recording analog on MD

N

natbot

New member
I'm considering purchasing a MD to make field recordings with. I assume you can just plug a microphone into any MD, but some seem to have analog recording options.
Do these make much of a difference? Does anyone have experience using an analog mic into an MD digital input? I seek guidance.

some MDs boast "optical/line inputs" and others "analog connector"... what are these? Do they somehow run the signal through a Anal/Dig converter?

i'm sorry that this sounds so confused, i am confused.
 
Hey natbot, You are going to need some form of preamp for the mics. You can not just hook it up to the md. The inputs for the md are line level and the mics are not. you will need something the will take the signal from the mic and convert it to a line level signal. An example would be a mixer or preamp.

The other inputs you were refering to are the digital inputs. In order to use those, you would need your mixer or preamp to provide digital outputs which could then be passed to the md.

I know these answers are quite vague, but hopefully they will help.
 
Yo Natbot-a Re-bop-a du-wah:]

Whenever you hear sound with the ears, it's ANALOG. You can't hear digital sound. It's all zeros and ones which is called DSP or digital signal processing.

As for the MD-8, which I use, you CAN PLUG A MIC RIGHT INTO THE BACK END OF THE UNIT -- it has phantom power. Check your manual about when to make sure the phantom power is OFF OR ON.

But, most studios use a mic pre; I use one of those and there are many types and prices.

The MD8 processes analog input into digits and that is why the sound is much better than plain tape or a cassette recorder. When you mix down from an MD8, your product, tape, a CD, etc. may be processed again, in the case of the CD burner. But, when you play the CD and listen, it's analog sound that has been digitally processed.

If you want better sound than the MD8 can produce, then you need to buy a unit that processes sound in 24 bit, like most of the Roland units.

But, to reanswer your question, you can plug in a drum machine "directly" to the MD8 and use the slider and/or the line gain to increase volume; but most drum boxes come with a volume boost. No problem.

Enjoy recording,

Green Hornet
 
what is this MD-8?

what i'm looking to do (if possible) is take a portable MD around town with me and record sounds with a standard mic. are there any portable MDs that would take the analog mic signal, convert it to digital, record, and then output it digital to my cpu?

if this is not possible, how bad would the sound loss be if i did it anyway (if i plugged a mic into a portable MD for recording purposes)?
 
You're lookin' for this site, dude. It'll explain "walkman" style recording... bootleg stuff, too... good discrete mics for your purposes, etc...

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/

I've got an MD-8 and it's great, but I'd like to get one of these guys' "little rigs" to run around getting samples (or hell, so I don't have to mix the band!)

Hope it helps, seems they've got some good package deals (mic & MD).
 
natbot,

i guess your talking about the portable ones that you can slip into your shirt pocket, right? example: with the Sony MZ-R900 you can record using a dynamic mic with a 1/8" size plug. there are mics specially made for use with walkmans, though you won't get really excited about the sound quality. i've used one to record interviews with my MD and it works just fine since it's only speech i'm recording. when it comes to A/D-converting, as you understand, it can do it, but i don't know at how many bits (can't find the specs).

as for output: analog line. no digital output.

the line/optical input is for connecting to, for example, a CD-player. some CD-players (and other stuff too) come with an optical output called TOS-link. to stay in the digital domain go CD-optical to MD-optical.

one other cool thing, MZ-R900 has got something called MDLP, which extends the total recording time to about 5 hours using one single 74min minidisc. perfect for bootlegs...

hope this helps,

micmac
 
yes, you are on the right track....

i have one of the portable md player/ recorders like whats described above and i use it ALL the time to record practice tapes, sounds & conversations for sampling purposes, and live shows as well. hell for the longest time i just used the ear phones that came with it to do all the recording (instead of a mic). no joke...

you wont be dissappointed.

also, in this same forum someone explains how to get the recording from the md to your hd. i think you go from the headphone jack to your sound card or somthing to that effect.

good luck.
 
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