KVR Audio

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:32 pm

I am going to purchase one of these in a few weeks as soon as they are released.

Wondering....are there any tricks to recording through a microphone with one of these? Plan to do some recording outdoors etc. to get some samples to incorporate in to my music.

Any thoughts, ideas would be welcome.....

dano

thoshu · Post by **thoshu** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:58 pm

I don't know any of the specs of the one you mentioned but I have an old MZ-500 and purchased it for the same reasons with the same missing knowledge. The problem with my md is, that the signal from the microphone can't be amplified enough to gt a signal strong enough to match higher standards. That might depend on the mic as well, but a second contra for field-recordings with a md is its quality (according to my professor), so a DAT-recorder is the pro-solution for those purposes.

I'm sorry I can't give you any closer hints, I have never cross-checked my md-mic with the one I use with the PC and never tried OKM-microphones with it either, but I guess some people here can give you better advice.

Just don't buy it if you don't get the possibility to test recording some things in advance and listen to those samples on your DAW.

thoshu

WilliamK · Post by **WilliamK** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:03 pm

A friend of mine one time told me that MDs doesn't have 44khz recording. But this was years ago, maybe Sony changed that.

Wk

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:20 pm

Thanks for the quick response: here's some specs:

Sampling Frequency : 44.1 kHz

Data Compression Method (Coding) :
Hi-MD: ATRAC3plus (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3 plus)
MD: ATRAC®/ATRAC3 - LP2/LP4

FREQUENCY RESPONSE : 20-20,000Hz +/-3dB

INPUTS:
USB(connection with main unit,USB 2.0 Full Speed)
Microphone in
Optical In
Analogue In
DC 3V In

Outputs:
Headphones: Stereo mini jack

Power Requirements :
"AA" Alkaline Battery x 1 (optional); USB Powered
Rechargeable battery NH-10WM (supplied)
Battery Charging Stand: AC adapter DC 3V (supplied)

Battery Life (approx. hours) with 1 "AA" battery & rechargeable battery:
(PB = Playback; REC = Recording)
Hi-MD Mode (1GB Hi-MD disc / Standard disc):
LPCM PB 15 / 14 REC 6/8 (hours)
Hi-SP PB 24.5 / 23 REC 8.5/12
Hi-LP PB 29 / 30 REC 10/14
MD Mode:
SP PB 27 REC 12.5
LP2 PB 31.5 REC 15
LP4 PB 36 REC 17

SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES:
Backlit LCD Remote with Fontopia Headphones
SonicStage® 2.0 Software CD-ROM with MD Simple Burner Application
One 1GB Hi-MD MiniDisc Media
Charging Stand
Digital Cable
USB Cable
Rechargeable Battery
Dry Battery Case
AC adapter
Carrying pouch

WEIGHT:
110 grams.

APPROXIMATE DIMENSIONS: (WxHxD)
81.3 x 77.8 x 21.2 mm

* When transferring a 48kbps file. Results may vary based on your PC
and title transfer time is not included.
** Non secured WMA files.

these machines are getting very well equipped..including the 44kHz response. I don't know enough about DAT but I do know that it is pretty standard for this kind of thing.

Here's a picture of the mic I'm thinking about.
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/i ... 304611.JPG
100Hz - 15kHz...is this a fairly narrow freq response for this kind of recording?

dano

[absurd] · Post by **[absurd]** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:30 pm

WAIT!!!! See here before you buy:
http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=5417

I still plan on buying one, but I am going to wait until Sony actually comes through on this "promise."

As for microphones for MD recorders, look here:
http://www.reactivesounds.com/am2.php
nice quality but not too expensive.

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:58 pm

[absurd]...read the thread...thankyou for that....makes you wonder why Sony would go to all that trouble to spec it out this way with no clear direction where they are going with the technology???

The mic link you provided....does the mic on the page that comes up look good to you? and the benefits of something like that???

dano

[absurd] · Post by **[absurd]** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:17 pm

I am seriously considering buying the Auris mic; I need a good, cheap stereo mic for feild recording that performs well. The specs are comparable to similar microphones that are far more expensive, and I have heard good things about these mics. Also, the mp3 sounds pretty good.

As for Sony, they really need to get someone with some common sense to take over the development of their MiniDisc products

MrM · Post by **MrM** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:21 pm

Just some OKM examples;
http://members.home.nl/mistermouse/fieldrec.htm

I made them myselves, if you need to know more, just ask me.

MD is very good for (field)recording, it certainly is a very reliable device.
The mic must be a good one in order to get some good quality material.

DAT is out of the question; units are not manufactured anymore, and spare parts are slowly running out of stock.

NETMD looks nice is to be avoided.

Just get yourself a regular MD, old Sony MZR50, or MZR55 or some sharp model, but make sure it has a mic input.
As for transferring from MD disc to PC; I use a stationary MD Deck with optical SPDIF* connected to my soundcard, so only 1 conversion is made; ADC right after the (mic) preamp build in the MD recorder.

(*to be precise: optical SPDIF is TOSLINK)

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:11 am

[absurd]...the mp3 does sound pretty good. Freq response range is about as good as you can get. Do you know of any accessory that allow them to be mounted....not sure I like the collar style.

dano

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:14 am

MrM...Nice job on the recordings.

Im hoping to be able to transfer recordings digitally with the new generation of recorders. Im very new to this, my apologies...are you doing this now?

dano

tk421 · Post by **tk421** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:28 am

I have a Sony MZ-R70 and a Sharp MD-MT15. Both are great. The Sharp lets you adjust the recording volume while recording, the Sony doesn't. That may be differnet on the one you listed. I have a nice, tiny Sony stereo mic. With no extesnion cable connected to it you record quite a bit of motor noise from the Sony. The Sharp's motor noise is mostly ignorable.

The only other thing I might be able to say is that if you are getting a Long Play MD, the quality of the recording drops if you record on the different speeds.

Other than that I do not think there are too many bad MDs out there now.

MrM · Post by **MrM** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:50 am

Danielmm, unfortunately the newer generation of (HI)MD does not allow the user to digitally upload recordings made on the MD recorder. It does allow digital transfer from PC to MD, but not from MD to PC.

I use the MZR55 recorder, these can often be found on EBay for about 50 dollars, you might look at this site for more info on specific models;
http://www.minidisc.org/

General notes on recording level:
1 Although people somtimes prefer setting the level on the fly; changing the level *while* recording is in progress, this is to be avoided. In editing the recording you will notice that with a changing recording level it is difficult to do good sounding edits like compression, normalizing and other volume level dependent edits.
2 Personally I rather risk to much backgroundnoise instead of a few digital overs, therefor I always aim at -15 dB for the average level (as displayed by the recorder).

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:04 pm

New MD recorders not able to transfer recorded data digitally to PC??? This is highly unfortunate to say the least!

dano

tk421 · Post by **tk421** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:49 pm

If mono recording is acceptable to you, you may want to check out the iPod. I don't know much about the quality. I have never tried it myself. But it does record wav files that you could just copy to your computer. There might be other mp3 players out there with better features and stereo recording.

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:52 pm

Stereo is a must.....

dano

Recording samples with a Sony MZNH900 minidisc