A440

You really could give up realtime recording. For best sound quality (but only 90 minutes per Hi-MD disc) you could import your CDs to SonicStage as PCM and transfer the PCM to Hi-MD. CD quality, lossless. And if you were satisfied with the sound quality you got on the R700, you could also use SonicStage or SimpleBurner to transfer CDs to Hi-MD as Hi-SP. Just under 8 hours per disc, more than adequate sound quality. Titling--yes. Open Sonicstage. Put a disc in your MZ-M200 and connect via USB. A window should open on the right with all the tracks on the MD. Highlight one, click F2, and Rename to your heart's content.

The RM-MC40ELK should be fine with your RH910. Just search for RM-MC40ELK on Ebay. Yes, the RH1 finally corrected the Manual Volume stupidity, the only Sony unit that does. Here's my stealth routine. Outside the venue, I plug in the battery module to line-in and go through the whole Manual Volume setting. REC/PAUSE, Menu, two clicks up to REC SET, click down to Rec Volume, click down to Manual, Enter. I set the level, usually to 20/30, lower if I expect to get blasted with high volume. Leave it on REC/PAUSE, blinking merrily, and put it on Hold with the switch. Plug in the remote--the remote that came with it is good enough. Put the unit in a pocket--since it's on hold, the buttons won't turn it off. Inside the venue, I plug the mic jack into the battery module--the battery in the module runs only when the mic is plugged in, so I do that as close to the set as possible. Then I un-PAUSE with the Pause button on the remote when the set starts, and the recording begins. No one sees the unit inside the venue. Do one song at a time for the Gallery, not whole sets. Those two versions of the Mae song make excellent mic samples because they go through so many dynamic changes.

It's not too late, but I would act expeditiously if I were you. They say they only have one left of the silver MZ-NH700, presumably more of this one. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553219 And if you have the money and don't mind paying for the DS70P mic, there's the RH1 here. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4468...D_Recorder.html

I don't think you pressed a wrong button. It's just that you're dealing with a material object that wears out after 7 years of use. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=4712

Try cleaning the battery terminals in the unit with a Q-tip and a little bit of rubbing alcohol, in case the problem is something as simple as them not making contact.

Are you using a current version of SonicStage? 3.4 or 4.2 are the best. There's a 4.0 installer in Downloads.

As Guitarfxr said, the preview in Audacity is just a snippet. You really should look through the help file in Adobe Audition, though--it probably has a much better and more precise EQ available to you somewhere. Do you have a separate volume control on the subwoofer for your Logitechs? How about lowering the bass that way, if it's possible? I never had as old-school a unit as the R55, but people have posted that the early units were much more forgiving about loud sounds. The Automatic on my R700 and my N707 were useless for music--every bass-drum hit would make a whoosh as you could hear the volume level dropping. Really, Manual is essential. You have to put the unit in REC/PAUSE with the disc inside and go through menus, but the results are well worth it. You might try Manual recording with the binaurals you have (and the bass roll-off if you think it's necessary) before shelling out for another pair of mics. For loud shows, I sometimes take the level down during the show, just looking at the level meter rather than the number. (I have the RM-MC40ELK remote, which lights up and shows the record level. ) Afterward, even at the loudest shows, I rarely find I have gone below 13/30. And I have essentially your same mics, and the same mini battery module. By the way, do MDCF a favor and post your recordings in the Gallery, with information on which mics and recorders. (Was the RH910 Hi-SP? Obviously the R55 was SP.) When people want to check out the difference between binaurals and cardioids, you've created an ideal demonstration.

Wow, what a difference between microphones. You really point up the contrast between the binaurals and the cardioids--which I find horribly tinny and overly biased toward the midrange, where the vocals are. Through headphones, the spatial feeling of the cardioids is also annoying--it's all upfront, like a sonic migraine. Since you have binaural recordings, personally I would just delete the cardioid version. Maybe it sounds better through speakers, but... There's really nothing complex about Audacity. Open up the mp3 file in Audacity, highlight that loud part at about 3:02 and look at the Effects menu. You'll see Equalization, and there's a curve you can play with, pulling up or pushing down various frequencies, and a Preview to listen to what it sounds like. When you've figured out what kind of EQ you want, highlight the whole file, apply that EQ curve, and Export Selection as .mp3. The settings are all going to depend on your ears and what you're listening through. Maybe I'm too used to my own recordings using similar gear, but I wouldn't change much. Unfortunately, you can't un-distort anything. You could push the bass frequencies down a bit if they're bothering you. But frankly, I'm not overwhelmed or even distracted by distortion when I listen to your file. Part of the problem may be in your playback equipment. When I listened with my little Sennheiser PX100 phones, which are good portables but can be flabby in the bass, it sounded distorted. But when I switched to my Grado SR125, which are bigger, need a little more power and are much clearer through the frequency spectrum, the bass and bass drum sounded far less distorted--well within tolerable, for me at least. Concerts aren't recording studios--some of that thud may be what was in the room. Another thought--are you using Manual Volume? I ask because when the full band kicks in, the whole level seems to drop a little bit and the instruments seem to scrunch together--though not at all as abruptly as it did when I tried Automatic in older units. I gave up on Automatic long ago, so it may well have been improved. If you are using Automatic, then using Manual instead at a conservative level--13/30 to 15/30, maybe lower if you're right next to the speakers--would capture more of the dynamics without distorting. Core Sound (despite those cardioids) claims that its microphones are specially tweaked to handle louder sounds. You could try their binaurals. Sound Professionals now has a long selection of mics I've never tried with various degrees of sensitivity--you could seek out lower-sensitivity mics. Sensitivity is measured in negative numbers, so -30 is more sensitive than -40, etc. Both companies have a 30-day trial, so if you time it right you could field-test them at another concert... One more question: How did you do the simultaneous recording?

I'm trying to visualize your setup. How were you recording before, when things worked? You connected a cord from the headphone jack of your Sharp or Sony MD to....what? Mic-in on your computer? Line-in on your computer? Or an input on some external (USB Audio) device, like an iMic or an external soundcard? The IDE DVD-ROM is your built-in DVD drive, one of the many sound devices on your computer. So, yes, you could try switching to USB Audio as your default recording and playback device--IF that's what you were actually using, and not your computer's built-in soundcard.

Don't use the charger. It will add a hum. A new, fully charged lithium battery should outlast the length of the disc.

Here are some simple first steps you can try. Open SonicStage before you plug in the USB cord to the unit. Have you got a different USB cord? (from a camera or PDA, any USB-to-miniUSB cord). Maybe it's simply a connection problem. How about internet security programs possibly interfering. Get offline, turn off your antivirus/internet security and then try connecting. Don't forget to turn the security program back on before you go online again. Also, how old are the versions on your disc? Try installing SonicStage 4.0 with the installer in Downloads.

You can get an external battery back charger to use with the RH1 if you want. It's not compact but it does exist. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...mp;#entry115915 Recording to .wav takes about 10MB per minute, and as I understand it, the recordings you make in Audacity's own .aup format are the same size as .wav recordings. (Then you "export" them as .wav or as .mp3.) That's another reason you would be better off uploading from the RH1. Your recordings on old MDs are compressed and would take up considerably less hard-drive space.

The M200 is the RH1 plus a DS70P mic. Exact same unit. Yes, it takes a stick battery. The battery is rechargeable--not $30 per use. You can also find what are probably Chinese counterfeits of the battery on eBay that seem to work pretty well--at least, I don't see anyone here yet reporting that they have done any damage. If you are using the RH1 to upload, your computer will power it through the USB, so battery is not a worry for you. Audacity, which you mentioned up above, will record in real time through your computer's mic or line jacks. It will not upload faster than realtime, as the RH1/M200 will. If you've got 2000 MDs full of radio shows, the RH1 will save you unbelievable amounts of time for uploading.

Please, don't change that! You want antivirus protection every instant you are online. If Norton is trying to scan the system while you're trying to upload, that's another thing--it will almost definitely made SonicStage stutter (and a lot of other applications too). Let it do any full system scan when nothing else is going on. But leave it loading on startup and running in the background any time you are online. I was once lent a PC that, ridiculously enough, had no antivirus or internet security. It got zapped within 45 minutes of being online and wireless. I had to go offline and do a system recovery back to before I got online. Have you done a serious antivirus and spyware check on both PCs? Update Norton, have it scan, and even if it doesn't find anything, try another online scan like Trend Micro's Housecall : http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ Its time-consuming--do it overnight--but it's worthwhile. (You'll probably have to monitor it for a few minutes to get it started. Norton may not like another program accessing deep into the system, so you'll have to allow it manually, but then you can let it roll.) If you find something that Norton or Trend Micro can't remove, other antivirus companies also have online scans: Kaspersky, BitDefender, AVG (Google them). All of them are slightly different in what they can and can't dispose of. Also download and run (one at a time, not at the same time): Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php and Spybot S&D: http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html First update both of them from their opening screens, then run them. I'm generally paranoid about this stuff, but I hate to think what might be on the non-"kid free" PC, since you're having less trouble on the other one. Clean 'em up. ------------------- Actually, I realize you are not using SonicStage to upload since you're recording in realtime. What recording software are you using with the PC? And have you tried recording into the computer with the same software from another source, not MD? Another possibility is that something has fiddled with your soundcard driver. Have you installed any new music/media player software or updated Windows Media Player? You might want to look in Settings/Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Audio and see what your Default Playback and Recording devices are. Do they look familiar--probably your soundcard (whatever it is)? Or or there multiple choices? You can find what your soundcard is under Settings/Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/Sound, video and game controllers (you'll probably see Codecs, Video Capture and Legacy drivers alongside the soundcard; mine, for instance, is Soundmax Integrated HD Audio, but there are countless sound cards). See if your soundcard matches what's under Sounds and Audio Devices/Audio as default playback and recording devices. Tell us what you find there before making any changes.

Guitarfxr, I've got a different point of view. I don't see any reason not to entertain questions like the one that started this thread. A lot of people check this board because they're thinking about digital audio players and recorders in general, and wondering what will serve their needs best. Since Sony has been treating the mere existence of MD as top-secret classified information, it's already pretty impressive that those folks have even noticed MD and are considering it. We should be as fair as we can here. I enjoy MD, and I think that if someone has my exact needs, then Hi-MD is a good choice. But not everyone has my exact needs. And when I find something that suits my needs better, I'll keep my MD to play my hundreds of discs, but I won't feel bad about getting something different. At this point in gadgetland, I won't recommend MD to very many new users because when you step back, we do put up with an awful lot of quirks. Personally, I use Hi-MD entirely for recording, and I use portable mp3 players (lately my Sansa E260) as DAPs. I'm among those who think iPods are overpriced and overrated--and my direct comparison of Nano vs. Sansa, playing back the same files, made Sansa the clear winner for both SQ and features--but I certainly haven't heard and compared every iPod model. Pretending iPod doesn't exist isn't objective. It's certainly fair to compare iPods to MD downloaders that have the same purpose--and iPod crushes MD when it comes to convenience, size and interface, whatever the opinion on SQ. When I was using my NetMD, one comparison between mp3 and mp3-transcoded-to-ATRAC was enough to make me get an mp3 player. I don't see any reason to be "loyal" to MD if there's a better alternative for some purpose. MD's have advantages and disadvantages, and we're the community most familiar with those. Other DAPs and recorders also have advantages and disadvantages. We can offer our perspective, and whatever experience we have with MD and any other devices we've compared them to. Here--as on boards for iPod, Cowon, iRiver, etc.--there are enthusiasts and complainers, people with high-end stereos and people who listen through cheapo earbuds, longtimers and n00bs, thoughtful people and (refreshingly few) trolls. There are some clear answers and some open-ended and subjective topics, like the eternal ones about sound quality. Readers can make up their own minds. Let's not automatically rule anything out of the discussion.

You've got the classic trade-off: too much bass because live bands want that oomph--and overdo it--or too little because of the bass roll-off. The TFB-2 mics use the same capsule (or at least one with the same specs) as my BMC-2: frequency response of 20-20,000 Hz, same sensitivity. You're getting the full spectrum, slightly affected by the shape of your ears. [EDIT: You might want to test recording with the TFB-2 outside your ears, clipped onto your clothes somehow, to see if your ears are funneling more bass into the mics than necessary. (Try recording something from your stereo.) But that Ludo recording didn't seem more bass-heavy than it probably was live. ] This is from Core Sound's stealthy cardioids specs: http://www.core-sound.com/cardioid/3.php "The Core Sound Stealthy Cardioid microphones have a frequency response of from 40 Hz to 18 kiloHertz. They have a slightly rising frequency response over that range with the exception of a slight (2 dB) peak between 9 kHz and 12 kiloHertz and a bass response fall off of roughly 6 dB per octave starting at 100 Hertz. (The bass response is very similar to our Core Sound Binaural microphones' with the bass roll-off filter)." So although they go down to 40 (still not the very lowest bass you can hear, but pretty low), they pick up less and less bass under 100 Hz. (They may also handle superloud music a little better than the TFB-2.) It's probably what you'll get with the TFB-2 and the bass roll-off box at 96 Hz. So with the TFB-2, I'd suggest, at least for the first attempt, that you set the roll-off box to 69, which should give you a bit more bottom end. I mostly use binaurals, though I've played around a little bit with some of the lower-priced cardioids. Some people just love cardioids--a Sound Professionals FAQ says if you have just one set of mics, get cardioids. Jam-band recorders, who seem to be the core of the concert-recording market, may need cardioids because those jam-band audiences are real chatterboxes, and a cardioid won't pick up the conversations all around. But to me, usually listening through headphones, cardioids can have an unnatural sound, as if there's a silence behind you--they're not picking up those 360-degree spatial cues that your ears decode so well. For all I know, cardioids and speakers are a better combination. But for me, binaurals are more enveloping and realistic.

Just remember to use the DS70P on its extension cord. If you sit it directly on the MD unit, you'll pick up the sound of the disc spinning and you'll also put unnecessary strain on the mic jack (from the weight and leverage of the microphone rather than a little plug).

Audition doesn't have a built-in multiband EQ? It's got to be there somewhere. As guitarfxr says, once you Select all or part of the waveform in Audacity, you have many choices under the Effects menu, including Equalization. I don't see EQ in Windows Media Player, but as I said it is in Winamp and possibly in other music players as well. I wanted to ask: what MD unit, mics, battery module (or attenuator?) and settings did you use on your recording? The battery module does give mics the ability to handle higher SPL (sound pressure level, or volume) than they would have without it. But only up to a certain point, depending on the mic. That's one advantage of using the battery module, which opens up the mics, over an attenuator, which sends less power to the mics and can make them more prone to distortion.

Just listened to your Ludo song. Do you really think it's that bad? I mean, yes, the bass is a bit hefty but it's probably a pretty good reproduction of what was in the room--way more balanced than some hip-hop shows I've been to. I'm using very good headphones, Grado SR125, and the bass doesn't overwhelm them at all. Using a high-pass filter on playback isn't your best option, because then you get zero bottom--it's a sharp cutoff, not the more subtle de-emphasis that you need. What you want is an EQ curve that slopes gently downward under, say, 100 Hz. (Winamp has an equalizer you could try, and so do sound-editing programs like Audacity.) Ideally, that's what your bass roll-off will give you--a slope, as Guitarfxr says, not a cutoff. The lowest note on a bass guitar, the E, is about 41 Hz. If I were you, I would try the bass rolloff at both 69 and 95, and I wouldn't go above that because then you're not just getting into bass but guitars (top string on a guitar is 330 Hz) and vocals. 888 Hz is nearly two octaves above middle C, up where sopranos sing. Check this out: all the notes on a piano with their frequencies: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/notes.html

There are a lot of opinions on what's best. Minidisc is one option. It's more complicated than it should be, but so is life. I record most concerts with: a MZ-NH700 minidisc recorder http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553219 Sound Professionals BMC-2 mics http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2 They are jellybean-sized on black clips and a thin cord, easily hidden and then (once the lights go down) can be clipped to the collar of a dark shirt. a Microphone Madness mini classic battery module http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm Mic-->battery module-->Line-in. Settings on the unit are Hi-SP (second-best sound quality) and Manual Volume at about 20/30, less (as low as 12/30) if the music is punishingly loud. RM-MC40ELK remote (from Ebay), optional but makes things a lot more convenient Here's why: To record a concert you need: 1) a microphone to pick up the music 2) a recorder to record the music. 3) a medium to hold the music. On a minidisc unit, it's the disc. On a hard-drive unit, it's the hard drive. On a flash unit, it's the flash memory, etc. 4) Here's where it gets a little confusing. Recorders generally have a Line-in jack to accept a signal that is already amplified--like recording something out of a CD player. Many, including the MZ-NH700, also have a Mic-in jack that has a preamplifier behind it, to amplify the much weaker signal out of a microphone. But that preamplifier is not made for signals as loud as amplified music--it overloads. The battery module provides just enough of a boost to the microphone to record through Line-in if the music is loud. With minidisc recordings, you can (obviously) play them back from the disc. To get them onto your computer, you need to use a clunky piece of Sony software (free) called SonicStage, which generally works well now after many years of bugs. Note: the MZ-NH700 is only compatible with Windows PCs. If you're in the Mac world, you need the MZ-RH1. I use minidisc partly out of habit--I've been using minidiscs for a while, since the days when they were clearly the best option for budget recording--and partly because minidiscs have a feature I love, which is that you can insert a silent, gapless track mark while recording or playing back. That is, press the Track button during applause and on playback you can skip from song to song. You don't have to go the minidisc route. You could look on Ebay for the iRiver H120, a 20GB hard-drive recorder, around $150 nowadays. (It's a discontinued unit, so you need to use common sense on whether you trust the seller.) To use it for concert recording, you pretty much have to install third-party firmware from www.rockbox.org -- a simple tweak, with excellent instructions, but not for someone who doesn't like tweaking. The H120 only has Line-in, not Mic-in, so the battery module is essential. (There's a built-in mic that gets a lot of hard-drive noise and can't handle the volume of a live concert.) A good thing about the H120 is that its recordings can just be dragged-and-dropped--it's basically a hard drive with a recorder. The rockbox firmware adds minidisc features like track marking and level control while recording. But the buttons and interface of the H120 take some getting used to. You can find more about it at http://www.misticriver.com Supposedly a new flash-memory recorder, the Samson Zoom H2, is being introduced this month. It promises a lot and it's only $200. But Samson's previous recorder, the H4, disappointed a lot of people. Depending on your time frame, you could see what user reactions are when the H2 is actually available. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/H2/

No model numbers on those little things. You could look at the photos on the site. If they're gumdrop-sized and you've had them for a while, they're probably BMC-2.

I'll say it again: I get very good recordings with Sound Professionals BMC-2 mics, $49. Since I got mine they have introduced various similarly priced mics, apparently made from the same pickups, in other housings, like earbuds, that are even more stealthy. But try your current binaurals, superboy.

Er, use the remote? Something must be wearing out. I occasionally see mics advertised for line-in but be very careful. Some are mono, some are obviously low-quality and swindles. To record via line-in, you need to get power to the microphone (provided from a mic-in jack but not from line-in) and a signal boost (provided by the preamp at mic-in or, much less, by a battery module). You can record amplified music with a sensitive mic--like the Sound Professionals BMC-2--plus a battery module through Line-in. I do nearly all my recording that way through the Line-in of my MZ-NH700, because Mic-in can't handle loud or low sounds without overloading. However, unamplified music is going to be very quiet or inaudible with that setup. There are amplified mics around--mic and preamp combinations--but probably not under $100 AU (though look around Ebay and read specifications carefully). The preamplifier you would need to amplify quiet sounds enough for Line-in may cost you half the price of a new MD unit (with a mic jack) or more.

I take it you are "uploading" by recording from the MD in realtime. So examine the signal path. Apparently the headphone jack is OK, because you can listen to the original disc with no problems--you've tried that over long periods, right? Your new cord should rule out the possibility of a worn-out one. Line-in jack of your computer. Any problems with that? Have you tried making a recording from something else with a headphone output, like a radio? That would leave software/processing problems. And yes, too many operations may definitely be a culprit. Did you recently install a new security program or something that might interfere? Playing video games while recording? iTunes and other media players are processor hogs. So are some email programs and, I sometimes think, just about anything made by Microsoft. See if you can do your realtime recording with a minimum of other activity and maybe the problem will end. We don't flame newbies here....well, most of the time.

The MD will record 20-20,000 Hz. But only if that's what your mic picks up. The frequency range of the ECM-MS907 is 100-15,000 Hz. The lowest note on a piano is 27.5 Hz, and electric bass or organ may well go below that, not to mention subwoofers. Because each doubling of frequency is an entire octave, your mic is missing two octaves of response (25-50 and 50-100 Hz). There's your missing bass. (On the other hand, the difference between 15,000 and 20,000 is less than an octave, though you may be sacrificing a hint of crispness up there.) http://www.minidisco.com/Sony-ECM-MS907 One reason Sony made the mic that way may have been that once upon a time, when Sony cared about MD, it was advertised as compatible with minidisc--which is to say, it wouldn't overload the preamp with bass. But the sound you get is the result of that choice. I don't believe the MD records more bass than is put in. That is, if you have a mic with flat frequency response (not biased toward any particular register) and record without distortion, your playback will not suddenly have mega bass. But the tiny, low-voltage preamp tucked into the MD--which is fine for what it's made for, voice recording through a mic-- just can't deal with those low frequencies.