Mike Rophone

Hi, all! Another question from Mike Rophone! Wonder if you can help me! Trying to connect an MZ-N710 to my PC. I have a standard USB cable, but it doesn't seem to work. Is the Sony one (which I haven't got) different from the norm, by any chance? Best wishes from sunny Manchester, England

Guitarfxr, you're a genius! I've just chopped the cable and twisted all the wires together experimentally, according your instructions - and it works a treat! The copter is gone now! Just been trying out the mike and it seems to work fine for what I want: speech recording, mainly outdoors. It's not too sensitive, as you'd expect, but the speech seems crystal-clear and the mike picks up just enough background for "ambience"! Now I'll try and solder up a couple of cables properly! Many thanks again! Johnny, Manchester, England - er - Johnny England!

Hi, all! Many thanks for advice so far! Dopey question time again! Now I've got hold of a Shure SM58 mike and connected it direct to my R55 Minidisc mike socket via a stereo 1/8th inch plug. The mike sounds, not too sensitive, which is fine for the speech recording I want to do outdoors. BUT in the background is a very obvious twittering sound, as if I'm recording in a copter! It sounds like motor noise, yet the mike is on a 5-foot cord, and the Minidisc sounds smooth enough running. Have tried a new disc in it, but no change. But when I use a headphone as a mike, there's no trace of the background noise. Any ideas, please? Could it be impedance problems? The Minidisc unit was purchased used from eBay but was reported to be hardly used and seems in perfect condition otherwise. It came with a disc of music the owner had recorded, and there's no trace of the background noise on that. Many thanks! Johnny, Mqanchester, England.

Just been reading reviews about the Maycom Handheld II flash recorder. The reckon it's jaw-dropping quality. Anyone had any experience of it? Johnny, Manchester, England.

Thank you very muchly, Bobt and A4440! I'll do some experimenting, and, if needed, get one of those Griffin imacs, which I didn't know existed! I've got an Acer laptop, and presumed the socket was a mic. socket - it could be a line in. is that your Citroen in the pic, Bobt? Best wishes, Johnny, Manchester

Gee, thanks for your invaluable info, Raintheory and Greenmachine! This must be the best site ever for sorting meself out with wiring up! I'll get, or make, a mono-to-stereo adaptor. For fear of sounding really dopey, may I ask a further question, please? When it comes to transferring my efforts from the Sony R55 to the laptop socket, should I also use a connecting cable with STEREO plugs at both ends? Does a standard laptop mic. input accept a stereo plug okay? I'll then use Audacity for editing it all. I really must look around for a Minidisc that will download through the USB port! Many thanks, again! Johnny, Manchester, England.

Hi, all! Many thanks for all your microphone info. It's been a real help! May I ask another quick questions. Am connecting a mono mike to a Sony R55 Minidisc. I can get a wire with miniplug, but it's mono. Should I use a stereo plug into the Minidsic, even though it's a mono mike, or will a mono plug work okay in the minidisc? Best wishes, Johnny, Manchester, England

Hi there, everyone, from Manchester, England! Just found your forum - it looks great! I wonder if anyone could advise me. I'm looking for a simple set-up to record quality speech onto minidisc. I have a Sony R55 (but could move up to Hi-MD) and am not sure if I can use a Shure SM58 with it. Would I need an impedance transformer or a pre-amp or just an XLR-to-3.5mm connector? If not the Shure, is there a broadcast-type quality mike that would do the job, please? I've seen little internet tutorials where they seem to just plug a mike in direct. Johnny