advice on buying from Microphone Madness and file transfer

[joteo]

Hi

My friend is lending me an old MD soon (I don't know what model) and I hope to be starting some field recordings soon. (I'm not even sure if I can get MD discs!) I believe the unit has a line out, but I'm thinking that because I have to transfer it by wire that the sound card will be digitizing/interpreting the sound. If I don't have a great sound card, how will this compromise the recording quality?

I intend to get the Sound Professionals in-ear binaurals and the Microphone Madness Miniature Battery Module.

However, I've sent off an e-mail from Microphone Madness about three days ago and haven't received a response. I just sent another just in case they didn't receive their mail.

But I'm wondering if anyone here has bought from them recently and if it's okay to buy stuff from them even if they don't get to e-mail. When I searched online for a review, I only found one from a very unhappy buyer who claimed his item was damaged. So if anyone has dealt with them recently, it would be good to know.

(Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong section.)

Thanks for your help.

joanne

[Skradgee]

Hi Joanne,

If you transfer your recording to PC by using the Line Out, you probably won't hear much of a difference at all compared to uploading it with an RH1 (even though that's the "cleanest" most proper way to do the transfer). So, it should be fine.

I can't speak for Microphone Madness since I haven't dealt with them at all, but Sound Professionals should put you in good shape. You could get a battery module from them.

Welcome to the forums!

[A440]

I last dealt with Microphone Madness about a year ago for my battery module, and back then they were fast and honest.

Why not call them?

877-551-5623

Sound Professionals is also reliable--the only reason I chose the Mic Madness module was for its smaller size.

-------------------------------

If you can't find discs locally, there's always mail-order. Don't get 1GB Hi-MD discs for an old recorder--they're not compatible. You want 80-minute ones, preferably Sony or TDK and definitely not Memorex, Hi-Space or Maxell. You should be able to find them for under $1.50 each.

--------------------------------

You'll just have to try your soundcard to see how it works. Some soundcards only have a mic input--not the line input that would be preferable--and do sound pretty terrible, like the one in my old Toshiba laptop. Mic inputs can also be mono rather than stereo. But you could also have a clean stereo mic input that sounds fine, or even a line input. Mic inputs are usually red and line inputs are usually white.

You could test it now by getting a male-to-male miniplug cord and recording something out of the headphone jack of your CD player/iPod/etc. Audacity is good free recording software--you may have to play with settings to make sure it's recording from your soundcard input.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

If you get static on the recording, or it's mono, there's always the Griffin iMic, which gives you a nice clean stereo line input via USB for about $35. I had the flying-saucer-shaped original iMic, but apparently an Imic 2 has been introduced since then, with a more sensible design.

http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology-9...p;s=electronics

Edited January 12, 2007 by A440

[Dr. Spankenstein]

IIRC, their website said that they would be away through the holiday season until sometime in JAN. It may be that they are still on holiday.

Just a thought. I plan on getting the mirco-mini-nano battery module for them soon. I'll report back on any "shify" behaviour!

Cheers,

Bryan

(patiently waiting for the Gallery to come back up.....

[King Ghidora]

Hey A440, what's the deal on Maxell, Hi-Space and Memorex discs? I don't believe I've ever seen any Hi-Space discs but I do have maybe 3 Memorex discs that I've had for probably 5 years. I haven't had any problems with them. And Maxell used to be known for making quality cassette tapes. I don't own any of their MD's though.

[tiberiusbeekirk]

I never bought any Memorex until the bunch I rec'd with a used MD unit.

I removed the labels from the Memorex MD's and it's labeled as HIspace. The unopened one's are Made In France on the

wrapper and Made in E.C. on the disc. These are all 74min discs.

[joteo]

Thanks. Microphone Madness did reply to my second email finally.

So I guess they're still around.

(I didn't want to call because I don't like to pay IDD rates.)

Thanks for the tips on the recording and soundcard.

I'm not really an audio person and I don't really understand how audacity works, so I uninstalled it.

Will make more of an attempt this time.

Thanks

joanne

[A440]

King G., everybody has been lucky and unlucky with cheap discs. I had a pack of Hi-Space, and half of them malfunctioned. Other people here have regularly complained about Memorex and Maxell, so I tossed them in. Some Maxells have plastic shutters, which promise trouble.

Joanne, I hope you'll give Audacity another try.

When you open it and click the red button, it should simply start recording, and you'll see a waveform of what's going into it. In the top middle of the screen you have a choice of Mic Volume--recording through your computer's mic jack--or Stereo Mix, recording the mix coming through the soundcard (which can be the CD drive, computer sounds, etc--click on the little speaker icon in the taskbar, probably bottom right of your screen, to see what's going through your soundcard).

Feel free to ask for help. It's geeky and a little intimidating to start with, but once you've got it set up, it should be very easy to use.