Q: How much is postage?
A: $5 for destinations in the USA and $14 world wide. No matter the amount of items ordered.
Q: Can I order using my credit card number?
A: Yes. We gladly accept credit card payments through Paypal.com.
Paypal.com allows you to use a card without becoming a member. Use the Paypal shopping cart buttons.
Q: What type of recorders do they work with?
A: These non powered mics may work with most recorders that have a powered MIC IN input and 'plug in power'.
Q: Where can I find windscreens for my mics?
A: A maker of excellent mic windscreens is Windtech. Series 1100 and 2200 fit perfectly. Your local high end musical instrumentshop may stock them and they are found on the Net.
There are also Tetra-Teknica, item number MNWSDP, that are found on Amazon in multi packs.
Q: Where can I find replacement microphone clips?
A: B&H Photo has them. Auray TIE CLIP f/OLM-10 (2-pack)
Q: How long will it take to my order to arrive?
A: Mic orders ship within three business days.
Delivery times will vary. It can take about 3 to 5 days for you package to arrive from the day it was sent. Sometimes 2 days.
Overseas Air Mail: Some packages I sent to the UK, for instance, arrived in three days and others over a week. It all depends on the country.
Q: I want to record extremely loud music with my camcorder. Will your Stereo and Mono mics work with my camcorder?
A: Yes and no. Powered microphone "mic in" input pre amps in most of today's camcorders vary in quality. For general purpose recording our mics will work great, however, for really loud stuff like live music the camcorder's pre amp may overload.
Q: I just bought a set of your mics and want to record a live concert. Can you tell me how to do this?
A: I cannot recommend sneaking mics into concert venues. Most artists do not allow it and some in the music industry consider it to be illegal, although, some portable Sony MD products were being blatantly advertised as good for concert taping.
Some bands allow concert taping.
However, Giant Squid is 100% against selling concert audience recordings for profit or commercial gain.
There are many places to find "concert taper" information on the Internet such as the alt.music.bootlegs and alt.videos.bootlegs newsgroups, various web sites, and email list forums.
However, the best and most complete resources for technical information on taping I know of can be found on sites run by Grateful Dead fans.
In print the best tips can be found in the much lauded The Deadhead's Taping Compendium - An In Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape - Volume I 1959-1974 (1998) , Volume II (1999) and Volume III (2000) by Michael Getz and John Dwork.
All three volumes are fascinating to read no matter if you like the Grateful Dead or not. Pretty much everything an experienced soundboard or audience taper already knows on the subject are in those books.
Volume III contains most of the information that a beginner would need to know.
Also, check out the Grateful Dead forums and rec.music.gdead news group. "Dead Heads" have several decades of experience which they most happy to pass along.
As for recording loud stuff with Giant Squid mics off of speakers here are some tips
* Do not point them directly at the cone stacks if you are less than, say, 3 to 4rows or an equivalent distance from them. Results will vary under different environments.
* If you have a homemade battery box do not exceed 10 volts to power a Giant Squid mic. They will get screwed up if you give them more than 10 volts. Being powered by a 9 volt battery is the best way to go.
* Being positioned near the soundboard or sound mixing desk is one of the best way to record. These are normally located near the last 1/3 of the venue, dead center of the stage. Many times this is the venue's "sweet spot" as you can get an equal amount of sounds that are coming from the stage and not have certain instruments or vocals over shoot you from being too close.
Being too cose to the stage may not be good. One MDer was recorded from the 2nd row once and all the instruments came out A++++ but the performer's vocal amps were above and behind him resulting in a recording with low vocals amidst a great sounding band.
* For best results in extremely loud environments use the LINE IN jack with the mics plugged into a 9 volt battery box.
I cannot recommend taping shows especially if the one that you are going to is your first or if the artist that you are seeing is one that you have wanted to see all your life and is anti-taping. Skip recording the gig and enjoy the show otherwise you will sweat bricks from being paranoid that you will get caught and also end up too preoccupied with your equipment.
Some venues do not pay their seasonally hired security well or just hire thick headed thugs and if you get your microphone and tuff confiscated you may end up loosing them forever. Here is a possible situation with a member of security and a "supervisor" the day after a show.
"Did you keep that person's stuff? He says it was confiscated and wants it back or he will sue."
"No. What stuff? I do not know what you are talking about."
Get what I mean?