Live Recording With Iriver H120

Archived from groups: alt.audio.equipment,rec.audio.misc,rec.audio.tech (More info?)

I have not been able to get a decent live recording with my Iriver H-120.

I bought the unit partly because of its recording as well as playback
capabilities.

I first tested its recording capability in my house, and the results were
great! I hooked up my SoundProfessional binaural mics (which I had used
previously with a minidisc recorder) to the input jack, set it to external
microphone, .WAV, set the recording level (I don't recall which level). I
put on a CD in my home stereo, stood on the other side of the room, centered
between the speakers, and recorded a little. Listening to the recording I
made was almost indistinguishable from listening to the original CD. I
thought that recording with the 120 seemed great!

But now I've tried recording two live concerts with it, and was disappointed
with my results both times. I used the same setup as at home-the SP
binaurals, ext mic option. I tried three different level settings--20, 16,
and 10, and none of them resulted in a good recording. IN both cases the
music was acoustic jazz in a large concert hall with good acoustics.
(Although acoustic, no electrified instruments, I think there was some
amplification in the hall. Not very loud volume level though, not like rock
music.)There was very little audience noise in the hall, audience sitting
quietly. One would think those would be good conditions for a good
recording.

The recordings sound muddy, instruments not clear, noise, distortion, etc. A
cymbal in the recording I made last night doesn't sound much like a cymbal,
but like some noise.

Any suggestions on how to improve this? Should I next time try setting the
level still lower, like 5? (I sure wish there were recording volume meters
on the unit!)

Do people find it really makes a lot of difference to use an external
pre-amp (instead of the internal one in the H-120 used for ext mic), with
the line-in setting? Is the internal pre-amp no good? What is the difference
in using an external pre-amp vs. the internal one?

If so, which one? I know Sound Professionals sells one, rather expensive, I
think almost $200. I have also seen another one, from " Church Audio", less
expensive:

http://www.church-audio.ca/Products.htm

Is it (Church Audio pre-amp) as good as the SP one? (Anyone compared the
two?) What are the differences, or are they about the same? (I notice now,
on the Church site, when you click on the picture of the pre-amp alone, it
comes to an e-bay page that says " item sold, no more available". When you
click on the combo of the pre-amp with binaurals, it comes to an e-bay page
selling that combination for $99. (I guess they only sell on ebay.) I
already have binaurals though, don't need that combo, just perhaps the
pre-amp.)

Do these pre-amps (or either of them) have a level meter on them? If not,
one would just be using guesswork to set the levels, like with the internal
pre-amp (ext mic setting). What makes them better to use then? Besides the
expense, it certainly would be much less convenient, in a live concert
situation, rather than have the microphones connected directly to the H-120,
to have another unit in between, more cords and connections and gizmos to
set.

Why did I get excellent recordings in the trials in my house, and poor
recordings in an actual live concert?

Any input on how I could get better live recordings would be appreciated.
Thank you very much.