AllanH

A few more ad-hoc results - subjective only, based on my ears! Equipment line up: Rode NT4- Denecke PS-2 phantom supply - NH-900 or RH-10 Cables: Starquad between mic and power supply. Unbalanced lead from phantom supply to HiMD, with 10kohm resistor between 'cold' and ground on each channel. 1. 9V battery supply to PS-2. Very hissy with clearly audible crackling/popping (as previously reported). NB Noise present whether the mic was switched on or not. Unusable for practical recording. 2. 12v external supply to PS-2. No significant noise when the mic was on. When off, slight hiss with crackling just audible. 3. 18V (nominal) external suppy to PS-2. No significant noise when the mic was on. With mic off, hiss and noise was slightly louder than with the 12V supply above. Same results obtained with both NH-900 and RH-10. It seems that: i) 12V external supply is optimum for my Denecke PS-2. ii) the noise is due to combination of the PS-2 AND the cables/circuit to the mic on/off switch. 4 Rode NT4 powered by internal 9V battery in the mic body. (This is not plug-in power from the Hi MD). Little noise once the electronics were given time (30 sec) to stabilise after switching on, as recommended by Rode. Noise had a different spectrum that noise from PS-2 combinations (less top end). Overall, I'd say that set up (2) and (4) were similar but with different noise spectra. (1) was terrible. Back again when I get my hands on an ART Phantom II.

Hi Rob So the next logical step is to up the volts on the PS-2 to 18v or 24v using combinations of battery holders. I'll try to find time in the next few days. The 1.5V AA (LR6) cells are capable of meeting a higher current than 9V PP3, but the higher volts should have less current demand anyway, and also give any switching circuits in the electronics any easier time. With my 8x 1.5V battery pack I run a PS-2 and an AD-20 pre-amp/ADC togther and get several days intermittent use before the voltage dies - much better performance than using internal 9v cells. On the basis of the work you have reported, I'm looking to abandon use of the AD-20 and rely on the HiMD pre-amp. One drawback with this method of building up the volts is the weight and bulk of the cells. May be worth my checking the catalogues to see if there are any suitable high power/voltage camcorder batteries at a sensible price.

Hi all. More info on condenser mics and phantom power supplies with NH-900. I have a Denecke PS-2 phantom unit. This can be powered either by a single 9v battery internal to the unit. It can also be powered externally at up to 24V. I usually use it with an external 12v supply (8 x 1.5 batteries in a holder) as this gives a longer running time. Test results as follows: PS-2. Internal 9V battery. Pearl MS8CL mic. Result: very noisy (hiss) with some popping/cracking noises. PS-2. Internal 9V batterry. Rode NT-4. Result: very noisy (hiss) with some popping/crackling noises. PS-2. External 12v supply. Pearl MS8CL. Result: almost no hiss. No popping/crackling noises. PS-2. External 12v supply. Rode NT-4. Result: almost no hiss. No popping/crackling noises. So - there appears to be significant effect of supply voltage on the results with a PS-2 phantom unit and an NH-900. Interestingly, the ART Phantom II uses an 18V supply (2x 9v). Maybe this has something to do with its superior perrformance. Since it takes the two batteries internally, which is more convenient than using a PS-2 with external power, my ART is on order!

This is all very interesting.I've tried a Denecke PS-2 phantom unit with my Pearl MS8CL tonight, and I haveen't found any problems with buzzing or hum. I'll try my Rode NT4 tomorrow and see if I get the problems with than combo. Its possible that the interference is coming from electronics in the phantom supply that are producing 48V from the 9v battery that is usually used/

Try: Telinga for a complete kit, or look here for a reflector you can use you own mics with: www.wildlife-sound.org (Amberwood reflector). Both work and can give very clean recordings from a distance, But you get funny looks from passers by. Hey mister why are you waving a satellite dish in the air? Good luck

Hi - as usual I'm late in on this thread. I've been recording nautural sounds & birds for about a year now using HiMD so maybe my comments will help. I too found my early recordings too noisy - I was using Sony ECM909, 959, 999 electrets. I've use a preamp (FEL, www.felmicamps.co.uk) and that helps, but the biggest single improvement was a switch to a Rode NT4 mic. This instantly gave me clearer, cleaner recordings. There a few points to watch out for though: - the mic is very sensitive to movement and wind noise. A well-damped mount and windshield are essential for outdoor use except in perfectly still conditions. A low frequency roll-off filter (high pass) is also useful. - the mic comes with an unbalanced lead, but this contains a pad resistor which reduces the signal level a bit. I've made up a lead which unbalances the signal from the mic but does not include the pad resistor. This keeps the high signal level the mic produces and reduces the need for later amplification. The NT4 is fine for ambient sounds - streams waves etc. But if you want to record birdsong without noise, things get more serious. The bird recording fraternity largely uses Sennheiser MHK series mics because of their low noise, but ME series mics are also used. These are good for 'soundscapes'. If you want clear, quiet recordings of individual birds singing and you cant get close to them, you will need a microphone in a parabolic reflector. Several ways of doing this, but the most portable/lightweight is a Telinga. You might like to try: www. wildlife-sound.org Problem with much of this kit is that it works against the lightweight ethos of MD. Microphones often need a phantom power supply, use bulky XLR connectors, Mid-Side stereo recordings need a decoder box to allow headphone monitoring, you might use an external pre-amp ADC - it all builds up. Sooner or later you start wondering about a specialist preamp (SQN?) and maybe a different recorder (Fostex, Sound Devices) - be careful about being sucked in! (Bulky XLRs aren't all bad - I had my mic, windshield and tripod blown over a seawall while recording waves. Luckily everything back to me was connected with locking XLRs and I simply hauled the rig back up again using the mic cable. Would have lost the lot with 3.5mm mini-jacks.) Regards AllanH

As oThers have said the answer is - yes. I use an AD-20 with my NH-900 or RH-10 for most of my recordings

Apologies for late response. Sony centre price £200. (PS you dont get a 1GB disc insde the UK box. A bit cheapskate.)

Not sure if this is right place for this, but here goes. I've been using my RH-10 in the field. I find the ergonomics better than NH-900 - the menus seem easier to access, track selection, FFWD and REV are easier to use, the bar graphs for recording level, volume and position in the track are all an improvement. And at dusk or in dimly-lit situations the display is easily visible and a big improvement on the NH-900. BUT in normal daylight, the display is almost invisible. In this respect the NH-900 is much better. So, if you'll be using an RH-10 indoors or in dark condtions - its great. If your use will mainly be outdoors in daylight - you could be disappointed. Try before you buy?

Sony Centres have them in stock. Got my RH-10 last Saturday. The lit-up diplay is sooooo good. Ergonomics seems better than NH-900 too.

Thanks TS - I too was puzzled by the flashing 'R'. Now I can ignore it...unless anyone knows different.

Can I suggest you have a look at the Maplin Electronics catalogue? (www.maplin.co.uk) Maplin now stock 1350mAh 'gumstick' batteries made by Uniross. They also sell a charger. Catalogue numbers and prices: NiMh battery: N07BU £9.99 Charger: N10BU £14.99 Also stocked are a 780mAh Li-ion battery (N08BU, £12.99). Any use for the NH1? Presumably you could get these items from other Uniross stockists worldwide.

Tierce A possible option would be contact FEL (www.felmicamps.co.uk). They do an 'MP3' battery operated preamp. Gives a fixed 30dB gain and boosts the mic signal enough to feed into the line-in socket. You would then use the level control on the MD to get the best results.

Denecke AD-20 is a preamp/ADC combined. 2 off XLR-3 inputs (balanced) only. Coaxial and optical digital outputs (use both at once on 2 different recorders if you wish). Converter cables can be made to take unbalanced mic inputs or line level inputs. Takes a single PP3 battery. 44.1kHz and 48kHz versions available. Works OK with portable DAT MD and HiMD recorders. Could do with a bit more gain for my needs (max is about 40dB). Built like a brick out-house. Weighs about 1lb (thats 0.45kg). Nice piece of kit.

Dex - ambient recording is my main interest especially waves, trains (how sad) and some competition cars and the occasional birdsong. How do I get a sample to you? (Consider me computer illiterate.)

I've been using a 957 for external ambient work. Sounds OK although not as open as my Rode NT4. On the other hand its doesn't suffer from damp weather, unlike the NT4. The 957 has a degree of self noise on quiet recordings, but I guess this won't be a problem in a concert! When using the 957 with a 20dB preamp feeding into the mic input of NH900, I did find that it was easy to run into distortion on loud sounds even though the level meters were not indicating problems. Guess I just ran out of head room on the preamp. It s pity Sony dont specify a 9V battery with their electrets. This would improve S/N and increase maximum SPL at the same time.

As bad as its always been? No - its better than on my R37 which doesn't allow manual level control on the fly. Sharp? they don't do HiMD yet. Dropouts as the recording level increases? - haven't noticed any so far.

Yes it is possible. Get in Record/Pause mode. Enter Menu mode (hold Nav/Menu button for more than 2 seconds) Use jog wheel to go to Select Record settings (Rec Set) Enter Use jog wheel to select REC Volume Enter Use jog wheel to select Manual. Jog wheel can now be used to select record level manually. Now for the clever bit. Press Pause. Recording will now begin. Turning the jog wheeel will now increase/decrease the recording level as recording continues. Display changes automatically to indicate the level when you do this.

For what its worth, some experience from brief use of NH900: 1 Recording in PCM mode, the results using Sony MS957 Mic + external ADC +optical input are quieter than using the mic directly into the Mic input and the on-board ADC. No surprise I suppose. 2 Recording level adjustment , (both optical and analogue) can be done 'on the fly' provided 'manual record level' mode is selected in Record/Pause, before recording starts. Manual record level mode cannot be accessed once recording has begun. Level adjustments are noiseless - no clips/pops/bleeps/sound dropouts. 3a Transfer of recordings from NH900 to a PC file via Sonic Stage 2.0 is permitted once only. Why? 3b Playback of a recording into the PC vai Sonic Stage is allowed without restriction, at least for an original microphone recording. Presumably this is the 'playback via USB' that has been mentioned in other posts. 4 Transfer to a .wav file. Files transferred to the PC via Sonic Stage 2.0 are captured in OpenMG format. My sound recording programme (Wavelab Lite) does not recognise Open MG files. However, playing the OpenMG file using Sonic Stage produces a .wav output into the soundcard. This can then be recorded using Wavelab and saved as a .wav file. The same can be done with a recording played back from the NH900 into the PC, as in 3b above. Result: PCM recordings transferred to .wav files which can be edited as required without any further use of Sonic Stage. This may be of interest to those (like me) who do not have Total Recorder loaded on their PC. It's slow, but it works. I'm one happy bunny! For information: soundcard used was EMU 1212. Wavelab Lite was bunded with the card.

HHB Portadisc - a professional quality (and price) machine. It has optical and coaxial inputs & outputs & USB. Also has XLR mic/line in, level meters, backlighting, user definable set-ups ect etc.

Whne I first heard of HiMD it seemed just what I was looking for. Then when I read the Sony website, there seemed to be restrictions to the way that data could be handled. (No uplaoding of .wav files, for example) I am concerned that with HiMD I may not be able to download home-recorded digital files in PCM quality back to the PC. I doubt very much that my local salespeople will have any experience of using HiMD themselves, which brings the risk that I buy the product, only to find that it won't do what I want. Portadisk isn't HiMD, but I need a solution in the near future, so I may give HiMD a miss until it has had time to be launched and the glitches correected. I already have a sound card with coaxial and optical digital I/O, but it cost rather more then $30 unfortunately! (and isn't much use with many consumer MD units which don't have digital outputs)

I need a recommendation please MD to be used for microphone recording. Input signal will usually be digital (both optical and coaxial available), from an external ADC. Unit should have decent metering, and (preferably) with manual level controls and low noise pre-amps. XLR or 3.5mm jack inputs. Backlight desirable. Unit should have optical output (coaxial or optical) as well as line. USB in/out would be nice. HHB Portadisc springs to mind. Any others? I was going to wait for HiMD, but this looks to be delayed and may not give fully flexible digital in/out due to restrictions in SonicStage. Thanks in advance.

Hi. I'm new to MD recording too. I'm now pulling togther a quiet (ie non hiss) stereo recording rig. If you're looking to record birdsong you will probably need something similar. So far I've found that: - Sony ECM mics dont a have a low enough S/N ratio for bird recording (ECM-999PR has a S/N of 68dB.) - Rode NT4 has a quoted S/N ratio of 78dB, and produces quite a high signal output. MUCH quieterr than ECM-999PR, but is very prone to wind noise if used outdoors. Comes with both XLR and 3.5mm cables so it will plug straight into a MD. For either mic you will need a shock mount to get over handing noise and a good wind cover eg Rycote, with a WindJammer cover. Or make something similar yourself. I'm told the MD reorders have noisy built in mic pre-amps so you may need to use an external preamp to keep the noise down. I use an external pre-amp/ADC and record using the digital optical input.

I record from microphone using an exterrnal pre-amp/ADC [Deneke AD-20]. With Hi-MD, will I 1) - be able to record to Hi-MD minidisk in PCM format 16bit/44.1 KHz using the optical input? {Yes, I guess) and 2) - be able to transfer the resulting track from the Hi-MD Minidisk recorder into my PC and store as a WAV.file? My ADC sets SCMS to 00 (ie off). I'd like to use Hi-MD Minidisk as a small high quality recoding system, but I don't want to fall into a trap and not be able to transfer my recordings digitally.