newbie MD questions

[peterallen]

I have just purchased my first MD recorder - the Sony MZ-RH1 and have been learning the ropes. My primary purpose is to use it as a field recorder, for the time being backing up dialogue and for stereo ambient effect tracks on location. What I cannot seem to get right is how this HiMd names and places tracks. For me the ideal thing would be for everytime I go into the pause/record mode to simply automatically progress to the next 'blank' space, add a sequential number and be ready to go. But what I find is that the track number does not always do this, i.e. depending on where it is when you turn it on, it may insert a track number in the middle of another existing track, etc. A bit unnerving till I discoverered how to move that track and re-connect the track it was first inserted into.

Is there not a simple way to just have it automatically record a new track at the end gap of the previous one? I will be in an often intense field / documentary film situation and want something quick and simple.

Also, this would make confidence checking easy on the go a s well as relabelling things later on the computer. BTW, using Mac OSx and the v2 Ony software. So far only importing as Wave files, so far so good.

Help for the poor (in mind) and thanks ahead of time.

Peter

[tekdroid]

Is there not a simple way to just have it automatically record a new track at the end gap of the previous one?

It should be doing this by default. From what you've written, I can only guess you're being confused by the Group Rec setting being set to on rather than off (which it is by default). See page 51 of your manual.

With Group Rec being on:

After each recording session (ie. after you press stop at the end of a recording, as opposed to pause), the recorder, on the next recording session, will create a new Group (Groups are basically 'folders') and create numbered tracks inside that group. Groups are handy to sort/label different recording sessions, label albums, etc.

With Group Rec being set to off:

The recorder will just create numbered tracks, without the Groups (folders).