Live recording at music camps & buying MD Recorder

[Peter Y]

I do a lot of recording at music camps. Mainly I'm recording classes I'm participating in, with mostly fiddles at fairly close range. Sometimes I'm recording jam sessions with fiddles, piano, guitar and accordion primarily, again at close range and again as a participant. My Aiwa AM-F70's battery has died, and even with external batteries it doesn't record any more, so I need to replace it. I need an MD recorder with good automatic level controls because I barely have time to set up, never mind to adjust sound levels. I don't need Net MD or MDLP (mostly I record in mono). Hi-MD sounds great, but I need it too soon; besides I have a deck as well, and I'd have to replace that as well, so I guess I'll forgo Hi-MD for now.

I've seen a number of recommendations for the Sharp IM-DR 420 on this forum. My one reservation is that from looking at the manual (available on Minidisco.com), it appears (p. 34) that you can only determine remaining record time in stop mode. That seems like a real problem for live recording uses. Does anyone know if it's possible to determine remaining recording time without stopping?

How about the MD-DR77? Does it have automatic level control? And can you determine recording time without stopping?

Are there any other MD recorders or any other issues I should be considering? Any advice would be much appreciated. I've been using my Aiwa AM-F70 for several years and haven't had to think about buying issues for a long time. I'm impressed with the knowledge represented on this forum and looking forward to any ideas that show up.

Thanks,

Peter

[A440]

If you don't need NetMD, as a stopgap until/if Hi-MD arrives you could always go for a much older MD.

I have had good auto-level experiences with Sony's MZ-R900 (though I'm not fond of the gumstick battery or the too-easy-open battery latch), MZ-R700 and MZ-N707. They do display time remaining.

You can find them on Ebay--using common sense to figure out whether you're getting a dud--for $100 and less. My MZ-R700, bought used, has recorded hundreds of events, transported in a pocket, and is going strong.

Other people have said good things about the later MZ-N9xx units too, and there are fanatical devotees of the even older, SP-only MZ-Rxx units. Instead of spending the extra $100 on NetMD, you could pick up an extra unit as a spare.

If you do get an MDLP unit, do at least try LP2 in stereo with a stereo mic, even a little one-point stereo mic. It will make the music much more listenable than mono does.

[johnty]

i'd rather not use auto levels, even when you cannot adjust the volume as the recording goes along. what you'll need to do is record and get used to what kind of setting requires what kind of levels. set a certain level and see what happens. if it distorts tone down, if its too soft bring it up a notch. with auto levels you'll often get distortion on loud sounds, and high noise on softer sounds. it doesn't take too long to figure out roughly what level to use in a certain situation for a particular repertoire.

on any recorder, i'm sure you can set it to display RecRemain without stopping... if Sony, not known for their live recording capability, can do it, I'm sure Sharp can too. What I find useful is to plan out the recording - you usually know how long you'll be recording for, so you have a rough idea of when (if) you have to change discs etc. Whatever you do, don't let the recording distract you from the actual rehearsal!

[Peter Y]

Thanks to both of you for your ideas.

The reason I record in mono is that much of the time I'm recording in situations where there's only one or two instruments playing with little stereo separation anyway, so the extra recording time is worth the lack of stereo sound. I don't have LP2 so I can't compare the sound quality to SP mode.

My usual recording situation is one in which advanced planning is impossible, so periodic checking of remaining time is essential. I recently used a borrowed Sony MD recorder which forced me to go through a complex series of steps to find the remaining time; my Aiwa recorder only required one button press. The manual for the Sharp IM-DR 420 recorder indicated you had to stop recording to find out how much time you have left. An e-mail to Minidisco gave me the response that it can in fact be done (how easily I don't know).

As far as automatic levels are concerned, I've heard similar concerns, and I've heard that most current MD recorders don't have good automatic level controls; although I think someone said they tend to work for acoustic music which is what I'm recording. I guess I was lucky because the Aiwa AM-F70 was considered to have a very good automatic level control system.

As it turns out, I'd bought an AM-F70 on eBay a few months ago which I thought worked for playback but not for recording. However, I recently discovered it had synchro recording enabled which I never use and forgot existed. When I turned it off it started recording quite normally, so I find myself in the fortunate position of having a functioning MD recorder that I already know how to use! Hopefully it will keep me going at least long enough for the whole Hi-MD situation to settle down so I can make an intellingent decision about where to go next!