Another MD-8 user joins the group

G

GraveRocker

New member
Hello everyone! I've now entered the world of Multitrack Mini-disk recording. I picked up a used Yamaha MD-8 over the weekend and I'm looking forward to trying it out tonight. I had narrowed my choices down to the Fostex VF-16 and the MD-8. A friend was selling his MD-8 at a good price so I jumped on it. This forum is a great resource and I hope to contribute as much as I can. My first projects will be to record my band and myself. I have only brief experience with a Tascam 424 Mk. II, so having 8 tracks to work with will hopefully produce some good quality results. I will be experimenting with different recording environments like the bathroom (without the usual unwanted bathroom noises), large diameter plumbing piping, a chiminea (one of those outdoor portable fireplaces), different mic locations, etc. Sometimes good things can be found in strange places. ;-)
 
Buy your MD data discs from Musician's Friend(Musiciansfriend.com)..... Much less expensive than other places. Also get some good mics. It helps to make back-ups of a song on the same disc in case a disc failure should occur....(make a back-up after each track addition or change.) I think the MD8 is an easy way to track songs though I've been hearing of the legendary compression factor. I'm interested in hearing an MD song transferred to CD. Have fun.
 
Yo GraveRocker & Asland of MD-8 brotherhood:

When you get a "disc error" message in the LCD, it usually isn't the disc; it is a minute piece of dust either in the disc or in the slide in area of the disc; an easy cure is to use your vacuum cleaner and carefully vacuum the disc and the intake area of the recorder.

This happened to me once and instead of tossing the disc, I used the vacuum and that disc is still recording.

Welcome to the MD-8 group.

Green Hornet
 
Last night and this afternoon I recorded a few samples of my homemade tele straight in to the MD-8, thru a Peavey Classic 30's line out w/ reverb and mic'd with an SM-57 w/ reverb. Staight in sounded clean but thin and twangy, line out was hotter and warmer, mic'd sounded even more warmer but clean and the high's smoothed out more. I left all the EQ and level controls about the same but adjusted the gain to get the recording levels up to the -3 range. I liked the line out setting the best, but mic'd wasn't too bad. This thing is fun!
 
After each take, PRESS THE STOP BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE! This is so important, as not "writing to TOC" will basically toss whatever you've just recorded.

Use the edit function to name your discs and songs--it comes in handy later on, especially with date recorded and musicians playing what, etc.

Consider a carrying case for your MD-8. It's more portable and useful than you probably think it is, and it WILL slide around on a car seat.

If your eject button doesn't work, try pushing "back" the "lid." Sometimes (especially after moving it) the lid will slide a bit forward, disengaging the eject button. If it doesn't eject for a different reason, the display should explain why.

The minidiscs are digital, but still magnetic. Don't put it on your speaker cabinet!
 
Welcome! I think everyone esle has already covered the "THINGS YOU BETTER KNOW NOW, OR YOU'LL FIND OUT THE HARD WAY", so I won't go there.

As soon as you get a good mix, upload it and let us hear it!
-Nilbog
p.s. Also check out tapeworld.com for cheap data discs. And I hear there are problems with some brands, but never heard anything bad about SONY discs.
peace
 
Thanks for the info on the little idiosyncrises of the MD8. I think I'd better move the unit further away from the speakers just in case. I noticed that "press the stop button more than once" thing when I was recording the other night.

I picked up some TDK data disks at Mars for $12.99 after I went to a smaller local store that wanted $20.00 a disk in a five pak of them. I walked out.

Tonight I'll be recording my band using all 8 tracks at once. The lead vocal (1) will get a channel. I'll have to submix the background vocals (3-4) using a Power mixer and line out to the MD8. The guitars/amps (3)will lined out but each into it's own channel. The bass will get a line out and the drums get two mics. There's some other configurations I can try, but this should work okay for a first shot at it.
 
What's the best way or ways to go from mini disk to to CD or MP3 or RA? If I record from MD8 into a computer, what is the best format to use? Wav? And then Wav into something a CD burner can use? This is a part of recording I havn't gotten into yet and I don't know much about the details, hardware and software.

My brother-in-law has CD burner and a Pentium 200 w/ 64 meg of ram, a 6.4 gig HD and win95. Is that enough computer to work with?

I'll definitely post some samples as soon as I can figure out how to do that. I've got DSL at work.
 
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