Stereo and Mono fallout, Using Sharp MD60, recorded on same minidisc both in stereo and mono

[butter]

Hello folks,

Having frustrating time w/ my Sharp MD60. Recorded an interview on the same minidisc both in Stereo and Mono. After disc filled, I played back. Only the segement recorded in stereo are audible. The segments in mono one cannot hear. They are there, ever-so-faintly, but are essentially inaudible. Have no idea what to do.

Any help greatly appreciated.

thanks

Matt

[A440]

I have no idea why this happened. First thing I'd do is listen through a different pair of stereo headphones for the distant possibility that it's something to do with the headphones.

Failing that, your best hope is for post-processing: make a recording of your disc and see if you can tweak it enough to make the quiet parts audible.

You need to record out of your headphone jack into your computer. Detailed instructions here:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070

Then, with Effect under Audacity, you can Amplify (you pick the gain) or Normalize (Audacity picks the gain) your quiet parts. Highlight the part you want to amplify (hold down the shift key as you move the cursor) and the Effects become available. Save the (amplified) selection (under Edit). The amplified sections will end up hissy but, with any luck, decipherable. To remove the hiss on the amplified selection, you could also use Noise Removal, which compares a silent bit of the recording to a part with speech and tries to clear it up.

Try the whole procedure first with a short section to see if it gives you usable results.

[greenmachine]

If you feed the recorder with a 180° phased stereo signal and record in mono, you'll get (close to) zero, the channels will be substracted. [1/2+(-1/2)=0]

If you feed the recorder with a one channel mono signal and record in mono, you'll get roughly half the volume. [1/2+0=1/2]

If you feed the recorder with a two channel mono signal (stereo in phase) and record in mono, you'll get roughly the full volume. [1/2+1/2=1]

I suppose either your signal is out of phase and/or unbalanced, or your recorder does not work properly. You can't bring back what's not there, but you can at least try the aforementioned amplify method.