722Forever

What an interesting read. I totally agree - piracy control mechanisms generally screw-up consumer enjoyment rather than secure it.

Here's my little set-up at home where I do my music. It's amazing how neat things look when you have a little tidy up... Slightly out of date, as a couple of days ago I put in a wooden MD rack behind where the lamp is. The MD rack is actually made out of a 2-bottle wine case turned on its side. Perfect size and shape for an MD shelving unit. Haven't measured it's total capacity. Plus my recent NH900 charging cradle didn't exist when this photo was taken You can just make out my Sharp 722 on the left of the desk. For those who are interested those are Event TR8 studio monitors, and the units on the desk are my Samson C-Control sub-mixer and Roland XV5050 synth. The keyboard to the left is a MIDI controller. The rest of my gear is in my PC, including my Yamaha SW1000 sound/synth/fx card. You can make out some of my Aztec stuff on the wall above the desk.

I've often thought about wireless headphones/remotes, but then I realise that they're just more things to remember to charge up... As annoying as they are, I think I'll stick with the wires!

Ha ha! None taken. What an interesting thread. I'll check out those links Corien. I knew I was probably tempting fate by saying 'any frequency'...! I was just pointing out the differences between tonal and sampling frequency. Surely a higher sampling rate would theoretically improve the sound reproduction as well as frequency range - simply by having more samples per second and therefore a more detailed sound? bobt - I bow to anyone who has come through the age of 1/4 inch reel-to-reel. You are a true soundie.

I second what dex otaku says - Use 24Bit if you really need it, otherwise if you're just copying tracks then 16Bit will do. bobt - No offence, I think you've got a little confused: You're mixing up sampling rate with frequency response. 44.1kHz doesn't mean that all the audio is constantly at 44.1kHz - that would be pointless and unhearable. The samplerate is the amount of samples per second (rather like moving images have frames per second). So a second of sound will be made up of 44100 snapshots. Inside a a digital recording you can have any frequency you like. Just because human hearing tapers off at around 20kHz doesn't mean that we should be listening to things at or below 20kHz. They are two completely different things. They just happen to use Hz in their measurements!

The frequency range for the 907 is 100Hz - 15kHz. Not the greatest, but it does...

All good advice ProAudioGuy. I totally agree with the last bit - experiment with what you've got. I've been using a little Sony ECM907 mic for a couple of years with my Sharp MS722 recorder. Last week I treated myself to a Hi-MD (Sony NH900) and a little pre-amp unit. I'm itching to get out and experiment with it, but have very little time at the moment!

classicalgas - I totally agree. You have to find what's right for you. I'd been planning literally for months before I decided to get my NH900 last week. I'm mostly interested in being able to record uncompressed PCM and upload digitally to PC. A lot of friends have been asking 'why didn't you get an iPod or and mp3 player??!' They, of course, don't understand what my needs are regarding portable audio technology... When I'm walking through a noisy forest or standing by a river, and iPod isn't going to be much help if I want to record the environment...

I agree - the design looks like something from the late 1980's/early '90s. Very bland, from an age when labelling something 'digital' was something new and exciting... Still, it's what the discs DO that matters!

I used to record the drum parts when I was in my band a few years ago. We'd use 3 machines: 2 for recording, which took of course 4 mono parts (kick, snare, toms and a mono overhead mix), and one for playback of the clicktrack I'd create so the drummer could stay in time. Then I'd just mix the drums down to stereo in the studio I worked at (before I had my home studio that I have now). Worked a treat. Syncing was never a problem, as I'd just get the drummer to click his sticks together once before the song began. Line up the sticks, then the whole thing is synced perfectly. :smile:

pjburnhill - Reactive's 2nd suggestion is a good one. If you go in at line-level then there will be no pre-amp noise because you won't be using it. You'd obviously need to get a box that'll turn your mic into line-level. Avoid getting into noise-reduction if you can help it. Although handy, NR can produce artifacts and often make the recording sound worse than it originally did. As a professional sound engineer (I spend my days recording and mixing voices and other material for TV and radio), I can state through experience that it is far better to get things right at the recording stage, than have to fiddle with de-noisers. I once had to noise-reduce, noise-gate and EQ a 5-minute party political broadcast where the party leader spoke non-stop. Why? Because the location sound guy didn't think the loud air-con noise would be a problem...So, get the recording as good as you can get it. The noise you are getting is coming from the pre-amp. Plain and simple. Boost the source level, take down the mic gain (or even better go line-in) and your recordings will sound nice. Portable minidisc units are aimed at domestic users, so they don't have high-quality Focusrite pre-amps built into them (that'd probably make them less portable too!). Instead you have to deal with what Sony/Sharp build themselves, which are noisy pre-amps, but that shouldn't deter enthusiast like us from getting top-quality recordings. Check out the various pre-amps and boosters available, and you'll have no excuse for 'hissy' recordings!

pjburnhill - The 'hiss' is most definitely coming from the mic pre-amp in your MD unit. I have exactly the same problem. I'm using the same mic (Sony ECM 907) with my Sharp MS722 unit, and the unusable noise-floor is present even before I plug the mic in. The problem is, because the output of the mic is so quiet, you have to turn up the input gain on the MD unit, and that brings up the noise. You have to buy a suitable mic pre-amp (try FEL mic amps if you're in the UK) to boost the signal before it gets to the MD unit, thus making you turn down the input gain, and resulting in less 'hiss'. FEL do a 3.5mm pre-amp designed for MD use and costs £105. They claim a 20dB boost. I'm planning on buying one as soon as I get my shiny new Hi-MD unit. Trust me - the hiss is coming from your MD unit's mic pre-amp. Once you correct that, things will be fine.