MZ-RH10 Recording Level

[cryinglandscape]

Greetings!

I just bought the MZ-RH10 HiMD recorder and intend to use the line in it for recording live music with a preamped microphone. It seems that I can only set the recording level when I'm in recording pause mode and when I switch minidiscs, the recording level switches to automatic. This is going to be especially problematic if I am recording a longer show and need to switch discs part way through because I will need to spend time setting up the recording volume. Can you suggest any ways to help me work around this problem? Thank you!

Peace,

Jason

[greenmachine]

This is an annoyance for live recordists for years now, but Sony doesn't seem to care. Currently the only solution would be to practice finding your way through the menu quickly.

[Skradgee]

or, use an older deck that will go into manual record level control if you hold REC + pause for two seconds. Of course, you would have to own an older deck and want to use it (no PCM recording).

Maybe it's time to send another email to Sony, stating how pleasing it would be to their customers if this old style of settings manual recording levels could be brought back on their next generation of MD recorders, if we get one...which I think we will.

[Top Cat]

Actually, it doesn't have to take any significant extra time.

When you insert the disc and press the Rec-Pause - don't wait for anything - go straight to the Rec-level menu while the disc is spun up and TOC-read.

This way I often manage to set the level even before the recorder is ready to take the sound in.

[dex Otaku]

Also: you don't have to have the unit paused to change levels. You do have to have it paused to enable manual levels, but once that is done, you can adjust on-the-fly while recording.

This is indeed one of the majour annoyances of Sony's product line [and is extremely old news, nearly all of the product reviews here and elsewhere would have warned you of this fact], but at least they have enabled adjusting levels on-the-fly. Many previous MD models could only be adjusted while paused.

As to the rationale for things working this way - it probably comes from interviewers using equipment on location. You'll note that the mic preamp sensitivity is a "remembered" setting [as many broadcasters will set the mic preamp to high sensitivity and always use AGC - fidelity is not their goal, getting the recording is], while manual rec levels is not; the idea being that the second you hit record, the unit is recording, and AGC is handling potential problems with levels right off the bat.

No, it's not perfect. It is, however, part of a "quick access" solution. Also, AGC is relatively, well, idiot-proof.

As the general usage profile of HiMD [and MD] is changing, IMO, to hobby recordists, Sony might hopefully [and finally] cave to our demands that this be a remembered setting between rec-stop cycles.

[dave_bass5]

I use my RH10 to record my bands gigsvia a plug in sony mic and i must say that i find the AGC has really improved over the years to the point that i now just let it record using the AGC with the recorder sitting on the stage in just off from my amp and its works fine for what we need it for.

In the old days with my MZ-N1 i always had to set the manual record level and it was a pain.

Dave.

[cryinglandscape]

Thanks for your help! This will all be quite useful. dex Otaku, your scenario makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why it wouldn’t let you just use the volume setting you last used. I mean, if you really like the automatic setting, there will be no need to ever change it. If you generally use the manual recording level, you’d only need to set it once when you first get the unit. The only time you’d need to change the setting each time is if you alternate between the two, which seems to be the least likely situation (and with the current method, you would still need to switch it half the time anyway).