bjsilva

Hi Andrew, just a reply on microphone placement, which is very important: I spent many years trying to find the best place to mic a piano for classical music, speaking to recording engineers and lots of trial and error testing, mostly error! I finally found the solution in one of my own "trial" recordings 4 years ago and later read an interview with a recording engineer who I think does some of London/Decca's recordings. Depending on your room, draw an imaginary line with the angle of the plate where the inner part of the bass strings are to a minimum of 5' past the end of the piano. Place the mic so it angles down toward the middle of the piano, perhaps a minimum of 10" above the lid of the piano. A stereo mic or pair aligned in a stereo position are ideal. Again, the room and your desired "flavour" defines the specifics. For whatever reason, I am constantly surprised how this produces the most natural and pleasing sound. My best recordings have been mic'd this way.

Cool! I've only really seen OS/2 from a friend at university. I always heard good things about it. I've never seen the dock in OS/2, and don't doubt it had some influence, but I suspect the OS X dock was more a merge of the NeXTSTEP application dock and the Mac OS<=9 application menu. That is definitely an issue for sure, but I think even that is founded less on a fear of developing for a small segment and more on the contentment with a large market share on the Windows side. In any case, there's no need to discuss this at length or for me to continue with my infatuation with the newly discovered quoting feature

Actually, I suspect the reason Sony is not developing for the Mac at this time is largely because the quantity of Mac users who would use MD and Sony Connect instead of Apple's iPod and iTunes is very small. Not that the Mac market itself is too small. Though I wouldn't rule out the possibility. Plenty of companies develop for both PC and Mac with positive financial results. The usual reason a company won't develop their product for the Mac is simply because they don't feel like it - they're happy with their large potential user base with Windows. Don't be fooled by the 2%+ market share, it's still enormous. That has been said repeatedly and in various fashions for the past decade If the Mac goes away it won't be because of it's relatively small market share.

Easier doesn't necessarily make it better I personally quite like the experience of recording a CD/record to MD in real-time - to me, doing a quick transfer using a computer is far more boring.

Like dex, I found the 907 to be surprisingly good. I later purchased an AT822 (audio technica) and found that to have a better sound, though I loved the 907's portability. Recently I've become interested in getting the Rode NT4 or 5, along with a tube mic preamp - further limiting my easy portability, also more expensive. I suspect, if anything, you'll have a better dynamic range using manual recording - assuming you set the levels as high as possible (without clipping, of course). Your dynamic range will be limited if you set the levels too low.

Oh, and low sensitivity for the microphone.

Hi linzq, As someone who has done only classical recording of solo piano and piano with <other instrument/voice>, in addition to using the 907 when I first starting using MD, I recommend the following for the best results: - Use manual recording. After positioning the microphone (more below), adjust the recording level by telling the pianist to strike various chords or octaves as loud as they can. Set it so that the loudest piano strike will either just light up the last level bar on your NH800 or the one below (not less than that). If you set the balance between the piano and your voice properly you won't need to check your singing. Next, check the loudest sections of the pieces you'll be playing with your singing and adjust if necessary. - Don't put the microphone more than 5-7 feet away from you and the piano, otherwise the sound will be distant and lack a lot of fulness in the piano (particuarly with the 907)! I recommend you stand to the right of the piano keyboard, putting the microphone at a triangle position in relation to you and the curve of the piano at about 5-7 feet from the piano (adjustments in exact position of the mic and yourself necessary for balance). You will loose some room reverberation, but I have found that to be a limitation of your setup - plus, I am sure you'll be pleased with the sound anyway. Make sure the piano lid is open, short stick if necessary. Hope this helps.

Interesting you say that, Dex. I listening mostly to Classical, and mostly piano, and some of newer recordings have a somewhat annoying sound - "overdone", the piano doesn't sound very natural. My most favourite piano recording is from the late 60's - it's really quite extraordinary.

Hi Markr, If you're *sure* you're using manual recording, you shoudn't worry. The problem with overloading a digital or analogue recording, as you know, is just the sound produced. If you're not hearing any strange noises then there's no problem. I don't know of any MD's that have a limiter. It is hard to believe you would get the recording levels exactly right, especially on multiple recordings (unless of course you recorded them under similar circumstances). Just make sure you are recording with manual levels, since it resets everytime you stop recording.

Hi dex, Thanks for the reply! What you say makes sense. I do recall trying out a PreSonus Blue Tube, but I was mainly hoping to get rid of some noise. It didn't help, later I discovered the noise was a quiet fan in the auditorium I had just become accustom to The PreSonus was supposed to make a warmer sound, but I wasn't really paying much attention to it (though I don't remember a difference). Where can you get a pocket tube preamp?

Does anyone use, recommend, or can comment on microphone simulators? I'd like to get a warmer sound out of my AT822 but maintain good portability. Though I'm plenty open to other stereo microphones, but the only stereo microphone I could find that produces a warm sound was a ribbon at over $2000 and would require a preamp (of course).

When I got my first MD recorder (MZ-R30) I was using the 907 and found the levels to be plenty adequate - in fact I never even needed to switch to high sensitivity. This is with live piano recording. I then got an R50 and used the 907 happily until I got an AT822. I did not notice the levels on audio technica to be significantly higher. I still use that mic with my NH1 now. Not sure what's up with your 907. Though the AT822 is a reasonably inexpensive ($299?) stereo mic with a much cleaner sound.

I, like dex Otaku, use it primarily for live recording. Also for listening to music on occasion, usually when travelling. Though I don't agree that it's antiquated, I'd still get a HiMD unit if I were just listening to music. I personally find the experience of going through CDs/MDs/records much superior to navigating a menu system. With HiMD there's less routing through discs, but I wouldn't consider that much of an advantage personally.

jadeclaw and dexOtaku, thanks for the info, I was not aware of that. Very interesting!

mutant1345: The file size depends on the bit rate (misc info is probably nominal). Therefore, an MP3 file at 256k would be more or less the same size as a 256k (hi-sp) ATRAC file. I think Sony keeps using ATRAC because they like their product (for various reasons). MP3/AAC/WMA are all capable of using a DRM scheme.

---- It took me ages to convert my mp3s to atrac. ---- I've never tried it, but don't the hi-md units play MP3 files? Or is it just that SonicStage supports the conversion from MP3 to atrac?

I suspect that the "1GB" on the hi-md disk isn't there just because it would be impractical to use time lengths. It seems to me that it would also make it easy for Sony to release >1GB disks with minimal confusion to the general public. Then again, companies tend to change their plans as products roll out differently than they would have expected.

The NH1 optical is only for the input. Output is analogue.

Hi Darkeyed, As is commonly said, if you take this approach you will never buy anything You should decide what your needs are, see if the NH1 meets them, and base your decision just on that. With that said, I suspect Sony will wait at least a little bit before releasing new models. Even then, sometimes new models aren't as good as the old ones. I find the NH1 to be a great unit.