ozpeter

I used to work regularly with a classical music record producer who had no sense of mono vs stereo - even though he was a superb musician, had an otherwise golden ear, and was a top expert in various aspects of linguistics and musicology. Seems to me that some people are "stereo blind" like others are "colour blind" .

Or Kristal. Probably depends on what you feel comfortable with - some programs 'speak' to one person different from another. And it's a matter of the precise requirement. As you were originally talking about converting from full-quality PCM to something of lesser quality, be aware that you should undertake all editing on the full quality PCM version and then (if desired) save to (say) mp3. Don't edit an mp3 file unless using a method which does not require the file to be uncompressed and then recompressed - that cycle degrades the sound each time you do it. Mp3 and the like are delivery formats, not intended for editing or other conversion.

You'll need to convert it to something like an mp3 file (there's a zillion programs out there to do that). First consideration is, what format does the person the other end want? No good using a compressed format they can't uncompress. Then you've got to consider what tradeoff you want between file size and audio quality, which dictates what bitrate to use when encoding the file.

Doesn't work. I've heard comments to the effect that it does for some people, but I've yet to see anyone put their hand up (since I've been here) and categorically state it works for them. (Hey, but thanks for the suggestion).

Update - My NH900 has been returned (whew!) and I've now tested the Sony 150 ohm attenuator lead, playing a CD into the mic socket having previously played it into the line socket with a normal lead. Using the attenuator lead requires an input level setting of 18/30 with 'mic sensitivity' set to high, compared with 16/30 using the line input with a normal lead. Peak noise level on the mic input is about -62dB, compared with -72dB on the line input, but under real-world conditions room noise would usually be above that noise floor, so it's no disaster. So I'm faced with the choice of getting lots of unwanted track marks using line input, or having full control of track marks and adding 10dB of noise using mic input. It would be good if someone came up with a service mode hack to turn off auto track marking on the line input, but that's been said a good few times before!

What bug affects recording, Woodgnome? I recall you mentioning a bug affecting editing within the unit, but not recording surely?

I've just found the Sony stereo 3.5mm to 2 x RCA attenuated lead I bought many years ago, designed for connecting a line-level source to a mic socket - a fixed 150 ohms resistance per channel. I have in mind to use it for testing what the quality implications would be in such a scenario with my NH900, in an effort to avoid the auto track marking problem. I can't see these listed via Google - maybe Sony has stopped producing them. (Trouble is I've had to lend the NH900 to a musician who wanted to listen at once to a concert recording, and of course the HI-MD recording wouldn't play on her older MD - so she's gone off with the machine leaving me an address and phone number... gulp. I shall post results if I get it back!)

As memory serves my from my own tests, once you go below 13/30, the preamp is overloading.

Certainly at one time one could regularly see it in use by the BBC at classical concerts, but I suspect they had something more fancy than a minidisc on the end of it. What mics were you planning to use? If they work well (in terms of their output) with the MD in the first place, using them either side of the disc shouldn't make any difference in their suitability. Slightly OT, I once constructed a dummy head using a wooden disk, a length of broomstick, two plastic sieves and a couple of Tandy omni capsules, and that worked pretty well, although it was about 25 years ago and minidiscs hadn't begun to be thought of!

I'd say that if you get very occasional peaks hitting the segment one before the second dot, you'll be ok. Don't let it ever go higher. It depends very much on what you are recording, but if the level spends most of its time knocking around the first dot area, that's probably about right too. Ideally, have a look at the levels you are getting in an editing program afterwards - that will give you a better feel for whether you should be aiming higher or lower.

My "standard" test CD is by the Jacques Loussier Trio - "Bach to the Future/Reflections of Bach" on the "Start" label, SCD2 - but I suspect not easy to find now.

The radio station I'm associated with uses an NH900 for interviews and I'm using one as a backup for classical music recordings. Minidisc has been popular in radio for many years, but the NH900 and its related models do have dire ergonomics, while making excellent recordings. Yup, that's possible, but the NH900-type models revert to AGC when you press 'stop' - you have to rummage through menus to get the manual level back again. Once on manual level you can safely pause, and at any time you can adjust the level with the large wheel. Dynamic range is sufficient that if you choose a cautious level, you should be ok to normalise it in the computer afterwards. You'll quickly get to know what is a good working figure using a known mic. Two selectable ones on the NH900 with varying recovery characteristics. Yup, via USB and Sony's SonicStage software. Current versions seem pretty reliable but note that even your own recordings are subject to Sony's Digital Rights Management (DRM) procedures. Mandatory reading is this link on this site. Well, you can monitor on cans but it's not very loud - in many situations you'll find it hard to hear what's on the monitoring above the level of the environment. You'll find other threads here where the alternative to minidisc have been discussed - the real alternatives you'll find don't come cheap.

No.

Indeed you can convert files recorded in the Atrac modes - the only problem I could forsee is that the maximum size of a wave file (due to the RIFF header) is 4Gb, so if you had a huge single-track atrac file in theory you might hit the wave file limit.

In the current version, choose Options > Settings > Pre-recording and set the number of seconds you want to be pre-recorded all the time. If you want, click the "Activate Pre-recording when the program starts" tickbox. Click OK. You can turn the facility on or off using Ctrl/g thereafter, or choose Play/Record > Pre-recording.... In the status window of the main part of the Total Recorder interface you'll see how many seconds have been prerecorded.

With most computer problems, you try changing a few things (eg turn off system sounds) and try the procedure again, thus gradually pinning down where the problem lies. But with SS you can't do that for obvious reasons... which makes pinning down these kinds of troubles more than somewhat difficult!

In terms of stability, it's fine here. Shame about the DRM of course, and the inaccurate handling of the beginning and end of tracks....

Well, I've looked with extreme care at this and it seems quite clear that when SonicStage transfers tracks, at the beginning of track two there is a tiny bit of the end of track one, at the beginning of track three there is a tiny bit of the end of track two, and so forth. The repeated amounts seem to vary. In a few cases I can't actually spot the repeated bit, so either it's too few samples to see, or there is no repeat. However at one such point there is a clear distortion of the waveform at a track join with an audible click, and I suspect there is actually some material missing there, rather than duplicated. I've re-explored whether Total Recorder (recording while SonicStage plays) does any better, but it seems to be losing a little material at each track join - generally the opposite problem. At the points where I can hear the tiny repeat in the transferred version, comparing with analog playback direct on the MD, it seems fine there - in other words, the problem arises during the transfer, not during the original recording, which would tend to indicate that taking the track marks out on the original recording would fix the problem, though that's a pretty tedious exercise. Of course there's plenty of variables left to explore. Does this only happen in respect of tracks added automatically when recording via Line In MD? Does it happen with manually added track marks? If you erase the track marks prior to transfer, does that indeed avoid the problem? Does this only happen with Hi-SP transfers or would wave format recordings avoid it? It would certainly seem wise if manually track marking to do so at non-critical points. Where the tracks are automatically created, they seem to lie at points just before the rise in level which triggers them, rather than right on the rise, and therefore the repeated sections are in low-level areas and thus tend to be not obvious, fortunately. However, purists may wish to take note of this problem, and consider whether they need to check very carefully at points where transferred live tracks join. Oh, and another thing - with SS3.0, when you transfer unlabelled tracks direct to wave format, there is a problem in the labelling scheme, because the date and time of the transfer does not start in the format "2005-04-26 23_22(0) as it should for proper sorting of the files - the (0) is omitted, although (1) and (2) etc do appear. Rather than label all the tracks on the MD, it's quicker to go through the transferred wave files adding the "(0)" where necessary. Then they sort in the correct order for combining with other software.

Oh dear... when testing results comparing Mediajoin against Adobe Audition, I fear I have come across a nasty bug with either SonicStage 3.0 or the NH900. In essence, I can detect that where the NH900 inserted its own track markers, there is a short but (sometimes) audible repeat of a tiny bit of the waveform where the original file was Hi-SP and SS3.0 has converted to wave format. Looking at the waveform very closely, the repeated section either side of where the track marker was is clearly visible. The length of the repeat is 13967 samples, about 0.3 seconds. Note that the result is identical whether using Audition or Mediajoin to combine the files, so the problem is very unlikely to be related to the non-Sony combine operation. I seem to be able to spot this when the signal is very quiet - most noticable where the NH900 was left running after a rehearsal and there were some people talking quietly on stage, triggering the auto track mark fairly frequently. Is this a known problem? [bedtime here now, but in the morning I shall return to this problem and see if I can pin down exactly what is happening - now that I know what to look for I am seeing these repeated samples at MD track markers in other transferred material.]

I've just this minute come across a freeware program called "mediajoin" which will very neatly join transferred files into a single file (creating a new one, not messing with your originals) - I've tested it against the same function in Adobe Audition and the result is bit-for-bit identical. The program will also convert to ogg, wma, or mp3 while it's doing the join. Simple interface, only hitch is that there's no "sort by name" function to get around the odd thing Windows does when opening multiple files, so you have to do a little "move up, move down" of the first and / or last files to ensure the order is correct. No, I don't know whether there are any nasties in the download but my PC hasn't crashed so far... Google will find it. [edit - if you drag the files into Mediajoin they will stay in the correct order. The more I play with this little program the more it seems like an ideal companion to SonicStage when dealing with files recorded live that need joining together]

It's such a personal thing - some people claim to have the kind of ears that can hear the difference but I'm pretty sure I can't. About a week ago I had to record three classical concerts for FM stereo radio over two days. I used one 1gb MD running Hi-SP as backup to an audio CD recorder for the whole lot, including some rehearsal material. (And I didn't need to recharge the camera battery I use with the NH900 either). The first concert involved two internationally known opera singers with Steinway piano in this city's largest hall. The second involved contemporary percussion works, plus a work for clarinet and piano, in an ABC concert studio. The third involved cello, violin and piano, and piano solo, in a 'stately home' ballroom. So plenty of varied and demanding material. Mics used included expensive Sennheiser MKH series items. I'd be happy to use any of the backup material for broadcast - and as the audio CD recorder went belly up on a defective CD for part of one half of the first concert, Hi-SP MD is what we'll use for part of the broadcast of that concert. I've edited it together with the rest of the audio CD recorded material that was usable, and if there's any difference in practice, I can't hear it through high grade studio headphones. (Oh, and the download using SS3.0 was fine). When the broadcast goes out I'll try to remember to post details and if there's anyone here in the Melbourne area who hears it and can spot the Hi-SP MD items, I'll give 50 dollars to charity! It also goes out on the net but not in a quality that would amount to any kind of test.

Kurisu, I meant this post which appeared exactly as I posted my comment above.

Don't you just love the smell of some of these places? All those warm chips. As for Powerhouse etc - when the assistant breezes up and asks if he can help me, I usually reply "It's OK, I'm just looking for something I never realised I needed".

A good source of info re restoring LPs - http://www.a-reny.com/iexplorer/restauration.html (Not an answer to the above question, however!)

Dex, the simultanous announcement you've posted is a neat bit of mind reading! Apart from the aspect of whether the performers are happy to be posted, there's also the matter of the permission of the holders of the copyright in the works performed. I don't claim to be an expert in all of this, but I've been in the industry long enough to know it's a minefield!