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Microphone recommendations for an MZ-R37

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michaelh

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Hello everyone,

This is my first post, I hope you don't mind a few 'newbie' questions.

Recently, I won a Sony MZ-R37 on eBay, and nothing came with it except a copy of the owner's guide. So I need a decent microphone. I'm looking forward to doing some live recording of music, and some recording of nature sounds. I've read that the sound quality of the MZ-R37 is excellent.

My questions:

1)Is the MS907 the best choice for mostly music recording in that price range, or might something else be better?

2)Does the ECM-DS70P measure up?

3)For a small bit more investment would you recommend anything? (For instance, a mic that has better bass response etc, than an MS907)?

Any recommendations you can give me, including any previous posts I should look at, I'd appreciate.

Thanks,

Michael

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Take a look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com and http://www.microphonemadness.com .

Both offer mics with better bass response and lower noise than the Sonys, competitively priced.

Think about how you are going to use the mics. Are you going to use it handheld, or with a stand, which you would have to do with the MS907? Clip it on, like the DS70P? Or are you going to be going to concerts where you might not want it to be seen?

My main recording mics are the plain, small, basic Sound Professionals BMC-2 . They are smaller than your pinky fingernail and have thin wires that are very concealable. They also get surprisingly hi-fi sound. Listen to some of the recordings in the Gallery (Live Recordings) on the upper left.

For music, you'd be best off going mic-->battery box-->Line-in. I use this Microphone Madness battery module:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

For nature sounds, you would just plug the mic into Mic-in. Depending on how quiet the sounds are, you may get microphone noise or preamp noise. The way around that is to get a preamp and go mic-preamp--Line-in.

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Take a look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com and http://www.microphonemadness.com .

Both offer mics with better bass response and lower noise than the Sonys, competitively priced.

Think about how you are going to use the mics. Are you going to use it handheld, or with a stand, which you would have to do with the MS907? Clip it on, like the DS70P? Or are you going to be going to concerts where you might not want it to be seen?

My main recording mics are the plain, small, basic Sound Professionals BMC-2 . They are smaller than your pinky fingernail and have thin wires that are very concealable. They also get surprisingly hi-fi sound. Listen to some of the recordings in the Gallery (Live Recordings) on the upper left.

For music, you'd be best off going mic-->battery box-->Line-in. I use this Microphone Madness battery module:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

For nature sounds, you would just plug the mic into Mic-in. Depending on how quiet the sounds are, you may get microphone noise or preamp noise. The way around that is to get a preamp and go mic-preamp--Line-in.

A440,

After listening to some of the gallery live recordings I've gotta say that the BMC-2's sound pretty impressive- nice bass, nice stereo imaging, etc.

Another mic that sounded good to me was the Visivox for around the same price.

I expect I'll be using the MD for home recording, since I play piano, and also for some on the gig stuff occasionally, besides some nature recordings.

Thanks for all the helpful information.

Michael

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The stereo imaging is a matter of mic placement--I put them on my shirt collar, about as far apart as my ears.

And that's one thing I didn't mention about one-point stereo mics like the DS70P. Because the two mic elements are so close to each other, your stereo signal is going to sound a lot closer to mono. Your ears decode very subtle cues in the sound to recreate a sense of space, and even a few inches makes a big difference.

The Visivox mics are bigger than the BMC-2. One spec you might want to look at for nature recording is S/N (signal to noise) ratio. The bigger the number, the quieter the mics will be, which will make a difference when recording nature sounds.

Edited by A440
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Actually the MS907 has excellent stereo imaging. It uses the M/S technique which is very effective in reproducing a good stereo field. That's probably the strongest feature of the mic. I would agree that there are some single point mics that don't have such great stereo imaging but this Sony isn't one of them. I've owned a MS907 for several years and I have always been amazed at how accurately it creates stereo sound. I have both the MS907 and a newer XY design single point stereo. My newer mic has much better low end response but it doesn't compare when it comes to creating a good stereo image. Different mics have different strengths. Stereo imaging is the best feature of the MS907 IMO.

I have recordings I've done of a bluegrass band that I work with using the Sony mic. The way this mic places the instruments in a field is really amazing. I can post an example if you like.

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I got a basic idea of the sound of both the MS907 and the BMC-2’s in the live recording gallery, which is a really nice feature of this website. As an aside, if everyone who put up samples made a point of listing what equipment they were using, it would be even better IMO.

Both mics sound good to me, but since you can adjust stereo imaging with the BMC-2’s, but can’t improve the bass response of the MS907, I’m leaning towards the BMC’s for my expected uses. If I were doing video cam stuff, I expect the MS907 would be a better choice, much more convenient.

S/N ratios in this price range seem to be about 58-61dB, so I expect I’d have to maximize input volume with a mic preamp to do nature recording, as you suggested A440.

If it’s not too much trouble, I’d enjoy hearing a bluegrass recording King Ghidora. I wish we had a country music radio station here on Long Island, NY and we could get GAC on cable for the Grand Ole Opry, but that’s another story..

Thanks,

MIchael

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That's good to know about the MS907--I edited to reflect what KG said.

Not to confuse things, but with a bigger budget, you can always look at some of the pricier mics from Sound Professionals or Microphone Madness, too--the ones with Audio-Technica capsules instead of the Panasonics in the BMC-2. My preference for the BMC-2 is more for stealthiness than for the sound, though I am very satisfied with the sound.

I also have what are either CMC-4 or CMC-8 (I got them used and didn't write down the model number). They take interchangeable capsules--I have the binaural, not the cardioid capsules. They sound richer than the BMC-2 and definitely have lower noise. Because they are bigger and heavier, they don't sit as well clipped to my shirt collar, so I don't use them too often for concert recording.

A preamp will definitely help you with nature recording, but of course it will also amplify mic noise. If your budget has an extra $150 or so, you might want to look at those mics, too.

Sound Pros, and I think Mic Madness as well, have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don't abuse the mics. You could experiment with the mics for the price of shipping.

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Just for the record here I'm not saying the MS907 is the choice I would make for a mic in that price range. It isn't. It was several years ago when I bought mine but there have been significant improvements in mics in that price range over that time period. The MS907 sounds pretty thin to me now compared to other mics in the same price range including the Nady CM-2S that I bought recently. The lack of a good low end response in the MS907 is a significant problem IMO. You can do better in that price range these days even considering the mic sells for about half of what it did when I bought mine.

That said it is a very good mic for stereo imaging. That's the one thing it does really well because of a well done M/S design. That's the one area it is probably better at than my Nady. I wouldn't say the Nady is terrible at stereo imaging though. It's pretty good IMO it just isn't as good as the Sony.

I can post that bluegrass sample for you soon. I have a link to a bluegrass tune that I recorded with my Nady already online. You can find it here. Keep in mind that it's from a practice session though. I'll try to post a sample that I recorded using the Sony sometime soon.

BTW Musician's Friend has a 45 day trial period for all audio equipment no questions asked. It's hard to beat that and they generally have competitive prices too.

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