Soundbox Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 In two weeks I will be making an important recording where two microphones will be used (and fed into a mixer). I was going to take my NH600 and use the line in as I have done in the past for similar projects (but with a MZ-R30), but now after reading here on the forum I am wondering if taking my JB980 deck will yeild a better recording? Both the NH600 and JB980 offer ATRAC-R but what about the actual record quality. The portable is my first choice (no mains lead - my mixer runs from a PP7 battery), but if the deck is better then I will make arrangements ahead of time. The concert is two classical guitars. Thanks for any thoughts, Ian PS. I forgot to add - I will be using best recording quality - SP - so no need for long play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avrin Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 You may use PCM on your NH600 to get better than SP quality. But you'll need gigabyte discs to get decent recording time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azureal Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 It is likely that the deck has a higher quality A/D converter than the NH600, but with increases in large scale integration and chip design, it is also possible that the NH600 which is 2 years newer than the JB980 may be on par with the deck but I doubt it. I know I have an older JE20ES and it has very high quality A/D chips for that all important conversion from the real world domain into the digital one and it makes fabulous recordings in SP format, but it is still highly compressed at 292 kbit/s as compared to 1,411.2 kbit/s. As Arvin says, using 1GB HiMD discs will allow you to get 90 minutes or so of high bit rate PCM recording versus 80 minutes of lower rate SP recording on the deck, that may be the biggest determining factor. I think the PCM on the RH600 will be a cleaner sounding recording than the SP on the JB980. My two cents worth ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted April 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Thank you for the thoughts - very interesting to me as someone who does a fair bit of recording. Just to clarify my use of SP mode - I am often asked for a CD copy of the concert and to make this I use the optical link from my JE510 deck (will be the JB980 this time) to link to my Denon CD recorder. I use the CD Sync mode to place all trackmarks from my MD to the CD and then I can burn more CD's on my laptop from this master CD. If I used PCM then I would have to use the headphone output from my portable and whilst that is probably better than my 'optical SP' method I don't want to take a risk as I would hate it if it was worse after the concert. Thank you again, Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md user Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Either - Or, Neither - All! - It crossed my mind that you may have discounted the option that BOTH means can be used - if you have two sets of microphone. Why? Because then you WILL be able to answer your question authoritatively - not based on predictions of technology. Many times in the past I have used superior 'technology' only to find that older-tech. performed the better! Also, you will have a 'backup-up plan' in place in case one method fails - you said that the recording was 'important'. [i always plan two independent methods when something is that important; or, to plan a risk profile on the one method with contingency plans ready.] Whatever you do, unless you're going into production, surely either method will yield great results! Hope it goes well. Regards, mdmad. BTW do we get to hear a sample when you've finished? Just a small sample ... it'll give an extra dimension to this thread, methinks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted April 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Thanks - never thought of using both at the same time! No reason not to as the mixer has two sets of outputs... Sure I can share a sample - what is the normal way of doing that? I can post audio only to YouTube - is that good enough quality? Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THIS SUCKS Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 you can digitally upload your pcm recordings thru the usb that are made from the nh-600. this way you can uplaod pcm with the track marks. you dont need to go the headphone analog route. after the upload you can choose save as wave and burn a standard audio cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md user Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Sure I can share a sample - what is the normal way of doing that? I can post audio only to YouTube - is that good enough quality? Ian Personally, I share by encoding to lossless, say FLAC, and then going to http://www.rapidshare.com/. FLAC should be available to download for free, for Windows, on the net. I use Linux, and it comes 'out of the box', yahoo! It's all pretty obvious from there: I suggest no more than 5mins sample though, otherwise upload takes too long. (~20MB). You can do more if willing to wait ... YouTube, in my experience, always transcodes and will not be fair to your recording. Nevertheless, you can try it, but set the highest bitrate. If you don't get anywhere with the above, PM me for help. Regards, mdmad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted April 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Thanks for the help. When I get home I will make some practice recordings. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle United Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Thank you for the thoughts - very interesting to me as someone who does a fair bit of recording. Just to clarify my use of SP mode - I am often asked for a CD copy of the concert and to make this I use the optical link from my JE510 deck (will be the JB980 this time) to link to my Denon CD recorder. I use the CD Sync mode to place all trackmarks from my MD to the CD and then I can burn more CD's on my laptop from this master CD. If I used PCM then I would have to use the headphone output from my portable and whilst that is probably better than my 'optical SP' method I don't want to take a risk as I would hate it if it was worse after the concert. Thank you again, Ian Which Denon CD recoder do you have? I didnt know you could do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperclip Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I predict the results will be so close that PCM might actually less pleasing than SP. I find SP to be a very pleasing codec and with a wild guess speculate that PCM might pick up sounds that even in a studio might not be desireable. I can't wait to see what the results are, I am by no means an expert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I *think* but it's only a guess, that the magic of MD is the filters applied when recording. I think the only problem with PCM is when it's not properly mastered. Certainly having owned a good PCM recorder (RH1), I would always use it for live recording so I can afford to amp up the sound without loss of quality. Doing so with compressed sound is liable to produce artifacts, right? Where the input level is known in advance, I would record at whatever compression I can get away with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundbox Posted August 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 My CD recorder is the CDRM30 http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/589 - a very useful gadget. I have been having a bit of trouble with my musicians. First one was ill, then they could not set a firm date. I am ready anyway so as soon as they give me the call I will be over. I have done soms quite nice SP recordings with just a solo guitar but not enough experience yet with PCM to hear a real difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperclip Posted August 3, 2010 Report Share Posted August 3, 2010 I'm really interested to see what you find out, when it happens. I think sfbp comments will be right on. Lets us know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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