Sound on mini disc need your thoughts
 

hi,

That last post a couple of days ago abouty recording sound on Mini Disc has really piqued my interest. Does anybody know anything about this? Links, what is a good recorder, thing like that, i am in the middle of shooting a movie and like this idea.


Thanks


Tony

It works. For more information on MiniDISC than any one person can digest try the minidisc community poge:
http://www.minidisc.org/

Which recorder depends on your budget, but if in profesional work where you can control the action consider one of the professional models with real mic inputs.

While mini disks are extremely versatile, I couldn't find one that would hold much audio. I ended up with a harddisk recorder/mixer that holds up to something like 18 hrs of cd quality on one track, with twelve tracks available.

It cost almost $1000, and is a bit bulky, but I love it. I can run XLR inputs or 1/4" jacks into it, and hook it up to any house board for better audio than any camera could ever get. It's definately worth the cost and effort to record your audio seperately.
Keith

Any of the Sony recordable MD's are good bang for you buck. I'm not sure about outside Japan but a blank MD will only set you back about US$2. They hold 74mins of compressed audio and I've found the Sony ones to be really good.

I have 2 MiniDisc players (one is for sale or trade cheap, see classified section).

The main one I use is a model MZ-N1, which cost me about $600cdn/$400us.

The one I have for sale is the MZ-R909, which is worth about $300us (I'm selling mine for $200, new).

I purchased the more expensive one as a personal music player for use while snowboarding. It's got better features for recording music from MP3 format. The MZ-R909 model is a good all purpose recorder/player, and a better value if you are just using it to record sound. And they are TINY. About the size of a 3.5" disc, only thicker, of course.

And while not recommended for serious recording, at maximum compression, a minidisc will hold 5 hours of music.

Minidisc is a great format for field aquisition as well as post production work. I have a Marantz PDM650 which is designed for broadcast professional use. It has XLR mic inputs, 48V phantom power for condenser mics, extensive editing functions, and writes the TOC automatially.

It is larger then the pocket recorders, but is quite rugged.

I use it for two track live recording with a pair of quality studio mics (AT4050's) and have gotten excellent results.

Cheers...

Buford,
How much was your MD?

I saw it listed at the B&H Photo Web Site for $999.00, which is about what I paid for it. Compared to the consumer machines, it is pricy, but for day to day field work and its feature set, I felt it was worth it.

My only comment is that it does eat batteries, so I use the AC adapter whenever possible.

Cheers...

thanks
 

thanks guys it helps. Has anyone sent it to a computer to edit the dialouge? Does it sound ok? I app all the help

Whenever you use a dedicated audio device, it stands to reason that it will sound much better than the audio your camera will record. They are designed to do one thing only, and that is record sound.

Cameras are built with passable audio qualities, but they focus on the video aspect, and not the audio. If they were to design a camera with equal consideration to sound quality, they would be huge, and have XLR jacks, not mini-plugs or RCA, and require a better medium than tape.

Whether you use a small MD, or a larger mixer/hard disk recorder, you'll come out ahead.

I recently used a Sony MD for the first time. Wired up the groom with a wireless and dropped the Sony in the preacher's pocket. Turn out I used the MD recording as it was better than the wireless due to several cell phones in the audience.

I am considering the purchase of a "professional recording solution" for doing mostly event videography and some production work as well. I am up in the air about MiniDisc, DAT or hard disk recorders??? I have been researching them all lately and it isnt helping my decision....

I like the idea of professional MD but I am a little concerned about he 44.1 sample rate and the ATRAC compression...

I like the idea of the fullness and quality of DAT audio but am not convinced about its place in the "field" with all the new recorders coming out. I also dont like the fact that the DAT machines have heads to contend with and the media is also linear...

Hard drive recorders sound neat, seem to do everything I would need but I have not heard much on their use yet as they are still pretty new, as far as sound quality, file formats, etc.... I was looking at the Marantz PMD-690, has anyone head much on this unit?

anyway, im just confused.... any help would be greatly appreciated! I guess I want great audio quailty and a format that is going to be around in the next 5 years.

thanks,
Chris

Be sure it has battery back up!!!!!!!

I too, am looking down these paths. But who can predict 5 years from now, in this business. I am leaning towards DAT because of its staying power. It's been around about 10 years and I don't see it going away real soon because of its established professional base. DV is linear, so I don't view that as a major issue. I definetly need battery power and a lighter unit in the field than a HD recorder. I also prefer 48KHz audio. None of these are perfect, but I'm leaning towards DAT.

Jeff

<<<-- Originally posted by jtdonald : I too, am looking down these paths. But who can predict 5 years from now, in this business. I am leaning towards DAT because of its staying power. It's been around about 10 years and I don't see it going away real soon because of its established professional base. DV is linear, so I don't view that as a major issue. I definetly need battery power and a lighter unit in the field than a HD recorder. I also prefer 48KHz audio. None of these are perfect, but I'm leaning towards DAT.

Jeff -->>>

Jeff,

I am also looking strongly at DAT. My current sound capture device is a MiniDisc, which works great. The problem is that my MiniDisc is old and instead of updating it, I would prefer to get a new system. I missed out on a great deal on eBay, which had an entire audio DAT system put together. So now I am waiting for another one to appear.

What DAT models are you considering?