Mini disc - good for field sound recording?

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:35 pm

The Marantz seems pretty nice, and 48 kHz/16 bit is probably 'good enough' for most applications - but you could get a Beachtek adapter and use it with a miniDV camera and get the same sound quality for $250 or so. I don't think the inputs are balanced, though.

Post by **mattias** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:24 pm

the maranz does have balanced inputs but it doesn't provide phantom power afaik making this feature pretty useless. this means you need a mixer anyway, in which case you can simply feed line level to any recorder. all mics i've seen used in filmmaking needed phantom power. or are you using the recorder for karaoke perhaps? ;-)

/matt

Post by **Dave Anderson** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:29 pm

Actually, The Maranz does provide line-in phantom power. There's a switch to turn it on/off.

Usually I have it on for my paticular mic. However, I turn if off when I do Karaoke.

Post by **mattias** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:32 pm

it does? i stand corrected. what do you mean by "line in phantom power" though? i'm not familiar with that term.

/matt

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:57 pm

Some condensers can take a 9V... the Marantz does have balanced inputs with phantom power. Anyway, I've now 'reconsidered' buying a flash recorder after testing my GL2's input which is fairly usable.

Post by **mattias** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:06 am

sorry, i must have the marantz mixed up with one that was referenced in a review of the m-audio. so why wold anyone want the m-audio with all its flaws if this one is as cheap or cheaper yet better?

/matt

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:13 am

The M-Audio sells for $335-400 in the US. The Marantz is $500 and larger (that matters for some people, apparently - I don't really care). Also the Marantz only goes up to 16 bit/48 kHz.

Post by **scott** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:56 pm

mattias wrote:i use a sharp md recorder. all sharps have mic inputs with really good preamps that even distort gracefully when overdriven. sort of like a poor man's limiter compared to the clipping of most. and all have manual gain that can be adjusted during recording.....
/matt

I will second the vote for the Sharp MD. Mine records beautiful sound with very little preamp noise. Another cheap route is to use a digital video camera. My Sony Digital 8 records 48 bit PCM. The only downside is no mic gain control, but otherwise it does a fine job.

Scott

Post by **T-Scan** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:26 pm

I heard Sharp is better than Sony for regular MD, but have they moved to HiMD? Sony HiMD is 16bit/44kHz with USB upload.

Post by **BonnutFilmStudio** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:27 pm

T-Scan wrote:I heard Sharp is better than Sony for regular MD, but have they moved to HiMD? Sony HiMD is 16bit/44kHz with USB upload.

I've had no problems with my Sharp MD. I've been using to record soundboard audio because I've been filming quite a few concerts recently. But I've found it's fun to play around with all kinds of audio sources. For part of this film I'm making, I'm using a flimsy 30 dollar tape recorder. Another part, I'm using the built in mic on my comp which records straight to my harddrive, and I'm even using an old wire recorder for one my films coming up. It all depends on what you're tryin to do. For somthing that's not so on the experimental side my Sharp MD has worked well and is dependable, I got it when they were big and expensive about 9 years ago, it's as if it's brand new still.

Post by **mattias** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:34 pm

T-Scan wrote:Sony HiMD is 16bit/44kHz with USB upload.

while that's a great thing i'd rather have good mic preamps and manual gain. i'm sure the himd's are better than the old sony md's though...

/matt

Post by **freddiesykes** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:52 pm

Can anyone recommend the Sony WM-D6C Pro Walkman?

Post by **audadvnc** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:57 pm

Can anyone recommend the Sony WM-D6C Pro Walkman?

I've worked with several over the years. I owned one that served about 5 years of location recording before it broke fatally. They all break eventually; although they are in sturdy metal housings, the connectors are soldered directly to the circuit boards, and the first time you jam a connetor the circuit board shatters (as I noted in another thread about 1/8" connector jacks). They also use rubber belts that wear out with age. I don't know if Sony supports repair for them any more. But it's a good sounding deck, and if you give it a good microphone or line feed, don't overdrive it, and don't use Dolby C you've got a mechanically silent audio recorder with better-than-average cassette recording quality. Film Group Products provides a Crystal Sync modification for this deck:

http://users.aol.com/fmgp/sync2.htm

If you're looking for something a bit more bulletproof (for a bit more money) the Sony TC-D5 Pro II is the field cassette deck used by National Public Radio in years past. XLR microphone connectors. I still use mine. The sound quality isn't quite as good as the abovementioned Pro Walkman, but this thing will last forever. The Marantz cassetter recorders are also highly regarded.

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:43 pm

Supposedly the newer Walkman Professionals used a glass-epoxy board that is more durable (but still not bulletproof). Interesting that you say the Walkman Pro has better sound quality than a D5 Pro...

Post by **audadvnc** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:05 pm

Glass epoxy as opposed to, say, phenolic? Glass epoxy circuit boards have been standard issue for 30+ years. They still break.

Just about any digital device will have better audio specs than a cassette deck. But a cassette is a self-archiving format, and you don't have to worry about disk crashes or fatal dropouts. You can play a cassette recorded in the 60's on your player today. Like film. That's longevity.