MZ-N505 recording a lecture with a shotgun mic

[calebu2]

I have a MZ-N505. Bought it before I even thought of "Hey I could do with something to do live recordings"

I've read the forums/FAQ and know that I might have been better off with the 707 or that I might need a preamp. Too late to change the model and I don't want to pay above the odds for a preamp.

I have a shotgun mic (with a AAA battery in it for improving it's response pattern) for my camcorder. The output is too low for the N505 (with everything ramped up to 30/30 you can barely hear it).

I plugged the mic into my tape recorder walkman and patch the headphone into the minidisc. Everything worked perfectly - except that (1) you can hear the motor from the tape unit in the recording (2) It stops after 45 minutes if you have a tape in it (pain in the ass) (3) I look like I am blatantly recording something with all the wires and boxes!

I borrowed a friends Audio Technica microphone. It had a battery box attached to it (kind of like a wireless lapel mic without the wireless bit).

It worked better than the shotgun mic, but unless I close mic-ed it I didn't get above 1 bar on the record meter (close mic-ing it brought it up to about 3 bars).

I'm not planning on recording loud live gigs for a good long while (wait until the non-caleb part of my username goes on tour again). However I might have need to do a recording a lecture in a large lecture theater soon (very soon).

I'd love to make use of the MD unit to record stuff. I'd like to add a preamp to the setup. What are my options?

When I was 12, I could have drawn you a schematic for a preamp circuit with my eyes closed. but that was many years ago. I don't own a soldering iron, nor do I really have the time (well I might but...). And I don't want to spend above the odds to solve the problem.

Is there something that I buy/make that will be simple, small and cheap. By small I also mean that it doesn't look like an explosive device (If I am sneaking it into lectures)? I have about a week to come up with a solution (otherwise I will rely on my friend with a N707 to record the lecture for me - does the 707 have a digital optical out if I wanted to do a digital dub of their version in that case?)

Any good suggestions? Would buying a digital voice recorder to act as a preamp work?

Steve

[rednax]

Gosh. I think Sony's pretty misleading with the REC button on all these NetMD that doesn't come with a MIC jack.

Pretty pissed that I finally could afford a MD player and I get one that doesn't do live recordings.

I hope you find an option too.

FY Sony.

[murasame_]

I bought a simple plain preamp DIY set for $8 at a electronics retailer (mic capsule included), never ever in my life soldered before and it works fine with my 505.

It didn't come with a case, but that's easy to build. And it's quite small. When you don't want to use the mic capsule that comes with such a set, just exchange it with a 3,5mm jack and it should work fine with whatever mic you have.