A440

Install SonicStage 4.3 if you have Vista and 4.2 if you have XP from a link here. 4.2 will not work with Vista. 4.3 has been giving some XP people problems. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...mp;hl=installer The 3.4 disc that came with the unit will also work fine under XP--not Vista--with the MZ-RH1. ------------------- To Transfer: Open SonicStage. Connect the unit. Insert the disc. Watch the window fill up. You can rename tracks before transferring if you want to. Look at the red arrows. You can probably figure out the rest. Transferring back, just find the tracks in My Library, look at the red arrows and send them in the other direction. ------------------ From your stereo you need a connector to the (white) line-in jack of your unit, which will take a plug that looks like your headphone plug. What kind of output do you have on your stereo? Headphone plug? Line-out? Optical? Just find the cord. The Record button is labeled. ------------------- Oh, and there might even be a manual in the package....

Not familiar with him, though he seems like a sincere, serious hobbyist. Just from looking at the site and listening to his samples, though, I'd have to disagree with some of his choices. From the photo, it appears he's plugging two mono mics into his battery box, which has the only stereo output. If you ever wanted to use the mics by themselves, or with a more standard battery box (which usually has a stereo plug), you'd be starting with one mono mic. He also doesn't include specs, including where he is rolling off the bass. And you can hear the bass roll-off in the samples, where Ani's voice is really right in your face rather than integrated with the band. I don't know if that's a midrange bump in the response of the mics, or just the relative lack of lowest register. Otherwise, they do sound nice and crisp. That's a big ol' battery box with lots of wires thanks to the two inputs. Not too stealthy. I don't like bass roll-off. I don't see the point of it for line-in recording, since it gives you a less accurate recording. And clips for the mics? Seems like you're on your own. You can find them here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2175...e_Clip_for.html but they'd be an additional cost . So I don't see how this improves on Sound Professionals BMC-2 plus a much smaller, stereo-plug battery module from SoundPros or Microphone Madness (which people say has been flaky lately, however) at around the same price.

Definitely take Guitarfxr up on that PM. Hope you two can hook up. Otherwise, high-quality cardioid lavalier mics are made for exactly this purpose. TV talk shows would be lost without them. Your best bet is to go to a professional audio or musicians' store and ask them what they have within your budget. Mics made for the purpose will have a frequency-response curve tailored to speech--a big bump in the midrange and less response where you'd get background noise. I've never been to Japan, but Guitarfxr's photos from Hardoff discount electronics make me think they'll have something for you if he doesn't. I don't know if you're anywhere near New York City, but two stores I trust are: www.bhphoto.com on 9th Avenue and www.pro-sound.com on 43d Street Don't get the Sony DS70P, which has a lot of self-noise and will be pretty clunky for your teacher's lapel. Rustling is minimized both by the mic's frequency response and by a good clip, which should keep the mic slightly separated from the speaker's clothing. I regularly use AGC for speech recording. It works well for recording conversation. If there are long patches where the teacher is silent, you may have it raising the level of whatever the background noise is, but I assume you'd be editing long silences out anyway. And it might be better for when he is moving his head. With a one-point stereo mic you don't really have to worry about a "hole" in the center. But you could just as easily use a mono mic wired to a stereo plug. A mono mic wired to a mono plug will only record into the left channel of your recorder, so if your high-quality mic has a mono plug, make sure to get a mono-to-stereo adapter. To lessen the pressure from leverage on your mic jack, the adapter should not be just a plug, but a short cord with the mono plug on one end and a stereo jack on the other. All that said, I have gotten good speech results with this mic (which is mono wired to stereo): http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmlaplapstyl1.htm It's intimate--I did an interview in a cafe with someone and you can hear them swallowing the tea. But a bigger budget should get you a smaller, better mic. Positioning is going to make a lot of difference. You're probably going to want to clip it as close to the center of the body and as high up as is convenient. When you get the mic, put on your own yoga robe and do some experimenting. Finally, be reasonable in your expectations. You do not have the teacher in an isolated sound booth with a nice bit of subtle reverb. But a high-quality cardioid should give you a very lifelike recording. If you want, I can PM you a snippet of my cardioid AGC recording in some quiet and noisy settings--let me know.

It's compressed recording: SP at best. But according to guitarfxr below, it does upload.

You can highlight a bunch of files in iTunes and tag them all simultaneously with Album, Artist, Year, etc. by clicking Get File Info. But I think track numbers have to be done individually. There's also mp3 tagging software like mp3tag at http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ Don't know if it would be of any help with this, though it says it will "import tags from filenames."

Just audio. As I remember, it played back fine, but after I tried to upload it I got "Read Error."

I fear it is, unless someone here has any other ideas. The limit of Sony support is uninstall/reinstall. They don't know how SonicStage works either. The one bit of hope is that SonicStage could still read your tracklist. Have you tried playing back the disc with the unit connected, through SonicStage (you'd hear it through you computer speakers and could record with Audacity). In one bizarre instance, I found I could do that even though the unit alone would not play that disc. Otherwise, this is your destination at Sony. They actually did recover a corrupt disc for me. $45. http://www.sonymediaservices.com/

Recording in realtime with Audacity would certainly get the job done, and I would suggest doing that so you have a usuable recording. Then you can experiment. Do you have SonicStage set to convert the uploaded recordings automatically to .wav? Un-check that. Sometimes with a long track it's just too much for SonicStage to handle. You can convert in a separate step if you can get it uploaded. If I understand correctly you're trying to upload one long track. You could try cutting it into smaller tracks by pushing the track button during playback. Your computer should be able to Combine them in SonicStage after they're uploaded--and if SonicStage is still choking on them, you can covert them to .wav and combine them in a sound editor like Audacity.

The MZ-M10 is the Mac-compatible version of the MZ-RH910. If you have a Mac, look for the Mac Transfer software in Downloads here or on Sony's site. http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/files.php?cat=2 If you have a PC, get SonicStage 4.2 to run with Windows XP or SonicStage 4.3 to run with Vista. You can go to Sony for SonicStage 4.3. Here are 4.2 installer links. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18645

You're right, that does say 12V . It seems to be under their "heritage products" now, which I would guess means they're phasing it out. But if they think that's the one to go with the mics, they should know. Definitely call them--maybe they're just getting around to updating the website. The post I was talking about is #19 on this page: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...15&start=19

It's a hardware situation. The only unit that will do a computer transfer of SP recordings is the MZ-RH1 or MZ-M200. Otherwise you need to use the realtime method in the thread shown above.

Sounds like you're going to be recording at a concert with the unit in a pocket. I'd suggest keeping the cord short, 1 foot. The microphone cable is long enough. Which battery module are you getting? Sound Pros has changed since I last looked, and now has all those different options. Someone wrote a post recently that a 12V battery module is too much power for mics using Panasonic WM61a capsules, which I believe is what Sound Professionals uses, so you need a 9-volt version. You might call SoundPros directly if you're in the US to make sure--they're very helpful. Looking at the options, I'd just get a #5 case with the 24-inch hardwired plug--your only option with that case anyway. A removable cord is just one more thing that can get unplugged during a wild concert. You don't need bass roll or in-line level control or anything else, by the way. Just the battery power.

First, make sure you have the NH600 and not the NH600D. The NH600D doesn't have a jack for live recording. The NH600 does have a (white) line-in jack. For line-in recording you will need mics and a battery box to record loud music. (You'd need a preamp for quiet sounds, but you don't have to worry about that with RAtM.) The Core Sound Binaurals come with a battery box, but it is a bulky one. They're also more expensive than some entry-level mics. My basic setup is Sound Professionals BMC-2 mics and a Microphone Madness battery module, much smaller than the Core Sound box--more like a car-alarm remote. The difference is that they use little batteries, the size of a quarter but thinner. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2 Note that one set of BMC-2 is $49 and two are 24.50 each or...$49 total. So you might as well get two. I suggest the extended warranty--they are on thin wires, which are very convenient and concealable but not sturdy enough to last three years under regular use. You can use the spare pair while the first ones are returned under the warranty. http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm Some people have complained lately about slow customer service from Microphone Madness, so you could also get a similar small battery module from Sound Professionals. You can hear recordings I've made with that setup in the Gallery under my Album. It's also a good place to hear other people's recordings. The BMC-2 may not be at the quality level of the Core Sound Binaurals--I haven't ever had a chance to use the CSB's. But they sound good to me.

Excellent chart. Very enlightening about things like battery life. But there's at least one error--it shows the PCM-D50 without a line-in. Even Sony wouldn't be that stupid--though using Memory Stick storage instead of MicroSD is pretty close....

Each time you record in SP you are compressing the sound again. You would get better quality recording to the RH1 in PCM.

What formats were the previous recordings in? The deck seems to be an old SP deck. This is only a guess, but maybe the old ATRAC used by the deck is no longer recognized by the RH1, or a combination of new formats and old formats just baffled the RH1. Since you have optical out on the deck, I suggest playing it back and recording the whole thing again through the optical in of the RH1. You'll get a full-quality digital recording in a format the RH1 can recognize. Incidentally, it's still a digital recording, even if the source was analog.

Pardon me for asking, but does it break anything else? Security programs can have tricky interactions. I might feel that I'm better off just deleting unsolicited .m3u files.

Since it's Vista, are you absolutely sure you're using SonicStage 4.3 ? It's the only one that's supposed to work with Vista. Does the DVD drive return if you uninstall SonicStage? If you do ascertain that the problem is SonicStage--and nothing would surprise me about the ill effects of two programs as trouble-prone as SonicStage and Vista--you should contact Sony support. You might also contact your hardware manufacturer, since it could be something particular to that computer or DVD drive.

Sorry to hear that Mic Madness is getting flaky. I have two of those little battery boxes and both came quickly, but it was a while ago. Please post about what their response is. I'll stop recommending them if they've grown unreliable.

Hi-MD Renderer (from Downloads up there on the right) will convert ATRAC to mp3. Use Batch Mode for a bunch of tracks at once.

Hi-MD Renderer is also a realtime recording, and takes two cables: the USB to control the unit from SonicStage and a line cord (minijack to minijack) from the headphone jack into the computer's line-in (or mic-in). The advantage is that Hi-MD Renderer can use SonicStage to control the playback, play one track at a time and make a separate file for each track on the disc. If the disc has already been edited into tracks, that can be very useful. Otherwise, you can just use Audacity, record the whole disc in one recording, and edit it afterward. ---------------------- Sony did make NetMD incredibly confusing, and probably killed minidisc in the process. In very fine print, it was made clear that with NetMD units the USB connection was one-way--PC to MD, so you could download music from the computer to use the MD as a player, like an iPod. iPods don't record (without external gadgets); NetMD minidiscs don't upload. Caveat emptor.

Sharp got out of the minidisc business years ago. Meanwhile, Sony advanced from MD to Hi-MD, which will play back your old discs but also adds new possibilities. Sony gave up on them, too, so prepare for minidiscs to be obsolete. Here's a list of all the minidisc units. You could seek out some of the later Sharp units if you want, like the much-loved DR77, but they will be old, used and/or hard to find. http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html The current unit you want is the Sony MZ-RH1 , which is also sold as the MZ-M200 when it's bundled with a Sony microphone. Although you have to send mp3s to the unit through Sony's SonicStage software, it does not convert them, so you get their full sound quality. Other minidisc units either have to convert mp3 to ATRAC, losing quality in the process, or play back unconverted mp3s badly (MZ-RH10, MZ-RH910) because Sony was stupid. Here's an explanation of the bits. http://www.tweakheadz.com/16_vs_24_bit_audio.htm The Sharp, if it really was 24-bit, was applying 24-bit resolution to compressed files, because that's all that minidiscs could play at the time. And compression--throwing out sonic information to make the files smaller--makes a lot more difference than the resolution. A perfect reproduction of an imperfect source is still going to sound imperfect. The MZ-RH1 is 20-bit, but if you want to use a lot of disc space, it will play back CD-quality .wav files--better than anything on your Sharp. And for mp3 files (which are compressed), it will sound excellent. Also, as a bonus, it should allow you to upload your old MD recordings to a PC (not a Mac). No other unit does that. But....it is very expensive if you just want to use it as a player. It's really made for portable recording. For an mp3 player, you could get something as inexpensive as a Sansa Clip to have good sound.

Find an Iriver H120 or H140 for optical out. Or the original minidisc, MZ-1, but I don't know if that optical out is the compressed (SP) signal.

You're right--I was too harsh. Having a remote is useful, of course. And I guess some people might even want to listen to the radio now and then. My first Hi-MD was the NHF-800 and I used it constantly in all kinds of situations, until I dropped it one time too many. Great unit. But once I got the RM-MC40ELK remote, the FM-radio remote disappeared into a drawer. The FM remote also works with the NH700, my current workhorse, but I've never had occasion to use it.

I suggest either the MZ-NH700--basic model, uses 1 AA battery, compatible only with PC--or the MZ-RH1, top of the line, compatible with PC and Mac for uploading new recordings and, most importantly, will upload your old MD recordings to a PC (but not a Mac). Look on eBay for the MZ-NH700. The NHF800 is the same unit with an FM radio remote--a fairly useless acessory, but if you see a good quality NHF800 anywhere it's worth checking out. A few retailers still stock the MZ-RH1, which is also called the MZ-M200 when it is bundled with a Sony DS70P microphone. Unfortunately, they are getting expensive. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...p;Q=*&bhs=t Also, send a PM to BIGHMW, who seems to have some units for sale. Note: any unit with a D in the model number, like NH600D or DH10P (a 1.3 megapixel minidisc camera, really bad idea), does not do realtime recording. The D means it's a Downloader, made to download music from your PC via USB for use as a portable player.