MiniDisc Questions
 

Hi all. just picked up a cheap Sony MiniDisc MZ-R50 recorder on my travels ... can you help me with a couple of questions?

1). The player has "Line Out" ... what (hopefully free!) PC software can I use to access the player and the sound files?

2). I'm shooting a low budget feature later this year ... I will be relying on my XM2's shotgun mic, but was wondering if I could jury rig a mic to a pole and linked into the MD recorder and have it held just off frame ... anyone tried this? Any recommendations as to a good mic to use?

Thanks,

Paul.

Is that Hi-MD? If not,you're limited to an analog capture. Audacity is good freeware to use. If it is Hi-MD, there is Sony software as well as a program called Total Recorder that was developed by a hacker and has a number of advantages. Not sure I understand your question about the boom pole. Are you trying to get away with not having a separate boom operator? That would be a very bad idea.

The MZ-R50 is not HD, it's just one of Sony's better Minidisk units. But it's a good one. If you can find one of the higher end remotes, it'll work with this unit. Audacity is quite good, but most any audio recording software will work fine with this unit. It boils down more to the quality of your soundcard than it does to anysoftware you might be using, since it's an analog transfer.

Thanks for the help so far.

Marco - hopefully we will have a boom operator with pole.

Douglas - you mentioned "higher end remotes" - do you mean a mic? Or any other suggestions as to a mic to use with this unit?

Paul.

Any mic will work with this unit, you won't be optimizing the mic to the Minidisc, but rather optimizing the mic to the shooting situation.
There's no "Gerry-rig" to this situation, it's commonly used, and there are tools to do this properly without having to resort to doing it half-a$$.

There are XLR to 3.5 mm adapters available from just about everywhere for very little cost. If the mic needs power, look at a mic that has an internal battery so you don't need a phantom supply. You might even want to look for the Velcro car mount for this unit, and you could mount/affix it to the end of the boom.

We usae several different MD recorders and players here. They work great for live show support, etc..

For recording onto a PC, well, I use a MAC and any audio recording program will do. I have Digidesign interfaces with digital ins and it works fine.

Jeff Patnaude

Douglas,
What higher end remotes are you referring to? Is there one that will allow you to start/stop record and see the meter? I would very much like to find something like that. I didn't think they existed.

line out minidsk to line in soundcard (or mixer if you use a mixer-soundcard setting). he sony minidisk has analog. MIne had spdif output so look at your model for the digital out. If your soundcard has digital connection , use them. My maudio audiophile has spid and analog.

hope that helps