Bad Audio

Q

qap15

Well-known member
I'm having problems with audio recording into my R-44. I do video recording in live events, most of the time i talk to the main sound guy and get a tapp from the main mixure. When i record live band or speech i get no problems, but when it is a playback feed into the mixer from a usb, dvd, cd etc. the audio i get sounds fake, light, stripped down, old auja megaphone or those computer generated signal sounds and cannot be used at all. The problem is that through my monitoring headphone, everything sounds ok. My question is what is it that i'm doing wrong?
 
Exactly where are you connecting to get the mix from the venue? My first guess was that you are connecting to a stereo headphone output and feeding it into a balanced input. That will pretty much strip out most of the music because the Left and Right channels are cancelling each other and you are ending up with L minus R which probably sounds hideous.
 
Thanks Richard, i wouldn't say that i know where the sound technician connects the output, but most of the time it is an RCA connector which i in turn connects into a phone plug then into the input of the R-44. Questions i have to you, Why is the live band or speech not show this audio degrading? would outputs from the back side of high end mixers have a stereo headphone output?, which output should i use or ask for when as standard when doing such recordings?
 
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I once worked at a small theatre that had wiring problems in the patchfield / connection to the desk, the CD player R channel was out of phase. (when it went through the patch field) When the CD was played L went to L speakers and R when to R speakers...... sounded fine. When an AUX feed of that music was sent to stage wedges they made comment that could ONLY use L OR R but not both.
Maybe your location has a similar problem, the mic would be in phase to both L & R yet the CD / Music might be out of phase giving a VERY thin hollow sound at your camera.
Even if you got a Full mix, Aux mix, the problem would still be there, the ONLY way to resolve the problem is get in and set up early, check ALL sources that are going to be used and most importantly monitor with headphones....... ALWAYS


Another theatre on the other side of town was wired pin 3 HOT on all the XLRS in the building / audio desk and they had massive problems when using unbalanced gear (but that's a story for another thread some time in the future)
 
OzGizmo, i'm beginning to see this problem as an out of face problem, but as i have mentioned before, the monitoring headphone at the recorder side (R-44) does not pick this problem, i therefore have no way to identify this problem until i'm back in base and play the recorded clips in my computer. This has happened in three different sites, and i'm getting irritated. I thought it was garbage in garbage out, where is the monitoring headphone from the recorder output getting the clear sound if the audio in is already out of face?, i ask myself.
 
Firat check the cables you're using for the interconnect for the proper wiring to connect an unbalanced RCA output to a balanced TRS input. Use a 2 conductor plus shield cable for each channel. RCA pin should connect to TRS tip, RCA shell should connect to TRS ring, cable shield connects to TRS sleeve and is left 'floating' (unconnected) at RCA end. An off-the-shelf stereo 'Y' splitter cable with a TRS plug on one end and 2 RCA plugs on the other will not work properly.
 
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i'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be able to hear an out-of-phase problem with headphones, since the left channel is going directly to your left ear and the right channel is going directly to your right ear. It's only when you mix them to mono that the problem shows up.

What happens if you pan the recording left or right, so you're only listening to one channel?
 
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