Topic: Need some good (stealth) mics

[Brennan]

Ok, so what you guys are saying is it's a tossup?

If I have $1200 to spend I can grab a couple AT853's. If I have maybe $200 I should go with CA?

[Arni99]

yesterday i used my mz-rh1+bbox+mm-hlsc-2 sennheiser cardioids for taping a small club blues session on line-in.

i used manual level control and pushed the levels up to -2db to 0dB at 28/30 on my manual gain control.
at a big indoor arena 15/30 is a good point to start with using the mz-rh1.


at the same time i taped with my iriver and the sp-cmc-8 cardioids and the result was much worse than the sony mz-rh1+sennheiser combination, which had more bass and generally more power behind...almost sounds like a soundboard recording compared to the rockboxed iriver h140+sp-cmc-8 card+bbox.

the mics where placed 1cm from each other on the left and right side of my jackets collar, so this should be a good comparison.

now i´m a bit confused because actually the iriver was my favourable recording device until yesterday....

could it be that the A/D converter of the sony HI-MD recorders are better than the irivers H120/H140s A/D?

[poorlyconditioned]

yesterday i used my mz-rh1+bbox+mm-hlsc-2 sennheiser cardioids for taping a small club blues session on line-in.

i used manual level control and pushed the levels up to -2db to 0dB at 28/30 on my manual gain control.
at a big indoor arena 15/30 is a good point to start with using the mz-rh1.


at the same time i taped with my iriver and the sp-cmc-8 cardioids and the result was much worse than the sony mz-rh1+sennheiser combination, which had more bass and generally more power behind...almost sounds like a soundboard recording compared to the rockboxed iriver h140+sp-cmc-8 card+bbox.

the mics where placed 1cm from each other on the left and right side of my jackets collar, so this should be a good comparison.

now i´m a bit confused because actually the iriver was my favourable recording device until yesterday....

could it be that the A/D converter of the sony HI-MD recorders are better than the irivers H120/H140s A/D?

My opinion is the ADC in the IRiver/NJB3 is not that great.  OK, but not great.

Furthermore, the Minidisc allows proper analog gain control.  You can use loud (line level) signals or quiet stuff.  I'm quite impressed with the quality of this.  Also, my experience is that the ATRAC compression (HiMD, newer models) is pretty good.  Certainly the limiting factor will be the mics on input.

  Richard

[Jacob]

yesterday i used my mz-rh1+bbox+mm-hlsc-2 sennheiser cardioids for taping a small club blues session on line-in.

i used manual level control and pushed the levels up to -2db to 0dB at 28/30 on my manual gain control.
at a big indoor arena 15/30 is a good point to start with using the mz-rh1.


at the same time i taped with my iriver and the sp-cmc-8 cardioids and the result was much worse than the sony mz-rh1+sennheiser combination, which had more bass and generally more power behind...almost sounds like a soundboard recording compared to the rockboxed iriver h140+sp-cmc-8 card+bbox.

the mics where placed 1cm from each other on the left and right side of my jackets collar, so this should be a good comparison.

now i´m a bit confused because actually the iriver was my favourable recording device until yesterday....

could it be that the A/D converter of the sony HI-MD recorders are better than the irivers H120/H140s A/D?

Now I wonder how A/D converter on HI-MD machines compares to Edirol R-09. I'll be testing HLSC-1 with custom bbox running line in on R-09 this weekend. Can't wait to compare result with OKM-II Rock Studio / HI-MD combo.

[poorlyconditioned]

yesterday i used my mz-rh1+bbox+mm-hlsc-2 sennheiser cardioids for taping a small club blues session on line-in.

i used manual level control and pushed the levels up to -2db to 0dB at 28/30 on my manual gain control.
at a big indoor arena 15/30 is a good point to start with using the mz-rh1.


at the same time i taped with my iriver and the sp-cmc-8 cardioids and the result was much worse than the sony mz-rh1+sennheiser combination, which had more bass and generally more power behind...almost sounds like a soundboard recording compared to the rockboxed iriver h140+sp-cmc-8 card+bbox.

the mics where placed 1cm from each other on the left and right side of my jackets collar, so this should be a good comparison.

now i´m a bit confused because actually the iriver was my favourable recording device until yesterday....

could it be that the A/D converter of the sony HI-MD recorders are better than the irivers H120/H140s A/D?

Now I wonder how A/D converter on HI-MD machines compares to Edirol R-09. I'll be testing HLSC-1 with custom bbox running line in on R-09 this weekend. Can't wait to compare result with OKM-II Rock Studio / HI-MD combo.

This would be a welcome comparison.  My impression is that they are similar, but of course the Edirol R09 is *much* easier to use, both controls and transfering to computer, and of course, it can record uncompressed for long times.  I still would not abandon MD though.  They have less noise for quiet shows/low output mics than the Edirol.  Plus nothing wrong with having an extra recorder around for a backup, or for SBD recordings.

  Richard

[Jacob]

This would be a welcome comparison.  My impression is that they are similar, but of course the Edirol R09 is *much* easier to use, both controls and transfering to computer, and of course, it can record uncompressed for long times.  I still would not abandon MD though.  They have less noise for quiet shows/low output mics than the Edirol.  Plus nothing wrong with having an extra recorder around for a backup, or for SBD recordings.

  Richard

Actually I still keep my old MZ-R30 MD recorder I've had since fall 1997. It works impeccable.