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Greetings,

I have a SP B1 mic which has been causing me a lot of issues. It seems like it get hot/cold while I'm recording. My levels change constantly. Any ideas? I have tried using Phantom power from both my mixer and a preamp and they have the same problem.

thanks.

Comments

TheJackAttack Sun, 03/27/2011 - 10:13

Mic's and preamps and other electronics do sound better or at least more consistent when warmed up. It takes a C414 sometimes five minutes to completely stabilize for instance. My guess however is that them B1 has gotten wet from breath humidity (or actual humidity if you're in a very humid state) and the capsule is fading in and out. This is not uncommon at all on condensers and is one reason to use a screen type pop filter. If this is indeed the case, let the mic dry out and store it in a bag/box with a dessiccant package. Get a decent screen pop filter or two. Metal is better than pantyhose.

The only other thing that comes to mind is a cold solder spot on the phantom circuit inside the B1 itself.

TheJackAttack Sun, 03/27/2011 - 10:27

Today you fired up from scratch with a dry mic. I'm guessing it is a breathe humidity issue. Do yourself a big favor. Get a little notepad to keep with your gear. When you have issues write a journal entry describing the problem, how you troubleshot it, how you fixed it if your did. That way you can keep track of trends like what mic/what cable/what pre/what was the weather/etc.

It's kind of like teaching. Whenever I began teaching a new class I made lesson plans for myself. After a couple of years I didn't use plans for that class but if I was handed a new class even on a related subject I began by making lesson plans for that as well. Well, what you are doing is teaching yourself so the journal becomes your lesson plans and text book. In today's world I am a location recordist and still document as much as I can, it's just usually with pictures etc on my DroidX or written into the session files of the DAW or both.

cornsnap Mon, 03/28/2011 - 09:54

I want to thank everybody for the great advice. :) You are absolutely correct about the taking notes, keeping history I don't know how many times I've forgotten how to reconnect my monitors. So I guess it must have been humidity or some external source causing my microphone problems because I recorded without issues for 5 hours yesterday. BTW I really like the SP B1 microphone I use it for just about everything but then again I just started recording seriously.