Just returned from a chamber music student concert, where the guy who as supposed to record it semi-professional did not show up (or was not informed or something). I pulled out the sony and the mini tripod and recorded the show on its internal microphones.
Following observations:
- the microphones are not well matched (a few db off), can be fixed in post, though
- they are quieter then I thought - the humming of the light bulbs in the venue was much more present then the pink noise of the mics
- the wheel-style input volume adjustment is a real plus! much more comfortable then pressing some buttons noisily to fix the volume (also I had the chance two times to very slowly adjust the volume during a recording)
- the limiter is excellent, so are the green light / red light input lights that gave me a good idea of where the levels are/should be while sitting a 2 feet away from the recorder.
- rather unusual: hitting the pause button did not start a new track but simply paused in the track
I just listened to the recording and have to say it turned out quite ok (I do not feel ok about posting the recording, should have asked the players before...)
Again - under better conditions I would have the mixpre, my studio projects etc, but I was glad to see, that the machine can actually used by itself in a sort of better then nothing situation.
Overall: I am glad I got this little "snap-shot" camera, now I have to wait until I get my mixpre and the microphones back to see if it works well with them as well ...