Topic: Need some expert help with this recording.....please

[Brian Skalinder]

I connect my md to pc using a lead that plugs into my md headphone socket.Then the other end of the lead plugs into my pc's mic socket.

This is the source of the hiss.

Ideally, you want to send the data from your MD to your PC purely in the digital realm, for example an optical connection between MD and PC.  Though odds are your MD doesn't support this, and you'd likely need a soundcard on the PC side.

In the case you outlined above, you're taking the digital signal stored on your MD, converting it to analog through the headphpone output (which may or may not be decent quality), then sending it in through your PCs definitely crappy mic-in and re-converting to digital with the PC's crappy analog-to-digital converter.  The mic- and line-in and the analog-to-digital converter built into stock PCs generally stink, hence the hiss.

If you don't have the budget to pick up an MD recorder that outputs optical, and a soundcard that will receive the optical signal - and not everyone does, no biggie - Roving Sign made some good suggestions on  how to maximize your quality using the gear available to you.

[pepper]

Thanks for pointing a few things out brian

[pepper]

Here is a sample song from the first set of this gig,imo its better than the second.Im hoping with a bit of work, the first set of the gig will be quite nice.It might fall short for a lot of peoples ears,but i used to use a walkman for recording and this sound a lot better to me.

      http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3447771&q=hi

[Roving Sign]

Very nice - who is the artist? You?

[pepper]

I know it aint perfect but its better than some ive done.The artist is called amy wadge( pronounced wodge).She a singer from the uk.

[pepper]

I have redone it again using magix audio,and it sounds better now as i had plenty of vol on my md when transferring.I dont think the second set can be saved as its still too low even with full vol on my md.Guess il just have to put this down to a bit of a bad experience.

[M]

I have encountered this problem before while using the line in on my mz-nh700 at a quiet acoustic concert.  I'm pretty sure the problem that both of us encountered was the music was not loud enough to drive the line in at an acceptable level.

I believe the md unit you have is the mz-r700 the unit that came before the mz-nh700.  The latter is a hi-md that records in a different format, has optical usb output & a lowsens mic pre that would eliminate your problem.   I own both units.  I have made analogue transfers from my mz-r700 that sounded very much like the master (with no sign of hiss) although I was using the line in on my soundcard instead of mic.

If you are using the mz-r700 I would recommend getting a recorder that has a mic pre that has a low sens option so you would have this option when the music source is not loud enough to drive the line.  When I was using this recorder I used a low sens mic to make up for the lack of  a low sens mic pre.

But other than for quiet concerts go line in.

[pepper]

Nice ( in a way) to hear from someone whos been there and had the same problem.I was about 15 feet from the speaker,so im assuming the distance wasnt the problem.Anyway il know better next time if i record anymore acoustic shows.

[M]

I was very close aswell.  My tape dosen't sound quite as damaged as yours but I did use the next gen recorder and I suspect the music was a bit louder.

Here is a sample of what I got on my tape.

at943o > spsb6 > mz-nh700@pcm > digi transfer

[pepper]

Yep,yours still sounds better than mine.

[M]

Does the master md sound signifigantly better than the recording transferred to your pc?

Try using sp some time.  Your recordings will sound more full.

[pepper]

Ok i might just try sp,i normally use lp2 so i can fit all of it on one disc.Yes the master md does sound a bit better.