Rode USB mic dostortion / SPL question


I was recording electric guitar today and was getting a bit of nasty clipping from my Rode NT USB.

The amp was a Tweed Deluxe and it was moderately loud, with the mic around 2m away.  The mic has a 110dB SPL limit.
The amp has a G12H anniversary.

I reduced the input channel in Cubase, which just turned everything, including nasty clipping down.  I then reduced the mic gain in Windows and that seemed to reduce the clipping and it seems to not have recorded to disk.  

Question is what is 110dB usable for, should I be able to close mic a 12w amp?  Just trying to determine where the clipping was coming from.  I had limited time and turned the volume of the amp down a little so just wondering if the mic is leaving me little room to play with.

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Comments

  • wave100wave100 Frets: 150
    Sounds like it might be the analogue electronics or the DA convertor of the mic overloading in which case you don't have much option but to turn the amp down, or buy some new kit like an audio interface with mic gain controls that you can turn down and a mic that connects to it with an XLR cable.
    However before spending any money, I would record a track starting with the amp quite quiet and then turn it up gradually so that you can tell how loud you can get before the clipping starts. If you are lucky it will still be loud enough.
    Personally I am surprised they make a mic with no analogue gain control, but I suppose most users just want to use it for chat while playing games etc rather than recording loud guitars.
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  • menamestommenamestom Frets: 4641
    wave100 said:
    Sounds like it might be the analogue electronics or the DA convertor of the mic overloading in which case you don't have much option but to turn the amp down, or buy some new kit like an audio interface with mic gain controls that you can turn down and a mic that connects to it with an XLR cable.
    However before spending any money, I would record a track starting with the amp quite quiet and then turn it up gradually so that you can tell how loud you can get before the clipping starts. If you are lucky it will still be loud enough.
    Personally I am surprised they make a mic with no analogue gain control, but I suppose most users just want to use it for chat while playing games etc rather than recording loud guitars.
    Thanks.  Yeah, I’ve come to the same conclusion.   I’ve had plenty of interfaces in the past and have some okay mics at the studio so need to just upgrade again.  The gain level is set  so you use windows and the DAW to adjust things but agree no analog gain is really limiting.
    The mic sounds really good, but is more for acoustic guitars / vocals, podcasting as you say.
    I was just wondering whether 110db was a reasonable limit but I’m thinking it will always limit electric guitar.

    Ironically it sounds okay now I’ve had a listen at home,  but the audient pre I had last time had masses of headroom so that this balancing act was never required.  So now looking at the ID14.
    Pity as the Rode sounds ace and is super portable but no point having the wrong tools.
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