Seekerr

Hi all I recently purchased an MZ-N707 secondhand....anyhows, all was fine up till the other day, when it failed on starting with "NV Error"....anyhows, I've got a copy of the service manual, but I can't seem to navigate service mode well enough to follow the procedure to reset the NV values and then reset the variables to their correct state. Is there anybody out there familiar with repairing minidisc units that can give me a hand at trying this fairly last ditch effort to save my bricked MZ-N707? Thanks for any help (or advice to just buy a MZ-NH600 for cheap instead....at 1/5 of the price of an RH1, it's really my only option for a new minidisc unit, even if I'd hafta get a pre-amp to use it with most mics)

Yes, you would need a minimixer of your own....Behringer have one that's only about $40 (Australian, probably less wherever you happen to be), takes 4 inputs. Not a bad way to start if you find yourself interested again.

Oh, a band that really knows what they want is fine. It's just the ones who spend half an hour trying to tell me that my monitor speakers are "too small" and have blown their cones (it was a faulty amplifier supplied by the venue, and the band was an Irish folk band...if they'd blown a pair of JBL M-Pro's, I'd be mighty surprised) instead of letting me fix the problem. Anyhows, ontopic - experiment and enjoy, tutorials can be found on the topic (try over at tapers section) if you need any help getting started.

As another sound guy, I can attest that guitarfx knows what he's talking about. Often, a clean SBD sounds pretty bad, because a surprising amount of the tone is imparted by the speakers and room. Unless the guitars and keys are being run through AT LEAST an EQ to warmify, and preferably an amp modeller, or best a real amp and a good microphone, what goes through the board is going to sound...ordinary, at best. OK, so far as matrixing goes - only really works with smaller venues, for starters. Basically, you're trying to get the tone-perfection of the SBD in with the warmness and atmosphere of the AUD. Also, if the drumkit has been mic'd, this can get you a very nice clean drum feed, so you can EQ the boominess of the AUD away without losing anything. As guitarfx suggests, the best matrix's are often those that are mixed on the board itself from intentionally placed microphones - a lot of higher end soundboards have matrix (same word, slightly different meaning in this context) features designed for tailoring individual mixes to monitor speakers/ in ear monitors, and it's no big deal to use one of those stereo matrix output pairs as a separate recording output. The other thing to consider with matrix mixes is the delay between what goes through the board and what makes it out the speakers and then through the air back to your microphones. This means that recordings, even those made from a common source, will hafta be resynced unless your audience source/s are very close to the stage. So, much the same word as guitarfx - it CAN sound good. No, it's not easy. It's certainly my favourite type of recording to listen to, though, when done well. Do a bit of poking about on the etree archives over at archive.org, have a listen to any matrix mixes you can find. BTW, on the stereo issue...don't stress it. Stereo is nice, and it can rescue an AUD recording by providing some directionality that helps your brain filter out the crud. But there's no harm with mixing a mono SBD with a stereo AUD. I personally mix my board in a gentle stereo, panning instruments appropriately to fake stereo seperation, and spreading the drums around to give that "in the throne" sound...not as pro as doing separate channel mixes with crossover "bleed feeds", but I'm not in that league personally. So you might get lucky, and be able to take a stereo feed straight out...quite often it depends on how many amplifiers your sound guy brought with him as to how he runs it. Oh, and one last point on approaching the sound guy - just ask for help. Do not, under any circumstances, offer advice, just tell him what you'd like to achieve. Quite likely, if he wasn't trying to set up a recording himself that he was already stressing over, you'll get a "No worries, here, plug this into your recorder, I'll deal with the rest". We kinda hate other people telling us what to do. Particularly if it's the band! Or at least, I do.

Just strip off the plastic insulation. Should be fine...if you're not familiar with soldering, I suggest you read up and learn how to tin wire and how to create a good bond. Beyond that, you should be fun. However, if the other wire (the one without its own insulation) does not appear to be a silvery or copper color, and is instead a red, green, or blue, or seems to have a plastic rather than metallic sheen, it may have a thin insulating coating that is very hard to solder. As I said before, a good flux or soldering fluid, along with a hot soldering iron (when tinning the leads, NOT when soldering to the capsules) will help with that. Good luck, I'll still be lurking around this thread if you have more questions.

I have found that one of the best sources for such cable is ready made RCA -> Stereo leads...as the stereo signal must be split between the two RCA plugs, the wire is made in two parts that can be split apart. Just chop the RCA connectors off the end, and you should have a lead ready to go...only possibly problem is weird insulative coatings on the wires that prevent soldering. A good strong flux or "soldering fluid" with make working with such wires much easier.

Indeed, but it doesn't make sense to me that it costs so much. I realise that the preferred electrets are no longer produced, but to pay over twice what they were worth, plus shipping, is quite a substantial whack, and for me (I'm still in school), that's a very large sum. If I could buy 6 for $35 AUD (About $30 USD, for anyone reading and thinking "hey, I've got some surplus I could sell that kid") plus shipping, I'd go for it, because I can afford that kind of expense.

Hey all - a few questions related to this project: 1) Has anyone had any luck sourcing quality electret capsules in Australia? I really don't want to pay $60 AUD to get a pack of 10 from the UK. 2) Does anyone have any idea as to the usefulness of the electrets in the Sony DS-70P? I know the mike is considered fairly poor (although I have heard some fair recordings from one), but they can be had secondhand extremely cheaply, and I'd had the thought of disassembling one, and using the electrets for this project. Thoughts? Thanks

I haven't done much live concert recording (well, not from the audience, anyway, I'm a sound tech, so soundboard recordings are another story) but it seems to me that your microphone gain is set too high, causing the rampant clipping static you can hear, and that there is some "brickwalling" of the microphone, which usually occurs when a cheap microphone is exposed to high SPL's, exceeding its physical capacity to respond to sound. There is nothing that can be done to save this recording, I'm afraid, the data you seek was destroyed before it got to disc in the preamplification stage, if not before. There are many guides on this forum to help you in setting up a recorder for a high volume event, I suggest you read them, and better luck next time! The above post provides a summary of gear and settings for some high quality recordings, however, those microphones are very expensive for a beginner. I would see Greenmachines project for an alternative - he sells these (very similar) microphones for a reasonable price, and several others on this forum might construct them for you if you asked nicely. (Yes, this is my first post, however I have worked in the live stage and theater industry for the past 4 years, and regularly work with microphones)