recording amplified speech with Marantz

[Bartlomiej Plichta]

Ha Sally,

Let me answer your question below.

Sally Dixon wrote:
> The equipment we have to work with is: standard PA systems and Marantz 
> portable digital recorders.
This will work just fine. You will need an XLR-to-XLR cable, also known 
as the "microphone cable," which I suppose the room might already be 
equipped with.
>
> I suppose we could just put the Marantz mic near the speaker that is 
> amplifying the presenter. Is there a better quality/ more elegant way 
> to both amplify the speaker and record their presentation?

I would only use the Marantz microphone as a last resort. Recording 
directly from a PA system works best. Here's what you need to do:

1. Make sure you have the right XLR cable (see above)
2. Connect the "Line out" output of the PA console directly to the 
"Mic/Line" XLR input of your Marantz
3. Switch the Marantz input type from "Microphone"  to "Line in"
4. If the PA console has a tone calibrator (most good ones do), use it 
to set the recording level on your Marantz to -12 dBFS, which will 
ensure that the incoming signal will be at a decent level with no 
clipping, unless it comes already clipped from the PA console.
5. Proceed to record the signal on the Marantz in your usual way.

Alternatively, you can skip (4) above and set your Marantz to automatic 
signal level control.

Hope this helps. Please, feel free to email me if you have any other 
questions.

Best regards,

Bartek

>
> Many thanks for your time.
>
> Sally
> _______________________________________________________
> Sally Dixon
> Linguist
>
> Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre
> PO Box 2736 South Hedland WA 6722
> Ph: (08) 91722344  Fax: (08) 91722355
> www.wangkamaya.org.au
>
>
>

-- 
Bartlomiej Plichta
http://bartus.org