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Recording gaps on MZ-RH10

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toastjam

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I received the MZ-RH10 about a month ago and have been recording our band gigs for listening too later. I gotta say that the quality of these recordings is awesome and I really love this thing. However...

Sometime during the upload I get a message that all the transfers didn't make it because of errors (???). When I tried to import them the old fashion way by playing 'em back into my computers sound card I could see what the problem may be on those select tracks. Looking at the wav forms in Soundforge I was able to see little data gaps where nothing was recorded all throughout these songs. I don't believe it is the autotrack feature because we were playing at normal volume during these "gaps"..plus, the gaps don't appear to be consistent as far as duration.

Not sure what the problem is...maybe I should go out and buy some more discs as the problem could be attributable to the disc I'm using (??)

Any help would be great

:blink:

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Thanks Roamer. I'll try some new discs. How hard a bump do you think creates a problem for the unit? I leave it plugged in on the PA rack which may vibrate a little..but nothing jarring......plus I'm thinking of taking the unit to a few festivals this spring and doing some live band recording in the crowd. How careful/still do I have to be when sitting in the audience recording a band?

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I know there was a thread here that discussed the gaps in recordings. It was suggested that there was a batch of bad discs that caused the problem but I don't think it was ever proved. I may be wrong though.

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When I've encountered write errors [from bumping or jarring] in HiMD recordings, they usually sound like .. just a glitch in the recording and the obvious fact that a tiny section [the length of time it took to get heads back on track] of audio is missing from. There are no actual gaps, just .. missing sections that run into one another.

Your problem does not sound like it's from bumping the player or something.

You'd actually be surprised how much jostling the units can take without experiencing write errors. I'd suggest gently testing your own unit to find out its threshold; put it in a zippered pocket, or anywhere you know it won't fall out of easily, then walk around with the unit recording via mic somewhere with linear background sound [i.e. music, something where you will notice missing sections from]. Test different levels of mobility [i.e. jump up and down a few times] but don't be rough on it, of course.

Play back the disc, and see if it kept recording all the way through. There's no reason a test like this should take any longer than about 60 seconds to do, by the way, unless you want to be anally thorough.

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I record regularly at live gigs with the unit in my pocket--standing, sitting, etc. I'm sure it's getting jostled a bit. While I had gaps on the early (black, big plastic box) Hi-MDs, I haven't had one in a while. So I think it was the discs.

Generally I have been mighty impressed by how shock-resistant the MD is.

Of course you can't go into the mosh pit or jump up and down and expect to have error-free recordings. There are mechanical parts involved that should not be abused.

Constant vibrations on the PA rack may also be a problem. Can you mount it somehow so that it's isolated? Tape bubble wrap around it or something.

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Constant vibrations on the PA rack may also be a problem. Can you mount it somehow so that it's isolated? Tape bubble wrap around it or something.

I've left MD and HiMD recorders on top of the effects rack many a time and never experienced any issues, but yes, vibration can be a problem..

Also, if there's a power-filtering system or anything that might have very strong magnetic fields around it near where you place the recorder, it could potentially interfere with things.

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Thanks for all the great suggestions.

I've got a gig tonight and I'm going to use some new discs (although they'll be the smaller capacity discs I have from my old MD...can't find a local store that sells the high capacity discs).

The magnetic field issue is interesting. I have a pretty stout Monster power filter/rack on my PA. I do plug the MD into the Monster strip...do you think that may be part of the problem?

The vibrations on the rack aren't bad at all. I leave stuff on top all gig long and nothing vibrates off..even my beer :D

Thanks again...hope i figure this thing out 'cause I really like this unit and the recordings that have worked

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The magnetic field issue is interesting. I have a pretty stout Monster power filter/rack on my PA. I do plug the MD into the Monster strip...do you think that may be part of the problem?

Not from plugging it into it, no. What I mean is if you have the recorder sitting directly over a large unshielded power supply transformer, say - that's when problems could potentially arise. Most audio equipment is made with at least modestly-shielded PSUs and transformers, so the likelihood of this happening is pretty damned low, but you never know. I did once experience a problem with a recording made on a R-70 that was sitting on top of a TV set, for instance. There were dropouts throughout the recording [as well as audible noise] that I could only guess were caused by the TV's magnetic fields..

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It's not related to your gap problem, but some people have reported getting a hum or buzz in the recording when using AC power instead of batteries. For better quality, use just the batteries--a charged up gumstick should easily get you through the gig, and gumstick plus an outboard alkaline (Duracell) most definitely will.

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only a suggestion: i had almost the same problem with my mznh900. There were gaps in the songs transfered from SS. This only happened with 1GB disc, so you should test the unit with 1GB disc. Mine was defective and Sony exchanged it. I thought it was a problem with the disc, but i bought like 3 or 4 1GB discs and I realized that the gaps were on all the discs. When I got my "new" mznh900 I tried the same discs and they worked great, not a single gap.

Edited by sebastianbf
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The one problem I had with gaps occured recently: I was importing some CDs with SS3.4 *and* I happened to have my Sony NW-E507 flash player connected to the USB to recharge. Not thinking anything about I transferred to the MZ-RH10 HiMD and noticed a few gaps of a .5 second. What the....! I check the CD's they looked OK. Played back the tracks imported in to "My Library" and, sure enough, the gaps were present. Re-imported the CDs. No problem. In retrospect the only thing I can think of is the NW-E507 connected and recharging.

Paul

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