Personal Minidisc Recorders

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,jayohjo in Russia
Date: 02 Apr 01 - 05:32 AM

Just a quick message here, less a practical and more emotional post - I love my minidisc, I now have a whole 74 minutes of Russian folk songs from 5 babushkas in a tiny little village! Hurray! Jayohjo in Russia XXX

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,doug
Date: 01 Apr 01 - 09:27 AM

Sound professionals (a new jersey firm I think) produce a neat little T bar mic with minidisc size jacks which has got exceptional capabilities and cost $49 plus postage ($27 to UK). They describe it as a Single Point stereo Omnidirectional "T" microphone which a few people I know have used for old time sessions - and its very good.

Sound professionals can be found at www.soundprofessionals.com/tmics.html

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,Mike Ireland
Date: 01 Apr 01 - 04:23 AM

Hi Tim

I was lucky enough to get a MZ R70 from my wife for my birthday in Feb. I was so concerned about the running noise that I checked it with other machines in our local HIFI shop. They all had this noise. I found if I place my mic away from the unit it is not a problem. The recording quality is fantastic. With my PC simple soundcard I use a PC software program called CoolEdit2000 to record/edit from minidisc to PC then use my CD writer to make a normal CD for playing elsewhere.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 10:00 AM

I almost bought my wife a Sony R70 for her birthday. They did not have one in stock at the only place I found them. The price though was about $400 Canadian. Seems quite a bit more than 99 Quid UK. JohnB

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: John J
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 09:40 AM

Hello Bernard! you coming to the session at the Jolly angler in Manchester tonight? John

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: phil h
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 09:31 AM

for tiny, wearable high quality stereo mikes try here: http://www.core-sound.com/mics.html very impressive recordings in sessions but cost as much as the minidisc recorder Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Tim Salt
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 06:28 PM

Thanks for all the messages - what a fantastic response!

Since posting the query I found a minidisc site mentioned in the earlier thread with a FAQ page that seems to cover the problem. The site is at www.minidisc.org/index.html and the ref to the "problem" is as follows:

Mechanical Noise and Recording Level Hi there, I have a couple of months with my R-70 and it works perfectly. However, it does make noticeable mechanical noise, now let me tell you why. Also seen or treated as an energy-efficient feature, what this great MD does is that it reads 40 seconds of audio in only 5 secs approx., so if you listen carefully you'll hear this noise every 40 secs more or less. This allows it to be practically skip-free, I haven't noticed any skip while jogging or driving around town.

I have checked this out on my own recorder and it seems to fit. I have been to a session tonight and just used a cheap mic that came free with a PC and playing it back now I have to say the results are excellent.

Given that I only bought it this week it is not fully road tested but for £99 (previously £199 and then £149) I have to say I'm more than just a little bit impressed.

Thanks

Tim

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Jande
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 06:26 PM

I have the Sony MiniDisc Walkman (MZ R55). I use it with an MLi stereo computer mic.

When I first started using it, the mic would pick up all the ambiant sounds in the room including the clock ticking on the other side of the room and the internal mechanism of the recorder.

On the back of the recorder I found a tiny switch labelled "MIC SENS" and "Low/High" I switched it to low, and it has been fine ever since. I think the mic was too powerful for it, so switching it to low fixed the problem.

My only complaint with it is too many wires coming out of different sides of the recorder, and they make it hard to handle the thing. (Though now I use those little claw-shaped ponytail clips to keep my wires organised.)

I would recommend them to anyone. They are especially good for recording "samples" from which to make sound fonts. (Not that I have made any fonts yet).

BTW, has anyone got the spdif cable to work with the SBLive's LiveDrive "spdif in"? (I'm probably using the wrong cable. ) I can't get it to fit in the hole.

~ Jande

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Maryrrf
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 05:05 PM

I purchased the very same Sony minidisc walkman recorder a few weeks ago and was also delighted with the quality of the recording. I got a small stereo mike which can be clipped to your shirt and it works beautifully. The model is Sony MZ-R7OPC and it cost around $75.00. I've been clipping it to my collar and recording (playing guitar and singing) but I'm going to experiment with other setups. You can run it through an editing program (I use Cool Edit) to add a little reverb and it comes out beautifully, then you can burn it to a CD! I put some of my own songs along with some other's that I took off professionally recorded CD's and there really wasn't that much difference in the quality! I will be using it for field recordings in May and will report on how it works, but I have a friend who used it for this purpose and it was superb. What a great invention!

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:53 PM

On the subject of stereo mics, there's no reason why you can't use two tieclips.

If you wear them near to your ears, you'll be able to listen on headphones as if you're back there again!!

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:49 PM

Ooops! BLICKY

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Stewart
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:47 PM

"When I investigated tie-clip mikes they seemed to only come in mono, so I would also be interested in suggestions for something suitable for using "on the hoof"."

Geoff - No problem, you can get a simple mono-to-stereo adapter plug from Radio Shack, so a mono mic works fine.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:46 PM

'Repaired' blicky: Purchasing Minidisc Recorders

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:39 PM

I got a SONY for my birthday a couple of summers ago and sound quality is great. I was very surprised when I opened the box to find that a portable recording device did not have a microphone supplied as a standard fixture.
I suspect choice of a microphone will depend on the type of environment you wish to record in. A friend uses a tie-pin mike clipped to his hat when recording to cassette in sessions or on the move. Alternatively, if the recording is static and space is not a problem a tabletop stereo mike would be perfectly adequate.
As yet I haven't made much use of the recorder - the twins arrived a month after I got it, and I don't have time. When I investigated tie-clip mikes they seemed to only come in mono, so I would also be interested in suggestions for something suitable for using "on the hoof".
Quack

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:29 PM

Ooooops, I don't know why it doesn't come up.
The thread is called....Help: Purchasing a mini tape recorder.

Oh well I tried.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:27 PM

Oh, here it is

Purchasing Minidisc Recorders

---

It should work now. It was the ending "/" that was making it not work. --JoeClone

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:22 PM

I'm not sure why your minidisc recorder is so noisy. It shouldn't be. I figure that will run you into problems with a good microphone that picks up every sound except your pulse. Mine does make some noise when I start, stop or switch tracks, but I find it reasonable.

I have a ECM-MS908C Sony electret condenser microphone. It is for Video Cameras but I use the stand for the camera as a regular stand. It has selectable directive angle, 90 degree or 120 degree.

Hesperis, I have been trying to find that thread on this topic, but I can't seem to locate it. If someone else can find it, that would be great because is has some very useful information on microphones.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: hesperis
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 04:12 PM

Wasn't there a thread on this a while back?

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,Sam Pirt
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 03:34 PM

Likewise

Cheers, sam

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: GUEST,Annraoi
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 03:04 PM

I've been toying with the idea of buying a portable minidisc recorder/player for field recordings. Has anyone out there any recommendations?
Annraoi

Subject: RE: BS: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 02:18 PM

It's faulty. Get it swapped!

Then again, it really depends on your 'noise threshold' - go back to the shop and get them to show you another, then compare.

The 'personal' ones are not as quiet in operation as their 'big brothers', but they shouldn't be noticeably noisy. Like CD players, there is an inherent 'zizz' with the mechanism, but it would only be a problem with very low ambient noise.

Plugging a tieclip mic into it ought not to be a problem - unlike the old 'shoebox' cassette recorders with their built in mic that only recorded the motor noise!

Subject: Personal Minidisc Recorders
From: Tim Salt
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 01:13 PM

I have just bought a Sony MZ-R70 Minidisc recorder. I'm impressed by the recording and playback quality but surprised by how noisy it is in record and playback mode - it sounds like it is scanning the minidisc. Whilst not a huge problem at the moment I can imagine it would be if I was using a T-microphone plugged directly into the unit. Are they all like this or does it sound as though mine is faulty?

Can anyone suggest a good microphone to buy?

Tim