Sony MZ-RH1 for recording lectures/gigs?

[anti_starlet]

Hey there,

I'm considering purchasing the Sony MZ-RH1 as I need to record lectures primarily and live gig (my boyfriend's band), I was wondering whether it's a good investment or slightly overpriced for what I'm going to use it for (As much as I love Minidiscs for playback, I doubt I'll use them for it as I have an iPod Nano) and what's a good microphone to go with it. Problem is, I live in the UK and the Minidisc market over here has all but dried up. The best price for the MZ-RH1 here that I can find is £200. I'm a student so I'm already stretching my money limit so I'm looking to buy a decent microphone for preferably under £30 but I could stretch to £50.

Any suggestions/help is much appreciated.

[ghankstef]

Hey there,

I'm considering purchasing the Sony MZ-RH1 as I need to record lectures primarily and live gig (my boyfriend's band), I was wondering whether it's a good investment or slightly overpriced for what I'm going to use it for (As much as I love Minidiscs for playback, I doubt I'll use them for it as I have an iPod Nano) and what's a good microphone to go with it. Problem is, I live in the UK and the Minidisc market over here has all but dried up. The best price for the MZ-RH1 here that I can find is £200. I'm a student so I'm already stretching my money limit so I'm looking to buy a decent microphone for preferably under £30 but I could stretch to £50.

Any suggestions/help is much appreciated.

--> I use it to record lectures but not as a student for podcasting. I usually just plug into the sound board with a XML to male mini cable. You could do the same at a live gig but you only get a mono signal this way

[anti_starlet]

--> I use it to record lectures but not as a student for podcasting. I usually just plug into the sound board with a XML to male mini cable. You could do the same at a live gig but you only get a mono signal this way

I don't understand what you mean, I'm not that technical.

[boojum]

I use the RH1 for recording live gigs. I use a SONY ECM-MS957 mic, which is a bit pricy. There are many good, less expensive stereo mics available and folks here can help you. For recording live gigs the RH1 is hard to beat. It is small, accurate and can upload digitally to the PC, which means that there will be no sound degradation in the upload. Once on the PC it can be converted to FLAC, MP3 or left as a WAV file. The sounds is the same as on a CD; this is the important part. As good as a CD. The only limiting factor is the mic and its location. Give up those mochas for a while, get your squeeze to contribute a bit as he will be getting the benefit and get the damned thing. You won't regret it. Cheers

Edited January 31, 2007 by boojum

[A440]

The RH1 is a wonderful music recorder but much better than what you need to record lectures. Voice recording can be done with smaller, cheaper gadgets.

I don't know if you have a second-generation Nano, but you might look into this little add-on as a voice recorder with the Nano if it's the right unit:

http://www.xtrememac.com/audio/earphones_r...romemo_nano_2g/

The Micromemo apparently doesn't have auto gain control--it won't adjust the volume if the speech gets too quiet--so your lecturer has to be clearly audible.

iRiver, Cowon, Creative and others all make little gadgets that are basically music players but also have built-in mics for voice recording, and you could use them for lectures. I have an Iriver T30 (no longer made, but you can probably find a refurbished one) that does the job nicely.

But little voice recorders won't make music sound good. If you do plan to do a lot of music recording, get the MZ-RH1 or the MZ-NH700.

Minidisc-Canada has a great price--see if they'll ship to Europe.

http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopexd.asp?id=734

In Europe get Greenmachine's mics:

http://www.geocities.com/greenmachine_audio/

[raintheory]

I highly recommend greenmachines mics as well.

[anti_starlet]

So if the RH1's a bit too pricey what else do you suggest? I'm into the idea of minidiscs for lectures mainly for the ease of use, I can put a whole topic on one mindisc and use the track (?) function to split it up. I think the MZ-RH910, MZ-RH10, MZ-NH700 and MZ-NH600 are still available here but the minidisc market really is non-existent in the UK anymore... I also need something which is reliable, my last MD (NetMD) broke after less than a year and I can't waste time getting one repaired or purchasing another one, so again all suggestions are appreciated

[A440]

MZ-NH700 will do everything you need. It's probably the cheapest mic-in unit available, and it runs on one AA battery, easily replaced. I have the MZ-NHF800, which is the same unit with a different remote, and it has survived two years of hard and continuous use.

The RH-9xx units, with their rechargeable batteries, will also do your job, though people have been reporting troubles with the RH10.

MZ-NH600 has line-in recording only and would need an external device to record with a microphone, so don't get that one.

If you're not going to upload the recordings, you could also look for another NetMD, like the Sony MZ-N707, but that means taking your chances on an older and probably used unit.