MZ-N1 Recording Questions

[Neilyboy]

Recorder:

Sony MZ-N1

Mic:

Sony ECM-MS907 [With New Batteries]

This past weekend I used my N1 to record a buddys band in their basement. Its a room about 20' x 12' and i was sitting around 8-10 feet from the stacks.

I was running the mic through 'line in' in the recorder and had the manual levels adjusted to 25/30. After the first few songs I decided to listen to what I had recorded in the extremely loud basement. The only problem is when I listened to it is was really quiet on the tape.

I wasnt sure what I was doing wrong (or right, i guess since it was my first time recording) but i figured for as loud as it was down there it should have picked up much better than it did.

So I set the manual record level to 30/30 and recorded the rest of their practice.

I got home and listened to what I had and pulled it over to the PC. The sound levels were very low for running at 30/30.

My question is is there something im doing wrong or missing? should I run it through the 'mic in' jack rather than the 'line in'?

Also, while recording whenever the levels would get too low the MD unit would automaticly track itself causing it to make around 130 tracks on one disc. I did try and turn off sync record and it still did the same thing.

Anyway if anyone has any tips or ideas as to what could be wrong here I would be open to all suggestions.

Here is a sample of the music I recorded (keep in mind i had to play with it in sound editing software just to get it to the level its at now +6db)

The_Baldwins_-_Clocks_Cover

Thanks again,

Neil

[Midiman]

You used the wrong input. The Line input is for line level devices. You would only use that for mics if you were running the mics through a mixer first. Use the Mic inputs instead. ... and please see my post in the Troubleshooting forum on this board concerning this model and problems I'm having with recording using the mic inputs. See if yours does the same thing.