SOS

[Ray J]

Recently bought a mixdown deck on e-bay. Sony JE510, anyone familiar with these units? When I tried to record, everything seemed to be working fine. The time ran on the display, and the meters were at work. The MD tab was pulled closed the way it's supposed to be to record. When I stopped the recording and tried to play it back, I got nothing. The time display moved at a rate of about 1 second every 15 seconds and the meters were no longer jumping. And nothing was coming out of the speakers. The display showed the length of the song in MIN/sec before I tried to play it just like it had been succesfully recorded, but nothing there after. I tried another MD and the same thing happened. Is there an idiot-check I'm missing? Is there some peculiarity in the way you supposed to playback a recording for the first time on these units? The guy on e-bay had an excellent seller rating and swears the unit worked perfectly when he mailed it. He seems like a straight up guy and I think I believe him. Anyone?

[Track Rat]

Ray, just a shot in the dark. Check the switchs for extended recording ( mono and/or lower sampling rate, digital/analog input). Like I said, a shot in the dark.

[virtual.ray]

How's the box it came in look? any indication that it might of taken a hit in transit?If so,was the shipping ensured?

[Ray J]

Thanks guys, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with the box and the unit is set on stereo and analog because I am going in with an MD8. Looks like I might be screwed. I'll try to find a pre-recorded MD somewhere and try to play it to see if I can eliminate some possibilities. If this doesn't play then there is probably something wrong with the playback. Thanks again.

[Nilbog]

Did you write the TOC? Do you even have to write the TOC?
Did you use a data MD from your MD8?

I can't imagine that something could be wrong with the timing of playback...hmmm...

-Nilbog

[Ray J]

Yeah, I've checked the manual about the TOC and all it says is don't unplug it or power down just after you record. I've tried pressing the stop button twice, as you do on the MD8, I've also tried the TOC edit, but the options were: erase, name, move etc. I've also tried waiting a while after I record, just in case this would do it. And yes, I bought regular audio MDs to record on. I didn't use the data discs. As a matter of fact I've tried 3 different discs now to try to eliminate a bad disc and even the longshot of 2 bad discs from the equation. I'm really baffled and kinda panicky now, and I have a post on the minidisc org or whatever site, trying to summons help, but it's looking grim. I have been in contact with the seller a few times since and he seems reasonable, but he doesn't know what's happening with the unit which is probably a bad sign. This is my first experience with e-bay so I'm not really sure what is done in a situation like this. As I stated earlier, he had an excellent seller rating and has been good to work with thus far, however I'm witholding his feedback until I explore all the possibilities and will give him a chance to do the right thing before I drop any four-letter bombs his way. Hehe. Anyway, this post is getting long so, I'll keep digging and thanks for responding......peace.....Ray J

[Nilbog]

It should pause a few seconds at least when it writes the toc. If it doesnt ever pause and say something (Does it have a display?) about the toc, then maybe thats the problem. Whether it's not writing to TOC because it's faulty, or because of some secret toc button you need to push.

I dont think that will help you any...but oh well. If you cant get it working tell the seller he better give you your damn money back, and HE can figure out whats wrong with it.

-Nilbog

p.s THis is the 200th post in here!

[Charlie Mosbrook]

Try playback with the recorded md in the MD8. It will accept the 2 tr md. this should let you know if you are even recording.

[Ray J]

Charlie: Good idea, I hadn't thought of that but after I read your post, I recall reading that the MD8 can play audio discs, anyway, I tried it and got blank disc again. Not a good sign....Thanks.

Nilbog: Yeah, I'll have to contact the seller, I have some material ready to go and I am one piece of equipment away from being able to cut something. The last of my disposable income is in the mixdown deck. Gosh Doggit, I'm really mad now.

[Ray J]

BTW, the guy I got the MD deck from has agreed to take it back and give me a refund, says he doesn't normally do that sort of thing (I'm touched), but it was cool of him. Anyway, I still need a mixdown deck, I will continue to look at the Sony MDS JE510 and 520's, but in the meantime does any one know of another good MD deck to mix down to. I am looking for something with at least 4th generation ATRAC and digital out. Also, has anyone mixed down to a 510 or 520 and what did you think of it?

[virtual.ray]

I've had the 510 for almost 4 years now,which is why I initially responded to your post.To the point,it beats the crap out of cassettes and I use it all the time for rough mixes and to experiment putting songs in different order which you can do very easily,but for something I was gonna charge money for,I'd still rather burn a CD,because although the quality is close,I feel a DIY project needs every asset available to attract attention.Cheers!

[Ray J]

Yeah, I hear ya, battling the limitations of a low budget, and recording inexperience is enough for me not to want any more sound degregation. As I've mentioned before, mixing to my computer is kind of out of the question for me, so if you have time, check out the CD burners/compression post in this forum and tell us what you know about going straight to CD from the MD8. Thanks ....Ray J

[Nilbog]

I just invested in a pioneer cd burner. I was using my computer for a while, but my soundcard sucks. I'd say save your money and get a standalone deck too, the quality is about the best your going to get for the money. The pioneer is good because it has input volume, and decent meters and such, some things that the phillips didnt have.
Oh yeah, the one I have Pioneer PDR-509.
check it out
http://www.supremevideo.net/product....509&SVBName=12

-Nilbog

[Ray J]

Thanks Nilbog, I didn't realize there were stand alone units for that price. So let me get this straight, most commercial players don't play RWs, correct? The other thing is this, couldn't I cross check my mix using a speaker selector, and connecting 3 or 4 pairs of different size speakers to it, is there any reason that this wouldn't be the same as listening to it on a variety of commercial players? Until I learn my monitors better, cross checking is a must for me........Ray J

[Nilbog]

I would put the speaker selector on your MD8 stereo out. When your mixing down, use the 2track monitor button (with all the others off), and make sure your 2 track is connected back into the 2 track "in" on your MD8. Then use the speaker selector accordingly, obviously.

I think even in big studios they have three sets of speakers to listen to the mix. Super high grade pro quality monitors, high quality commercial speakers, and then low quality commercial speakers.

Does that help?
-N
p.s. That's right AUDIO ONLY CDRW discs cannot be played on MOST commercial cd players. But the CDR's have worked fine so far on everything I've tried them on.

[Ray J]

Yeah, that helps. Thanks.........Ray J

[AmpJones]

Ok Guys. After reading this thread, I went out and bought the Pioneer PDR-509 stand-alone CD burner, and 3 CD-rw disks at $3.32 each. I figured if it didnt work out I could just take it back for a refund (as is the policy with the place I bought it).

This was a VERY good idea. I came home and patched it into one of my patch bays, remixed a tune and burned it. I did have to "finalize" (I think this is just a TOC write) the disk before my computer could digitally exctract it without error correction. Anyway I put the disk in my compouter, extracted it, sropped it into sound forge for noamalization and a tad of software compression and did an a/b comparison with a mix I had done thru the inputs on my sound card. The noise floor was GONE. I guess I am surprised that it all went off without a hitch, but there you have it.

P.S. I burned a copy of it to 39 cent bulk cdr and tested it in my car and on my home system and the results were great. Oh... and I erased the original cd-rw disk and it's ready to record again and again.

[Ray J]

Thanks for sharing that with us, it's good to get a second opinion when you're looking at dropping a few hundred on gear. And going off without a hitch would certainly be an aberration in my experience. Peace...Ray J

[Nilbog]

If you want to hear a song using this method, I have one posted here: http://www.users.uswest.net/~thegarfields/
But keep in mind, this isnt a finished project yet.

-Nil

[AmpJones]

I really like the bass guitar sound. What kind of bass is it and how did you record it?

[Nilbog]

The bass I use is a Yamaha BB300. When I recorded this, I recorded two tracks, one directly through a DI box, and one through the XLR output on my bass head. I only kept one of those tracks, and I cant remember which one it was, but Im pretty sure it was the one out of my amp.
thanks for the input!
-N

[Nilbog]

I'm just replying again so we can have a "flaming" topic.

[Ray J]

Funny how these threads metamorphisize. This one started out about mixdown decks and ended up with a Nilbog mixing clinic. BTW Nilbog, I listened to your tune the other day but never got around to posting a response. Sounded as you said, an unfinished song, but coming along fine so far. I got it off of the mixing clinic before you even posted it here.