Recording a Live Concert with Hi-MD

[PlanetEarth]

When recording a live "rock" concert in Hi-SP mode, I think the best recording setting to have the Hi-MD on is: MIC Sensitivity - High. And leave everything else the same. (This is the opposite to what the manual says when recording a concert). This is assuming you have a decent microphone so the music won't come out distorted. Please post your thoughts and possible experiences in a "loud" music environment with your Hi-MD. Thanks.

[poorlyconditioned]

I haven't tried AGC. I just use "low sensitivity" and manual level control.

Richard

[pinkgary]

I also use low sensitivity and manual gain, but that's mainly because that's what i did with my mzn1. Pesonally i'd have to test it quite a bit before recording anything important with an automatic gain control. I always thought that the mic high/low was just an input level control anyway, is this not so? Does it alter the way it records the data from the mic? And if so what differenciates a high/low sensitivity mic anyway? If anone has answers, my mic is a audio technica at822.

[PlanetEarth]

So it's better to have the mic sensitivity on low and use the manual volume control to increase it to whatever level you want it at? Any other suggestions or thoughts?

[dave_bass5]

I recorded my band the other night with my 900 and for the first time used AGC with mic set on low as i couldnt be bothered with setting the levels and was very suprised at the quality. the mic was a stereo sony and was placed just off from in front of my bass amp facing into the stage. i wasnt expecting much as my old MZ-N1 would have distored badly.

going to the RAH next week so will try it out there

Dave.

[A440]

I use two modes for live music.

One, as I was using with the MZ-N707 and the MZ-R700, is High Sensitivity with the mic attenuated (its signal lowered) by a Radio Shack Headphone Volume Control. This still works fine on the NHF800.

Now, with the NHF800, I have also started using Low Sensitivity and Rec Volume on Manual set to 12 or 13. Since that's one less gizmo to go through, I may make that my usual mode.

[dex Otaku]

When recording a live "rock" concert in Hi-SP mode, I think the best recording setting to have the Hi-MD on is: MIC Sensitivity - High. And leave everything else the same. (This is the opposite to what the manual says when recording a concert). This is assuming you have a decent microphone so the music won't come out distorted. Please post your thoughts and possible experiences in a "loud" music environment with your Hi-MD. Thanks.

High sensitivity mode would have the mic preamp in solid clipping in a loud concert situation. All you are likely to record [even with the AGC] is distortion. If the AGC has enough range to compensate, you'll likely end up with an extremely loud, noisy recording.

Low sens, manual levels is what I recommend.

The AGC circuit in HiMDs appears to be significantly different [and a lot better] than on the previous-generation MDs. I frequently skip using manual levels now if I'm in a situation where the sound isn't any louder than a certain level. I avoid using it for music, though.