Topic: microphone cut out problems

[fuzzyt11]

Hi folks,

  I am fairly new to the site and need a bit of help. I just came back from recording a concert the other day and was just listening to it. I noticed that about 6-7 times during the recording there is nothing but silence. I am guessing that it is the microphone jack coming loose or coming out. I am using a sony HI-MD MZ-NH700 with a Sony mic as well. The sound was great except for the sound loss. I have had this happen on a couple of recordings before. I had to keep the recorder in my camera bag for safe keeping and wonder if that was the problem. Is there a way to keep the mic jack in place easily so this stops happening to me?

thanks

[boojum]

Any gimmicks like rubber bands, string or whatever will only postpone the inevitable and possibly make it worse.  Bite the bullet and get it serviced.  A local watchmaker could fix it.  A good elec tech could, too.  And there is always SONY.

[rhinowing]

are you able to replicate the problems at home? Try letting the unit run for a few hours and check if there are the same dropouts. That would indicate if the problem is with your cables/connectors somewhere or the unit itself.

[guysonic]

Not likely connector problem with BOTH channels going dead all at once; maybe stereo mic battery loosing connection if it has one.  Other than having just a bad data disc, MD decks will go to blank if there's a lot of shaking going on so the heads can't write coherent data, so the deck will mute these corrupted sections where error correction is impossible.

Also, MD write laser has ~500 hours life expectancy so maybe the laser is weak if the deck is getting old?

[fuzzyt11]

I know it is not the unit as I haved been able to do some soundbord recordings and they have been brilliant. No cut out at all. I don't think it is the mic as a few recordings have been flawless and others have the problem. I haven't tried the mic with a battery yet, it has been running off the MD power. I guess I should try that first. At the same time, it has usually been on a stealth recording so I wonder if the case is too tight for the recorder.
Thanks for the hints so far.

[stevetoney]

My first thoughts were also that it's not the mic jack and more of a write problem.  I agree with the suggestion that you should put some music on at home and do some self diagnosis to see if you can replicate the issue, including shaking the unit to see if there is some drop-outs resulting from that.

The issue may also be the media that you're writing to...bad sectors on the discs which happens all the time.  Try different media and see if the problem goes away.

Other idle thoughts that I'm sure you've already checked...
Have you checked your mics and battery box/preamp for loose connections or wires?  Maybe a wire or solder connection is on the front edge of failure?
Are there any stray on-off switches (in line with mics or on battery box/preamp) that are accidently getting bumped?

[sunjan]

My first thoughts were also that it's not the mic jack and more of a write problem. 

Yeah, I second that. If the mic pops in/out consecutively during a gig, you should be able to distinguish some jack noise just before/after the silent parts.
If they are due to bumping around in the venue, you would also probably be able to pin down when you moved or got pushed.
But is sounds unreasonable that a mic plug would pop out 6-7 during one gig, unless you're a very clumsy stealther or in the middle of a moshpit. 

So I put my money on write errors.
Like suggested, it could be the end-of-life of the laser.
Pocket lint, moisture/condensation, heat, excessive shake, physical pressure/torsion of the unit are other possible culprits. I ran into most of these myself when MD taping...

[fuzzyt11]

thanks for the suggestions. I just checked out a stealth recording from Sunday night and had the same thing...about 5 drop-outs. It was at a punk show and the floor was pretty much a mosh pit. I am guessing it is due to being shaken a bit while recording. Other than that it turns out pretty clean considering the show and a small low end mic. The problems are not happening at home so that does narrow down the cause.

thanks again