Sony MZ N510 and microphones

[brucehogg]

Is there a low-cost, practical solution for microphone recording on the Sony MZ N510 MD recorder?

I gather I need line-level signals, which most microphones don't provide, but I don't fancy paying vast amounts of money for a top rate bulky pre-amp. Ideally, there would be a plug-in self-powered stereo mic with built-in pre-amp, really cheap on E-Bay.

Suggestions would be really appreciated, as mic recording was the reason I bought the thing in the first place!

Cheers

Bruce

[bonzo71]

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11254

This project can be built for under $10. Popular question lately ..

[A440]

It depends on what you are recording. For speech or quiet sounds you're going to need a preamp. For anything amplified you can usually get away with using a battery module--I do all my non-classical concert recording through line-jn with little mics (Sound Professionals BMC-2) and this battery module:

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

You could also build Greenmachine's battery box, as above.

But note: That's not a preamp. It gives some extra power to the mics, and boosts their signal slightly, but unamplified sounds will come through very quiet.

Given the prices of older units on Ebay now, you might as well bite the bullet and get an MD with a mic jack--it will be cheaper than a separate preamp, with nothing else to plug in (although mic-->battery module-->Line-in is still the way to go with music).

You're looking for something like this, I guess:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PROFESSIONAL-ELECTRET-...8QQcmdZViewItem

but that would be a mono microphone geared for speech, probably low-fidelity and who knows how noisy. Hard to tell whether it's actually preamplified or just battery-powered, too.

Seriously, think about getting a mic-in unit. You'll be happier with the recordings and you'll have less electronics to carry around.

If all you need is a voice recorder, you could also check out Ebay for the now-discontinued iRiver IFP-795 (512 MB) or IFP-799 (1GB) or the 1GB (red) T30, which I've used for surprisingly good speech recordings with their built-in mics. They record in .mp3 and you can drag-and-drop the recordings from the unit to PC or Mac (with Iriver software for the IFPs, directly through USB with the T30) .

Recordings on a NetMD unit are stuck on the disc--the only way to copy them is to record them in realtime from the headphone jack, unless you know someone with the MZ-RH1 who can upload them.

Edited January 24, 2007 by A440