Recording with the Sony MZ-N510

[El Barto]

Greatings, I'm a newbie here and to minidiscs in general. I have been wanting to buy a minidisc player for quite some time to record music (to audibly "jot down" ideas...I have a nice recording setup, but I wanted something simple to just click "record") and now, to record my standup comedy sets. I just won a contest in which I can pick between a number of prizes, and to my luck, the MZ-N510 is one of those prizes.

I know this particular unit doesn't have a mic in, but I can somehow record through the line-in? Is there a downside to this? Will these homemade mic plans on this site make for a good mic for these situations, or is there a low cost alternative? And forgive my total ignorance, but I believe I'll need either a battery pack and/or a preamp...what are the differences? Any other suggestions you may have will be appreciated...thanks!

Great website by the way...sorry if this information is often repeated...I did a search but the information received wasn't detailed enough.

[A440]

Sound Professionals has a good FAQ about battery boxes and preamps :

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...gory=batteryfaq

The short of it is, you'll probably need a preamp. Mic--Battery Box--Line In or a powered mic into line-in is good for loud sources, like live music, but not quiet ones, like spoken word. If you're running through a sound board, though, you might be able to connect from the mixer to line in and get a strong enough signal. That's definitely worth a try.

If you're good enough with electronics to build your own mics. you can also probably build a pre-amp yourself. Make one that can attenuate as well as amplify and you'll have the perfect box for every recording situation.