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Comment |
JanJan2
Registered User
Posts: 191
(7/13/01 11:45:15 am)
Reply
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Minidiscs . . .
help!
Well, I'm finally going to head Paul's repeated exhoration
"Musician, record thyself" and am in the market for a minidisc
recorder. As you may have gathered from some of my previous posts, I
know ziltch about electronics! I was just shopping on E-bay, and
became thoroughly confused.
What features should I be looking
for? I will only be using this for recording my practice at home.
Help!!!
Janet |
Bob
Blais
Registered
User
Posts: 71
(7/13/01 12:51:40
pm)
Reply
|
Minidiscs
You could probably get the cheapest one that is available. They all
record at about5 the same level, and you are paying for extra
features that aren't really necessary in a practice recording
situation. I would suggest that you check soundprofessionals.com for
microphones; their deluxe binaural microphones are very
good.
Bob Blais
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Ellen
G 
Registered User
Posts: 804
(7/13/01 1:40:36 pm)
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Well.....
I spent hours one Sunday browsing sites about mini disks and I
learned that not all of them record from external mikes. Most that
say "recording" are set up to record off of other components, not
mikes. Make sure it has an external jack. Then you have to buy a
mike. Sorry about overuse of the words mike and jack. Sounds like a
reading primer. Spot, Dick, Jane, Mike and Jack.
Sony has a
few mikes that are recommended for instrumental recording, as
opposed to some which are primarily for meetings and tend to be
voice activated. Imagine having a grand pause in the music and
having the tape stop until it hears music again. Ack! Sharp and Sony
seemed to have some good prices on comparable features, but like
everything else, you don't know until you get it in your hot little
hands how easy it is to work. One player got a terrible writeup
because while the sound was good on it, you needed to spend hours
with the manual to use the darn thing. Not for me!
I never
did get one, but it appeared that the features I needed was going to
place it in a higher price bracket than I expected. Let me know what
you get when you buy one, and whether you like it or not.
Edited by: Ellen
G at: 7/13/01
1:42:05 pm
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TerryM
Registered
User
Posts: 465
(7/13/01 9:04:52
pm)
Reply
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Microphones
Good microphones can be very expensive, but buying one that is too
inexpensive can give very poor recorded results. I was at a chamber
concert last weekend and it was being recorded by our CBC classical
radio network for later broadcast. I had a chance to talk to the
sound engineer during the break and he told me that he felt there
were several very good Sony stereo microphones that would be good
for recording strings and that they, in fact, used some of these for
parts of studio recordings. He did not remember the model numbers
but he said they were available at fairly reasonable prices,
starting at $75 and up. I will do some looking for
these.
Terry
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Ellen
G
Registered User
Posts: 807
(7/13/01 10:42:00 pm)
Reply
|
Re:
Microphones
These might be the ones I ran into. They were recommended for
instrumental recording as opposed to vocal. The more expensive one
said something about digital recording, and the less expensive said
something about MD. For my purposes I wasn't sure if the extra money
was worth it. The models were ECMMS907 and 957 and I've not seen any
models in between. Help would be appreciated, as always.
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TerryM
Registered
User
Posts: 466
(7/14/01 7:12:26
am)
Reply
|
Re:
Microphones
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks
for the model numbers of the Sony microphones. It seems that the
lower price one (Sony ECMMS907 $75) has a poorer frequency response
especially in the lower end i.e. 100-15000 hz. This could be a
problem with the cello, as the C string vibrates at 65hz. A piano
might not record with the best quality either. It would really
depend on what you wanted to do with the recordings. You can read
about it
here:
www.cdeals.com/cat/itempa...m=ECMMS907
The
higher priced mic (Sony ECMMS957 $196) has a broader frequency
response (50 -18,000hz) and a better dynamic range and so would
probably be better for cello and especiallly for piano. Again, it
really depends on what your purpose is for the recording. If you
want to use the recorder only as a monitoring tool, then the less
expensive one would probably be adequate. If you want to make a
full-range recording then the more expensive one would be the better
choice. You can read about the 957 microphone
here:
www.cdeals.com/cat/itempa...m=ECMMS957
It would
be a good idea to shop around as there seems to be a lot of price
"flexibility" in the market. Another company was asking $299 for the
957 and $99 for the 907. I have not yet found anything in the Sony
line at a price point between these two, other than camcorder mics
that would probably be less suitable for instrument recording.
Terry
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MCopeland
Registered User
Posts: 19
(7/14/01 8:57:38 am)
Reply
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Minidiscs
I've been using my Sharp minidisc since I got it for Xmas. I don't
find it hard to use or understand. You can start by reading about
minidisc here, www.minidisc.org/index.html.
Go to "Residential Experts" and read about "Live Recording". This
area is frequented by people who make boot leg tapes at concerts but
their questions and comments about recording are interesting. I
didn't understand Ellen's comment about a minidisc not being able to
record off of a microphone. Most portables have a microphone input
jack as well as a "line in" jack that will accept a microphone
connected to an external powered battery box. For people that record
really load music, using the "line in" jack might be necessary.
I use the "mic in" jack with my Core Sound microphones. The
mics cost me $80.00 and they are wonderful. I think they record my
cello and my chamber music friends very faithfully. They are
available directly from the owner of the company, www.core-sound.com/lcmics.html.
The owner, Len, is a musician himself and he told me where to place
the mics for the best recording of my cello and my oboe. Oboe is
notoriously difficult to mike so that it sounds good. Microphone
placement is important. I've made hours of recordings and edited
them to make CDs and .mp3 samples to send around.
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