Which Mic?

[MillerP]

Maybe this isn't the place to post this question, but can someone recommend a mic for use with my (future) Minidisc player, or at least point me in the right direction? I would like to use my minidisc to do some field recordings, and to record some instruments for my music. I don't need perfect quality; just decent quality. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Miller P.

[A440]

Better than decent quality, low price:

Sound Professionals BMC-2 omni binaurals. Sound Pros themselves sell them for $29 on eBay, or go to www.soundprofessionals.com .

You can hear the results (mine and other folks' with other mics) in the recordings uploaded to the yahoo mailbox livefrommd , password 1minidisc1 .

These mics, like other "basic binaurals" from Microphone Madness, Core Sound, Reactive Sound, Church Audio, etc., are built around similar Panasonic microphone capsules--everybody's basic binaurals have the same specs, but are in different housings with different cords, tweaked in different ways, etc. I find these handy because they are in a very small housing that fits into a standard lapel clip, the cords are thin and flexible and easily concealed (which may prove fragile eventually, but hasn't yet) and they've already taken a lot of abuse.

Sony's own mics "for minidisc" are bigger and have less bass response, going down to 100 hz instead of 20 hz. They're one-point stereo mics instead of a pair, like these, that you can separate for a big warm stereo sound.

If you're recording something bass-y with the omnis, you'll probably need to add the Radio Shack Headphone Volume Control as an attenuator (only $6.59) because loud bass can overload the MD's preamp. But if you're just playing a guitar, you'll probably be fine with the mics going straight in.

[greenmachine]

what's the internal resistance of these attenuators?

[A440]

I wish I knew. All I can tell you is that it works (with the volume control all the way up).

If someone could get one and measure the resistance, it would be a great addition to MD knowledge.