deadwing

Thanks for that- I went onto his site but couldn't work out which was the battery box!!

Here's the link to the ebay page I got them from http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=9700517093 I was thinking the battery box maybe the way forward before I picked up these new mics, but the first recording I make with them comes out great-then I get the distortion on the next one. The attenuator does hewlp considerably- I left it out of the loop at a 'test' pub gig a while ago and the distortion- even at a setting of 10/30 was unlistenable. I'll take a look at the battery box links-thanks-would you recommend one with bass roll off or one of the simple units?

OK, been recording with my Sony MZ-NH1 Hi MD for about a year and a half with a fair amount of success. I recently invested in a pair of nice cardoid mics from the U.S. (I'm in the UK) to replace the mics I bit when I got the recorder. The first gig I recorded with came out amazing- best recording I've ever made- no distortion, everything clear. Second recording has come out ok, but suffers again from distortion, mainly on the bass drum. I've upped shgort (9o sec) mp3 samples here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barneystorm/jrny.mp3 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barneystorm/+Live+.mp3 the first show was in a big venue (3000 seat theatre), I was on the balcony about 6 rows back dead central, the second was in a smaller venue (About 750-1000 people) and was all standing- I was about 70 feet from the stage just in front of the sound-desk dead central. Both shows I had the mics mounted on my lapels had good sound quality, the theatre show was actually louder Now, I understand there are a lot of variables in place here, but is there anything further I can do with venues like this second one was in as I go to more shows of that size than the other? My settings for both shows were the same-low sens mic setting, manual level, recording at only 14/30, recording via the mic input using a (UK equivilent to) the Radio Shack attenuator. The recordings have plenty of 'room' in them as far as actual voume overloading is concerned, so I don't think it's volume overload, but what I'm aiming for is to cut out the distortion. Anmyone got any thoughts??

Unfortunately,no. When I go into sonic stage, I get this message "Cannot use this disc because it was initialized by a program other than SonicStage" If I try to play it back through headphones, I just get the aufileERR message in the window and nothing happens. Like I mentioned, I can get at the the files via the 'removeable drive' icon and have sucessfully copied them all into a file on my HDD. I can see the file that has the concert (ATADATA5.HDA)-is there no way I can work with it from there?

Thanks mate- just upgraded to 3.4, but still getting the same message -so damn annoying as the recording sounded great!!! I have been able to pull off all of the .hma files off the disc and into a folder on my HDD, is there any way I can use them to get at the music?

..Recorded a concert with my Sony MZ-NH1 in HI-MD mode tonight. On the way home, I connected the unit to my car hi fi and listened to the recording from start to finish. Connected it to my PC, opened Soundstage and started to transfer it to my PC just fine. Midway through, I accidentally knocked the usb lead and it came out of the front USB socket. Plugged back in again- mini disc shows up as new drive letter just fine, but when I go to Soundstage, I get this AufileERR message. I tried another H-MD in it and it worked just fine. Anyone any idea how I can salvage the stuff off this disc?? (FWIW, I'm using Soundstage 3.1)

This happened to me for the first time last night on Hi SP on my MZ NH1. About 2/3rds the way through, a 2 second gap, two seconds of music then another two second gap-and then the same a couple of minutes later. When I tried to download to the pc with soundstage 3.1, I just got an error message. I didn't know why this was happening, but nothing had transferred at all. After several tries, the penny finally dropped that the drop outs i'd heard when I played the recording on the way home were right at that point where the transfer was failing, so how i got around it was to find a convenient place just before the point and marked a track there, then skipped to a place just past them and marked another one. The unaffected areas then downloaded just fine, and to get the missing 6 or 7 minutes, I did an analogue recording via my soundcard. The gaps were correctable in Sound Forge-not exactly 'invisible', but you'd really have to know the music to notice them. I then dropped the short analogue section in between the tow USB transferred parts and edited them so the joins were seamless. I just formatted the disc i used last night and recorded on it to see if the drop outs occurred again in the same place-this time, no drop outs at all.

I can see your point, but by messing with the levels during a recording , you could ruin a perfectly good recording. I know there is a certain amount of trial and error involved, and if it's not a show you are too bothered about getting a good recording of, and you can do it without getting a tap on the shoulder, then experiment away. BTW, BillyBoy-the tape over the Maplins attenuator volume control is a good idea because that wheel could easily be accidentally moved, and you need the volume at 100% on that. I think you'll find that you'll get a far more acceptable recording if you simply move the mics from where the first recording was made Good luck with it anyway!!

Is there going to be a support act? Ideal for getting a basic level. I was at a very loud gig last night and didn't need to be quite as 'stealthy' as normal as I got myself into a little alcove so I got to position the mics easily and was able to keep an eye on the levels. My mics are non powered so I have to use the mic input and had to record at 16/30 with the attenuator at 100%. Glad I did because the sound cranked up considerably during the show, but the levels never got close to max-ing out.

Hi I have a Sony MZ- NH1 and i'm using Sonicstage V 3.1. I've just made a live music recording and it transfers up to 61% then throws up an error message. Tried it 3 or 4 times now and i keep getting it happening in the same place- I can playback the file perfectly, so I suppose I could go 'line out>soundcard' but i'd prefer the lossless method. What worries me is if on one of these transfer, I get the bar coming down on being able to transfer at all. Any thought about what I could try? This is the first time i've used this version of Sonic Stage

well, my name is Mr A.Tenuator :-) I did see that, and of course the attenuator lowers the volume reaching the MD-that is what it is supposed to do-there would be no point having it if it didn't, but you will never recreate the same scenario you are going to get at a concert though your Hi Fi. I can turn my Hi Fi to 11 (It's a heavy metal music system, so it goes one higher!!!) and record onto my MD in pretty good quality from the mics, but use those same peramaters at a concert, and I'll be lost in a sea of distortion. On the 'staying stealthy' -with so many people checking their mobile phones during gigs these days, you really have to make it obvious what you are doing to get caught during a recording.

but it works

Again, what are you basing this assertation on regarding the attenuator? I know you gave a 'clever' answer further up the thread, but you missed out the really important part from the reply you quoted-the lack of volume is surely down to the placing of the unit and mics on the floor, in who knows what (under a coat? a bag? )- so it's a huge jump to say 'It's the Attenuator'. I'm using the attenuator just fine, and so are a few others who've posted onto various threads

What are the serious drawbacks?

I'd interested to know what you base that conclusion on? To be honest, I'd have said the big reason for the poor sound/low volume recording is where the taper put the unit. I've used the Maplins attenuator now on about 10 recordings, with the mics attached to lapels/jacket pockets and it works perfectly.

What's hopeless??

One thing I'd add to this discussion. When you get hold of a sound editor, you will be faced with an array of tools you can tweak and twist your sound with..my advice is...LEAVE THEM ALONE!!! Well, most of them anyway. Normalising isn't a problem as it just gives you a uniform sound level across your show, add a fade in and a fade out at the beginning/end of the show by all means, and if there is any digi-noise or gaps in your recording, remove them if you can, but, if you intend sharing your recording with other people, then don't apply any other effects or processing. 'Why?' you may ask 'If I can make my show sound better with some re-mastering' (or EQ-ing), then why shouldn't I?' Simple-because none of us listen to music the same way. I have received shows in trades that have been 'Re-mastered' to death. In an attempt to 'clean' the sound, all the life has been taken out of them-and in the worst cases, end up sounding worse than a really low rate mp3 rip. If you leave your recording as it comes off the MD, it allows the individual listener to make his own listening decisions, once you've changed it, you remove that choice and impose your own. Most people will have some way of 'EQ-ing' for themselves-be it on a PC or on their hi-fi. Most of my 'live music' listening is on my PC and I use Win Amp. I can use it's in built equilizer to make any adjustments for my own ears which is 'non-destructive to the original. obviously, if it's just a recording you want to make for your own listening pleasures, feel free to hack it to bits

One small problem-the sale on them ended a month ago!!

. There is absolutely nothing on ebay right now-took a look last night Thing is though, you aren't plugging the mic directly into the MD when you have the volume attenuator in place, so that isn't an issue at all. I've got a couple of extension cables which can give me 'separation' if it's needed (Having made some recordings with and without it, I'm still to be convinced!), or the Y connecter just sits in the attenuator socket and the tie-clip on the back of the attenuator makes it easy to clip it 'stealthily' (FWIW, the Maplins attenuator seems to iffer from the Radio Shack one in that the RS one has the attenuator part in the middle of the cable, the Maplin's one, it's right at the end of the cable. $37 postage to send $39 microphones??-I think I should be VERY concerned!!! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask

I can give you Ray's address (He's the guy who makes the mics)if you wanted to order them by mail. The volume attenuator sits between your mic and the mic input-If you don't use one of these, then you are almost certainly going to get a lot of distortion on your recordings where loud live music is concerned. Maplins sell them for £2.99 each- they are essentially a headphone volume control or players that don't have a volume control, but if you plug it into the mic input, it will work 'in reverse' and stop the pre-amp forom overloading. Take a look at this thread from my own (recent) experiences with it http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=9558 and also take a look at the pinned thread at the top of this forum marked 'Radio Shack Volume Attenuator'

not a problem if you aren't used to it-If you have an audio editor on your PC (If you haven't, then AUDACITY is both excellent AND free), it's a relatively simple task.

Hi mate, good to see another Brit surface on this list! The links you've been given are all well and good if you lived in the US, but they start to get inpractical from here. I looked at ordering a set of mics from Sound Professionals, and their postage charge was almost as much as the mics!! They would just about come inside your budget though. I'm using this set of mics http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=5764315179 i'd been recommended them by someone who records live music, and I'm suitably impressed with them (I'm only month or so into this myself). Combined with the Maplins volume attenuator i'm getting decent recordings with them. The guy who sells them makes them himself, and he's a very decent, approachable chap. A 'fault' developed with my mics, sent them back and had a replaement back within 48 hours. He mailed meto say that the fault was caused by 'someone' unscrewing the mic ends, which snaped the wiring. I hadn't done this, but after catching my kid about to do the same with the replacement, I now know how it happened!!!

No raised voice at all, just surprised at the tone of your message which seemed to be correcting something i'd said. As Billyboy says in the post below, you often need to 'set it and forget it' so adjusting on the fly isn't always a possibility anyway. If there is no support act, then you've got nothing to use as a marker. Billyboy, I wouldn't think you'll have much raising to do at 17/30

Which is exactly what i said!!!

Sorry, i've not been on the forums today- 'twas I who bravely road-tested said unit-and it gets two thumbs up from me!! Most of the Maplins stores seem to stock these 'behind the counter', which makes me think that maybe it's a line they will stop doing at some point, so I grabbed 4 of them. One thing i've done is wrap a bit of tape around the body/volume controller as it seems a bit easy to accidentally turn the volume dial down, and you always want it leaving fully open-and if it's a metal gig you are recording, make sure it goes up to 11!!!!