dkinaev Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 (edited) Hey guys,I have absolutely no deep knowledge in MD technology. But I do have some questions:I have an old, Sony MZ-R700. Its not a NET one. 1.) It has optical in. Should I go out and buy a digi - out sound card and record through that instead of my normal (motherboard built in) card? IS there a great signifant quality difference that is noticable?2.) In my room all my sound is played through 2 large tower speakers powered by an old Marantz pm340 amp. It has nice quality. And is very loud. It also has a big "phones out" jack. SHould I change what I am doing (recording from the soundcard) and record through the amp? So its works kinda like a preamp? Would that give me clearer sound?If so what should my volume setting be on the amp?3.) I use the MD to record ambient sounds and maybe dialogue and other specifics. Can I just buy a normal dynamic mic and use that? Or should I get 1 dynamic for ambience (all noises) and one onmi directional? 4.) Is this MD on par with the latest models or has it really fallen behind quality wise? I mean is this MD inferior to the brand new expensive models or do the new models just proveide more 'ease-of-use' and other argueably "useless" features?5.) Before music recording from my computer I always monitor the sound output using the very very basic gain bar. (U know the thing that moves up and down with amplitude!) Anyway I always set the volume recording manually before clipping occurs (all of this in REC Pause mode). SHould I monitor this sound output through my home theatre speaker (therefore through the amp) or throught the headphones?Is this the best way to view the amplitude levels? Why dont they didicate a professional display that splits the levels into freq bands? It would be very uselful to those ppl who record a lot. So Any other useful ways to set levels?6.) Anyone else heard about those headphone amplifiers? Are they really worth it?---ANyway guys,Any feedback would be great!!-Cheers-DMitri. Edited March 1, 2005 by dkinaev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artstar Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Hey guys,1.) It has optical in. Should I go out and buy a digi - out sound card and record through that instead of my normal (motherboard built in) card? IS there a great signifant quality difference that is noticable?To me? Yes. To you? Up to you to decide. Keep in mind though, that by going direct to the source, you are avoiding any possible distortion and/or colouration that an analogue audio stage in a sound card can possibly bring in. Unless it's a pro-audio card, they're rarely a faithful reproduction of the actual source. Of course, then your MD's analogue audio output stage could also colour the sound, but in my experience, my MZ-R50 and MZ-NH1 have been faithful IMHO, but then again, I only rely on them for live recordings and then everything thereafter is handled digitally with the only analogue audio stage then being the CD's I've burnt after post-production work is carried out.2.) In my room all my sound is played through 2 large tower speakers powered by an old Marantz pm340 amp. It has nice quality. And is very loud. It also has a big "phones out" jack. SHould I change what I am doing (recording from the soundcard) and record through the amp? So its works kinda like a preamp? Would that give me clearer sound?If so what should my volume setting be on the amp?No. The less you have in the audio chain, the less you introduce into the original sound. Keep it as direct to the source as possible.3.) I use the MD to record ambient sounds and maybe dialogue and other specifics. Can I just buy a normal dynamic mic and use that? Or should I get 1 dynamic for ambience (all noises) and one onmi directional? One thing you haven't stated is the quality you seek. If you want a reasonable reproduction, a standard dynamic mic might do the trick. If you want a truly faithful reproduction, be prepared to pay up for something better. The Core Sounds binaurals would be my recommendation for a compromise.4.) Is this MD on par with the latest models or has it really fallen behind quality wise? I mean is this MD inferior to the brand new expensive models or do the new models just proveide more 'ease-of-use' and other argueably "useless" features?They never make them like they used to, although the new MZ-NH1 is the closest they've come yet to their previous success. Again, IMHO, I believe the last top-notch MD unit built was the Sony MZ-R50 - solid like a mutha! The MZ-R700 missed out on that quality ... bigtime!The new MZ-NH1 is proving itself to be a good little workhorse but it still feels too light and flimsy for my liking.5.) Before music recording from my computer I always monitor the sound output using the very very basic gain bar. (U know the thing that moves up and down with amplitude!) Anyway I always set the volume recording manually before clipping occurs (all of this in REC Pause mode). SHould I monitor this sound output through my home theatre speaker (therefore through the amp) or throught the headphones?Is this the best way to view the amplitude levels? Why dont they didicate a professional display that splits the levels into freq bands? It would be very uselful to those ppl who record a lot. So Any other useful ways to set levels?Up to you. Either a good set of headphones or through your home theater. Trust your ears on this one, not us. We all perceive things differently dude. Why didn't they put on a pro-display? It's not a pro-unit. But then again, even the MZ-R50 missed out on a good level. That's changed with my MZ-NH1 thankfully but then again, if you want to make truly professional recordings whose levels are perfect, then you'd really want to use a proper component deck. I love my MDS-JA30ES for that. Otherwise, my portables are set at conservative levels since I only use the masters for post-production processing rather than listening to directly.6.) Anyone else heard about those headphone amplifiers? Are they really worth it?Do you need more volume? If your answer is yes, then yes they are worth it Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkinaev Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Artstar,Thankyou very much for your quick reply. You have answered everything! BTW are these solid Sony MZ-R50 still around? Can I find them second hand easily? Are they a lot better than my r700?Anyway thanx heaps! Very prompt and complete response! -cheers-DMitri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artstar Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Artstar,Thankyou very much for your quick reply. You have answered everything! BTW are these solid Sony MZ-R50 still around? Can I find them second hand easily? Are they a lot better than my r700?←They're not MDLP-capable (i.e. only MD-SP) and they're probably pretty hard to find these days but I being in Australia, I don't have that good an idea of how the 2nd hand market is in your neck of the woods. But yeah, they're definitely better than the R700 IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkinaev Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 They're not MDLP-capable (i.e. only MD-SP) and they're probably pretty hard to find these days but I being in Australia, I don't have that good an idea of how the 2nd hand market is in your neck of the woods. But yeah, they're definitely better than the R700 IMHO.←I'm in Au as well, in Brizvegas infact! I am not intersted in LP, SP is fine by me. So these older units have better sound quality and/or sound manipulation settings and/or ... ???Why are they considered king?-Dmitri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artstar Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I'm in Au as well, in Brizvegas infact! I am not intersted in LP, SP is fine by me. So these older units have better sound quality and/or sound manipulation settings and/or ... ???Why are they considered king?←No. They're a more basic unit with only digital mega bass for playback and not much else. The audio stages are just as clean as my MZ-NH1 so there's no difference there either.Why are they considered king? I answered that question before dude ... they're SOLID and RELIABLE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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