Need advice with first recording

[cdonges]

On sunday I am planning on recording a sermon with the goal of turning it into a mp3. It will be all speech and I will be using a MZNH600. It's the non-american one with line in.

The good news is that I can plug the line out of the sound system into my minidisc.

The bad news is that I have never recorded with it before.

Do I just plug it in, hit record and forget about it? Or should I be checking levels or something?

Should I use PCM or go with HiSP? Does anyone know how long I can expect a fresh AA battery to last for when recording? Sony say 3 hours...

[greenmachine]

If you are using 1GB Hi-MDs and the sermon isn't going to last longer than 94 minutes, use PCM, otherwise Hi-SP should be sufficient. Even with the supplied low capacity rechargeable (700mAH?), you should be able to record well over 2 hours in PCM, assuming it is fully charged and in good condition. An alkaline or a higher capacity ni-mh will last even longer.

If you don't feel confidet with using manual level setting yet (speech can have unpredicable dynamic peaks), use the default automatic gain setting. If this doesn't provide satisfactory results, start getting usetd to using manual levels.

[Borlag]

I have the same MD unit and for me it's lasted for 4½ show (multiple bands, 4½ hours was the actual playing time), the trip back home (listening to the recording) and for transferring the show via USB. The battery indicator hadn't dropped even once after that. So all in all, I'd say that you shouldn't have to worry about the battery at all provided you're using a new one.

With that MD model though, when you're recording with microphones, you'll need the batterybox or selfpowered microphones such as Sony ECM-719, otherwise you'll end up with a disc full of nothing. Even with that, the recording will be real quiet and basically requires you to boost it in audition or other similar program. Haven't recorded through soundboard with is myself but I suppose you shouldn't have much problems with that.

[A440]

You need to find out what the connector is from the soundboard. Whatever is coming out of the soundboard --large headphone jack, RCA plugs, minijack--needs to end in a stereo miniplug (like your headphones).

You can probably just plug in and hit the record button--that will give you AGC, which should be fine for speech--but if there's any way you can do a sound check beforehand, to see that something is coming out of the soundboard and the level meters are moving, that would be even better. If you want to get fancy, you could use Manual Volume, set at about 18/30. But use AGC (the default) for starters this time and see if that suits you.

For a much more extensive guide, check this out:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7989

Edited August 9, 2006 by A440

[cdonges]

Thanks for the advice. It went great and I still have full bars on my battery meter.