Midiman

Thanks for the response. The mics were a set of cheap (really cheap) plastic condenser lavs from Radio Shack that were powered from the N707 although they have an external battery box. The signal never peaked above the 4th bar so I don't think the cause was input signal level regardless of the mic sensitivity setting which I'm not sure the N707 has... I know my N10 did... but that's another long disgusting story. My N707 HAS the setting, but only as the result of an OS hack that added some features, and I don't believe it actually does anything because the hardware isn't there to support it in the mic preamp in the 707. I see a lot of mics that are only rated for an SPL of 100db or maybe 110... that just isn't quite enough for a decent rock concert. I'd have to check the specs on these but I doubt they're very high. I want to keep the rig as small and portable (and inconspicuous) as possible... therefore, toting around an external preamp is my last choice. Regardless, I'm definitely looking for an upgrade from a set of $19 RS lavs to a more professional mic.

I had my first experience attempting to record a live performance by Yes at the Bell Center in Montreal last night. The results were pretty dismal. The input level on my N707 was set pretty low... so the unbelieveable amount of distortion was obviously due to the inability of a cheap set of stereo condenser lavs to handle the SPL. Anyone have any recommendations for a decent, small (preferably lav type) mic that will handle the sometimes extreme SPLs at rock concerts? I'm willing to spend a couple of hundred bucks on something good... $1200 mics are out of my range

You used the wrong input. The Line input is for line level devices. You would only use that for mics if you were running the mics through a mixer first. Use the Mic inputs instead. ... and please see my post in the Troubleshooting forum on this board concerning this model and problems I'm having with recording using the mic inputs. See if yours does the same thing.

I've been through a 4 month ordeal with Sony trying to get to the bottom of this. Here's the story. I bought an MZ-N1. One day after the 30 day money back period, I did a recording trying to capture some fairly low level audio with mics (long cables... lots of isolaton between mics and MZ-N1). On playback I noticed the sound of a faint motor scooter or chainsaw or something in the background that lasted about 10 seconds and recurred about every 106 seconds. This recording was done using the internal battery. I did further testing and when the power ran out, I started using the AC power supply. With the AC power supply, the noise remains constant throughout the entire recording after it starts up about 8 seconds into the recording. The noise is predominantly in the left channel. Sony has had this unit for 3 of the 4 months I've owned it... it's been sent to them twice and 4 separate facilities have looked at it. Now they're trying to tell me the noise is "normal" and nothing is wrong with the unit. You can see a screen grab of the waveform of this noise and the conditions necessary to reproduce it and download an audio example in MP3 format at http://www.mountainlake.org/noise I have tried this over and over using several different sets of quality mics... different locations, etc. The results are absolutely repeatable and predictable. I've also found that I can record the noise with no input what-so-ever. No mics..... nothing. If any MZ-N1 owners can take a couple of minutes and visit the URL I posted and try the simple test instructions I posted at the bottom of the page, I would greatly appreciate it. If you post your results here I can point Sony in this direction and, hopefully, refute their contention that this noise is "normal". I already know that all of you will not find this noise in your machines because the noise is NOT normal... it is ludicrous.