Comments On Live Recording Faqs

[ozpeter]

4) Sync Rec: whether you want the MD to insert a (silent, gapless) track mark after more than two seconds' silence. On or Off.

NOTE: If you are recording LINE IN (not MIC-IN) Sync is automatically on, though you can partly defeat it by using Time Mark as below.

My understanding is that "sync rec" is for automatically starting and stopping recording in sync with an optical input, rather than the function described in the FAQ.

As for defeating track marking by using time mark, this is demonstrably not true with my NH900. You have to test this rigorously with a steady mid-level signal interspersed by total silence. "In the field" experiences are not likely to be valid tests. In the two most recent concerts I've recorded with the NH900, I got about 60 automatic track marks in the first, and none in the second. The hall in the first was very quiet. However, the hall in the second suffered from traffic rumble which defeated the silence detection. At the end of the concert I turned the mics off altogether for 5 secs, turned them back on, and the NH900 then inserted an automatic track mark (and I had not touched the NH900 in any way).

Menu, five clicks down with pointing stick, Enter, one click down, Enter, pick a level.

A small point, but when you are setting manual record levels regularly, it's a whole lot easier to access the rec menu by two clicks up rather than five clicks down- the menus rotate so you can go backwards to rec far quicker than going forwards.

Music is the trickiest thing to record. The preamp in the MD recorder is pretty good except for one main problem: It can't handle bass. So for most music the signal coming into it has to be lowered so that it won't simply overload.

Personally I'd change that to "It can't handle excessive levels, especially from a sensitive mic. So for most amplified music....." I'd be surprised if a symphony orchestra actually caused a problem. And it would rather depend on the mic in use too. I recently recorded a jazz big band in a small club from six feet away with no problem (Sony 979 mic). Pop/rock levels are of course (often ear-damagingly) higher.

Please don't take these comments as a general reflection on these excellent FAQs. Thanks for preparing them!

[Christopher]

Thank you for your observations. I'll let A440 respond to this, and then make alterations where necessary.

[A440]

Fine-tuning is appreciated--the idea of these FAQs is to be as correct and helpful as possible.

All of your points are well taken. I was thinking about Sync Rec vis-a-vis live recording, not the optical-in function. Definitely add a sentence about: (This function is useful when recording a CD through Line-in, to put track marks in spaces between songs.)

Ozpeter, did Time Mark not defeat Sync Rec for you on the NH900? Some posts say that it does override. If that's not a consistent result, then please remove it from the FAQ, Kurisu.

The upward menu click to Rec-Set is a good thing to mention as an alternate, so please add it, Kurisu--I can definitely count to 2.

Regarding the bass observation, though, going all the way back to my R700 and N707 I've had trouble recording just about anything bass-y, including, with my NHF-800, a Norah Jones concert that was quieter than nearby conversation. The bass drum still overloaded with AGC on Loud Music. If you want to edit in "can't handle much bass with sensitive mics," that's fine with me. Even with a symphony, I wouldn't record the 1812 Overture or "Pictures at an Exhibition" without some attenuation.

I tried to find specs on the ECM-979, with no luck. I wonder if it's either less sensitive or rolls off the bass. But I'm happy to hear that it worked so well.

[ozpeter]

Give me 24 hrs to go back over auto track marking with the NH900 - I'm pretty sure the sync setting has no effect on any aspect of track marking and is purely useful in the context on digital input, but I want to reassure myself that I'm not talking rubbish before I get dogmatic!

The Sony 979 must indeed be pretty antique now - I've got two of them, and I suspect I've had them for about 15 years. I used one the other day to record a lecture in the the same rumbly church and it recorded the rumble pretty convincingly, so I don't think it has a radical bass rolloff. For the lecture I had auto level on and mic sensitivity on high, and the result was remarkable given that I was not nearly as close to the source as I wanted to be. No system noise at all. But I digress. Anyway, this whole wording of the reference to the need for attenuation is largely a matter of opinion and personal mileage with the mic one happens to have, whereas my paragraph above concerns a more important matter where it's either right or wrong - I shall return....

[Tourist]

Here's what Dex Otaku said about Sync:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...indpost&p=49800

[ozpeter]

Well, it's evidently a matter of YMMV. I'd still be interested to hear from anyone with an NH900 who is convinced following a proper bench test (ie a test where they turn the source off and on altogether, not a location experience) that they can turn off auto track marking by any method. (Also from anyone who can create a new group on the fly, that it, without pressing stop then going back into record!).

[Christopher]

Just wanted to say I haven't forgotten, just been a busy weekend. Will make the changes on Monday, please post any further corrections if possible.