
-10. With that now I wonder again about the clipping.

Oops. It's 0-35.
http://presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=53
 
Tried it out today with the mic pad (10 dB), inline pad (15 dB selected), and the gain up a bit and got no clipping. Problem solved! Thanks, guys. =)
 
Josh,
I stand corrected! There's no way I would have thought your 3035 was putting out that much signal or getting that much gain! Sorry if I misinformed you - glad you got it working with the pad. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top