my philosophy is "SIN BOLDLY" that way when you fuck up boldly you know, and you learn from your mistakes, and or others will learn as well..
My first attempt with a DAT was when a guy working on a film left an M1 at my apartment. I didn't even know what it was -- thought it was a walkman or something. Anyway, he left it with me for about a year, so I looked it up and discovered it was a recorder. Found tapes for it... Ended up at my band's show with a vocal mic running into it. Bad recording because the mic failed (totally failed) halfway through.
Second try was with two AKG 414BULS into a mixpad then into the M1. Shoulda been fine, except one of my cables was jacked up, so I ended up with shit again.
Third try was with a cheap-o stereo mic (like $25) into M1 directly. Got the levels wrong, clipped the whole time.
Fourth try -- got levels right, accidentally set M1 on 32k, sounded like a telephone.
Then the guy called me and took the M1 back. Doh!
After that I got to try fucking up MD instead! <grin>
Chuck