Jump to content

N505 or N707 for live recording?

Rate this topic


miniwade

Recommended Posts

HI,

I'm a newb here. I'm deciding between the 505 and 707 and have the same question I've seen here and elsewhere. Should I get the cheaper 505 and record using the "line in" with a powered mic or spend more for the 707 and use the easier "mic in"? This is for live recording.

A related question is, does any mic that uses a battery work in the line-in method, such as the Sony ECMMS907? Everywhere I look, some people are saying you get better quality with line-in and others say it's not easy to get enough power for line in recording.

People also complain of distortion using mic-in, but shouldn't adjusting the record level take care of that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A related question is, does any mic that uses a battery work in the line-in method, such as the Sony ECMMS907? Everywhere I look, some people are saying you get better quality with line-in and others say it's not easy to get enough power for line in recording.

yep it will work...i use a non-powered mic to the MIC IN of my N1 and N10 units when i record concerts and lectures and it's fine so long as you adjust the levels before hand...but i get decent quality regardless of using MIC IN or LINE IN...if it were me i would prefer that the unit had a MIC IN jack...

People also complain of distortion using mic-in, but shouldn't adjusting the record level take care of that?

i don't get any distortion (or very little) in my recordings thus far and yes adjusting the recording levels does help take care of that...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good choice--I absolutely LOVE my 707, and I think you'll be very pleased with it. When I record using the mic-in, I always keep the levels a bit below what they really should be just to make sure I don't get that distortion. I have yet to come away with a bad recording, and the volume can always get bumped up later when you transfer the programme to a compter/different MD/etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm also a big fan of my N707, because all the buttons (except track mark) are in logical places. But if you're recording live amplified music with it you're going to find that anything with bass distorts like hell because Mic Sensitivity is always High.

Don't panic. Get a Headphone Volume Control from Radio Shack ($5.99), plug it into Mic-In, plug your mic into it, turn it all the way UP and you can record Metallica at an arena (been there, done that). Soundprofessionals also sells an Attenuator cord for $7, probably the same thing as the headphone volume control.

If the music is still too loud you can use the volume knob on the control to turn it down further as a real-time record-level control. Bring along a little pair of earbuds so you can hear what's going on the first few times you use it--the record-level meter's not too informative.

You can also get a battery box and put it through line-in, which gives a slightly quieter but better balanced recording than Radio Shack/mic-in, though it's one more box to carry.

The MZ-N707 goes to every concert with me. But the crucial component is the microphone. That Sony mic is pretty big, so you're not going to be able to clip it on and just forget about it. Little mics like Soundprofessionals binaurals do well, too.

Here's some info on the Sony mic you were considering:

http://infos.0db.net/micros/compare/microsonye.php3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...