Jazzworkerbee

It's all about how clean the power is feeding the mic as well. The preamps aren't that good with these HI MD units. If you want super clear and transparent sound, you'll have to get a high end phantom powered pre amp to go with your large condenser mic. One way around that is to use a decent self powered mic. I use the RODE NT4 and it works pretty well. But if you're going to be really nit picky about the sound, then you'll have to go with a high dollar unit from Tascam or Sound Devices.

For sure, you are limited only by your microphone!! I used my MZ-RH10 in the field last summer with fantastic results!! If they are going to be far away, you might want to consider using a stereo mic mounted on a prabolic dish. The monkeys will be in mono and everything else will be either extreme right or left, depending on their relation to the mono subject. But there are a lot of decent mics out there for under $300.

I use a rode NT4 that you can find for around $350. It's rigget and a fantastic value, but the mikes ate permenantly set at 90 degrees. I've used the high end Sony ECM-MS957. Not the most transparent sound in the world but you'll get decent recordings. You can find it for around $150 to $300 The Audio Technica AT822 is a very rugget mic that makes nice recordings as well. It goes for around $200. But I would try not to use the automatic mic sensitivity settings for your MD because there are clipping issues which may cause your recordings to come out too low or sound "jerky" between dynamic highs and lows. I always set it to manual and watch the signal, especially if your mics are underpowered, there can be a lot of distortion. But if you set it to "loud" it increases the sound pressure level of the mics by supplying them with more power (not good for battery recording) but it can help you to have cleaner sounding recordings in the end. But when recording loud music, make sure your mic has a high sound pressure level (SPL) rating to agoid distortion. I hope this helps, cuz I've made a lot of mistakes in learning this stuff!!! Jazzworkerbee

It's the jogging lever for recorder levels.

I would realy like to see SONY make a professional fieldrecording version with quiet preamp and phantom power. I used the RH10 for my fieldwork last summer and got spectacular results with my RODE NT4 mic. But the lack of a jog button on this new unit is a backward step as far as I'm concerned. Lets hope the format doesn't die just as it is begining to realize its potential.

What I really want is a portable deck with the option of XLR inputs with quiet phantom power and a pre amp. I loved the MZ-RH10 for its relyability in my fieldwork last summer, but there is a lot of room for improvement. The software issues are being addressed, now it's time for the hardware. Jazzworkerbee