MiniDisk again

[GA Russell]

I started a thread about the Sony MiniDisk last year, but I guess it was lost in the crash.

I am planning on buying one. Walmart has one that comes with a cigarette lighter plug and a cassette adapter to use in the car.

Sony is unrolling a new one called the Hi-MD which uses its own disks not compatible with the original. The Hi-MD plays for 7 hours, while the original plays for only 1 (at the highest speeds).

The MD comes with a computer program called, I think, Sound Stage, which I have read is controversial because many users don't like it. I have seen a reference to Nero, suggesting that Nero can be used instead of Sound Stage. Anybody know?

The Hi-MD comes with Sound Stage 2, which is supposed to be an improvement. It is not clear to me if I can buy Sound Stage 2 to use with an original MD like the one sold at Walmart. Anybody know?

It is not clear to me that any of the Hi-MD models come with a jack which will allow use of a cigarette lighter plug for power. Anybody know?

The sound of an iPod is supposed to be clearer than that of the MD.

But everything breaks sooner or later, and when the iPod breaks you lose the music. When the battery of the iPod is replaced by Apple you lose the music as well, which sounds to me like they don't fix the battery at all, but merely send you a replacement unit.

Because the MiniDisks are "removeable media", when the MD breaks you still have your music.

If you drop an iPod it will probably break. If you drop an MD, it probably won't.

Those are the pro and cons as I understand them. Does anyone have experience with the MD or the Hi-MD he would like to share? Talk me out of buying the Walmart MD! Persuade me to go for the Hi-MD or the iPod (or one of its competitors, because my computer uses Windows 98 SE, which the iPod won't work on).

Thanks!

[clave]

I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but really, upgrading to XP should be your 1st step. have you checked to see if Sony's software is compatible with 98 SE? (Even if it is, you're missing out on a lot as far as things you can do with music software, etc.)

[clave]

I've been interested in MD ever since Sony 1st released it, but very reluctant to invest in it, and what i've seen so far on the Hi-MD reinforces my feelings.


[QUOTE]If you drop an iPod it will probably break. If you drop an MD, it probably won't.[QUOTE]

Maybe an iPod would break, but my Creative Nomad ZenXtra (30 GB hard drive) has taken some unexpected spills and I've had NO problems with it whatsoever. Other pros: it's much cheaper than an iPod of the same capacity, you can purchase extra batteries for it, and (I've heard) that the software that comes with it is much better than whatever comes with an iPod. Since I have no experience with the iPod, I can't verify or disprove this, but it's pretty good -- although I use prefer to use JRiver's Media Center software for burning CDs and organizing media. (This can get complicated, but I think JRiver's setup and interface are much more intuitive than Creative Nomad's, plus the typefont is far more readable.)

On the other hand, the whole notion of removeable media is nice -- but either way, you're going to spend a whole lot of time ripping your collection. it might just be easier to work with a good hard drive player...

[vibes]

If you drop an iPod it will probably break. If you drop an MD, it probably won't.

Not necessarily true. I dropped a portable MD player once, and the lens mechanism broke. However, you are right about the removable media - if your player breaks, at least you won't lose the music. I've never had a problem with the media being damaged in any way. I still have MD's I recorded back in 1997 that sound as good as they did the day I made them.

I second the recommendation about upgrading to Windows XP. Compatibility with the latest software isn't going to be the only benefit you'll get.

If you like the idea of having a "musical buffet" at your fingertips, go for the Hi-MD player. If you're going to buy a Sony and/or want to be able to fit more than the standard 74 or 80 minutes of music on one disc, you're going to have to use Sony's crappy software (never used it, but have heard tons of negative feedback about it) anyway, so why not get the player with more features?

Check out Minidisco (http://www.minidisco.com) for a good selection of MD players and accessories.

[Donny]

I'm a hi-fi buff with some excellent equipment (only because I want to hear my jazz at the highest possible quality). I pondered about mini disc for about five minutes after it first came out. I'm now on my second fullsize mini disc recorder and my second portable mini disc recorder/ player and I've got a mini disc player in my car (as well as a six disc CD player).

What a marvellous bloody machine. Not only can I record what I want off of the radio and play it in the car (and I use it a lot, as most of the radio programs I want to listen to are at a time which is not convenient ), but the editing facilities on mini disc are incredible. Record a compilation for instance and you can then delete/move/edit/combine any of the tracks. I also regularly record live sessions at my local pub with my portable mini disc recorder with a stereo mike (with the permission of the musicians) and am amazed at the quality from a machine which is about 3 inches square.

Now that Hi MD is available at a very reasonable price I've seriously considered buying one but why. Both of my recorders record at a quarter speed (not bad quality) but half speed gives you 148 minutes of recording at not far off CD quality. They advertise 40 CD on one Hi MD Disc but do I really need that and what's the quality like?

After god knows how many years of cassette recording, mini disc is like a step into the 22nd century in it's ease of use, size of disc, cost of disc (about 50 p over here, equivalent to 97 cents US) and it doesn't degrade like cassettes did.

As you can tell I'm a fan. I recently made a mini disc compilation of European jazz ( 1 disc) that lasted me a drive from London to Liverpool (over 4 hours), bloody marvellous.

PS I am not or ever have been an employee of Sony.

[Donny]

PPS

One of the problems with the Sony software for ordinary mini disc (one that caused a lot of grief for users was that you could record from the net onto mini disc but COULDN'T record onto your computer from the mini disc, a real pain, but I understand that HI MD has overcome this.

[GA Russell]

Thanks for your input Donny!

[clave]

Donny, now you've sold me on this thing and I need 3 or 4 of them!

[clave]

Check out Minidisco for a good selection of MD players and accessories.

I did (many thanks for the link, Vibes), but here's the 64 thousand dollar question:

do you or do you not use blank minidiscs with the Hello Kitty Logo?!!

http://store1.yimg.com/I/minidisco-store_1806_2381995

(sorry, I couldn't resist kidding you a bit, as I'm part of the supposed target market for those Hello Kitty! MDs, in the eyes of Japanese marketers, at least....)

[vibes]

Ooooooooh, Hello Kitty discs! Now, that is tempting. :rolleyes:

Actually, I do have some Sony blank minidiscs that came in either baby blue or soft pink. Having purchased them when I was about 21 (and being a male), I probably wasn't the target market for those discs, but so what? Slayer and all the other metal I was listening to at the time still sounded great on them anyway. :)

[clave]

Ooooooooh, Hello Kitty discs! Now, that is tempting.

I thought you'd see it my way ;)

As far as marketing targest are concerned, who knows? Hello Kitty! is suppsoed to be for adult women, believe it or not.

[clave]

Blank MDs -- suggestions/preferences?

OK guys, I got a nice Sony MD recorder/player (via Ebay) and am scratching my head over various brands of blank MDs. I prefer to have the highest quality audio possible, and feel suspicious of some of the brands that Minidisco sells. (Including that "collectable" Hello Kitty! MD.... :))

any thoughts?

[Donny]

I've tried a lot of brands, most seem to me pretty indistiguishable (and I'm a hi-fi buff) but the TDK,Maxell,JVC and Sony brands seem pretty good. I tried a TDK "Professional" one but didn't notice that much difference and it was about four times the price.

I haven't found a duff one yet and I must have about six different makes in my collection.Unlike cassettes which differed greatly from make to make, they seem to make MDs to a pretty high standard.

[vibes]

Likewise, I've tried several different brands and different media types within those brands, and have heard no audible difference between any of them. I've tried Sony, TDK, Memorex, and Maxell (I think), and don't have a preference for any of them. I wouldn't spend any extra money on media...Just buy more music!

[clave]

Thanks for the answers, fellas!

I'm suspicious of Memorex, since their blank tape is so awful, but I realize this is another format altogether.

[GA Russell]

Clave, what model did you get? There seems to be a million of them!

[Tenorman]

I generally use TDK, but that is mainly a carry-over from the tape days, plus I did get one duff Sony MD in pack I bought early on, So the Knee-jerk reaction was - ain't buying them again.

I tried the Studio TDKs and there is a difference, but only audible on my Hi-Fi MD player, not on the portable. I don't think the difference in price is worth the increase in quality

[Donny]

I've bought a hundred or so Hi-Space Mini Discs (certainly available in the UK) The best place to get them in the UK is Richer Sounds where they are 39 pence for the 80 minute version., TDK MD80 are 79 pence. I don't work for Richer Sounds, just don't like paying over the odds for anything.

[clave]

Clave, what model did you get? There seems to be a million of them!

Some "outdated" Sony model from 2 years back. it doesn't have a mike jack, but I'm not worried about that - if I like this, then I'll save and invest in one that i can use for live recording. (It's this (http://store.yahoo.com/minidisco-store/mz-n505silver.html) one. The list price was generally a lot higher than what you'll see here.)

Donny, thanks for the recs -- unfortunately, I'm in the US and am at the mercy of web retailers who jack up their prices quite a bit. Am thinking about buying from one of the UK-based stores, since their discounts (bulk and smaller quantities) seem to be much better than those offered by US-based retailers, who buy from Japan and Taiwan. (I'm sure your suppliers do, too, but the fact that Minidisc players and recorders actually sell in Europe has, I think, made sellers in your neck of the woods be more reasonable about prices -- they can afford to be, since the stuff isn't sitting on the shelf.)

[Donny]

Sorry to rub your nose in it Clave, I didn't know where you lived.

I'll look up some UK dealers for you that deliver to the States.
I'm really surprised that mini disc didn't take off in the States, although I shouldn't be as my brother-in-law from Calgary had never heard of it when he visited the UK a couple of years ago, so it's pretty rare north of the border.

I don't understand this it at all as I have found it the ideal portable and static recording medium ever AND as I've recently found out, bloody good for capturing live jazz too (albeit with a portable machine), although getting a decent balance is difficult but I'm sure this isn't insurmoutable. I'm recording a guitar, organ and drums Trio in a couple of weeks time and I'm going to get there early and set up the mike near the guitar and organist speakers, maybe this will help with invasive drums.

I used to do a lot of live jazz recording 25 years ago with a good three head reel to reel machine and the results I'm getting now with my mini disc recorder are even better. Now if I can get that balance right, I wonder if the drummer will mind me moving him out to the street.

[clave]

I'm really surprised that mini disc didn't take off in the States, although I shouldn't be as my brother-in-law from Calgary had never heard of it when he visited the UK a couple of years ago, so it's pretty rare north of the border.

I think Sony's to blame -- their marketing campaigns have been failures, ever since day 1. I don't know that it's possible to buy other brands (hardware, that is) except via internet retailers. It's as if the medium didn't exist.

[Iskra1903]

I agree with everything Donny has said. I'm a hi-fi fan but I have no problem using minidiscs for compilations etc. Editing and labelling is so easy. There is an excellent website: http://www.minidisc.org/ which has an extensive FAQ section. Amongst other things, it shows you how to get around the old NET MD upload problem.

[Donny]

Clave

The only one I could find over here that appears to deliver to the States is www.pricebuster.org.uk, e-mail: sales@pricebustetr.org.uk. With postage I don't know whether it would be any cheaper as they seem to quote by the order. They do TDK 80 at approx. US$1.24, Sony 80 at US1.42 and Maxell 80 at US$1.17. I don't know how this compares with the States.

[GA Russell]

Right now I am leaning toward getting the 510 with the car kit.

But the programs that come with HiMD such as SonicStage2 are supposed to be much better than the programs which come with regular MDs like the 510.

I haven't found anyone offering to sell those programs separately. Anybody know if they can be purchased separately?

[GA Russell]

Here's a comparison of the iPod to the cassette tape you might enjoy!

http://homepage.mac.com/danielturek/PhotoAlbum50.html

[clave]

But the programs that come with HiMD such as SonicStage2 are supposed to be much better than the programs which come with regular MDs like the 510.

i'd much rather wait a while on HiMD, as there will probably be bugs -- better to buy after they've fixed them, not before. Besides, the original MDs were pretty bad by comparison with what's available now.

I'm also intrigued by the fact that I can (probably) copy audio from concert DVDs using regular MD.

Here's a comparison of the iPod to the cassette tape you might enjoy! http://homepage.mac.com/danielturek/PhotoAlbum50.html

is that ever funny!!!!

[Donny]

[QUOTE=clave]
I'm also intrigued by the fact that I can (probably) copy audio from concert DVDs using regular MD.

I've done that using the audio output on the DVD player, however when I copied the Diana Krall Paris Concert DVD onto MD, I found the balance very strange, very much the old early stereo separated sound. When I bought the CD the sound was fine. I wonder if it was because the DVD was in surround sound.

[clave]

Donny,

Thanks for the warning on the DVD thing --although i've got a couple of concert DVDs where a stereo mix is one of the choices, and those are the DVDs I was thinking of trying. I find it a little frustrating that this isn't a normal option, as lots of us don't have home theater set-ups.

[GA Russell]

I'm not getting anything after post #22, so let's see if topping it helps.

[GA Russell]

Now it's #24, with "Error on page". Thanks for your indulgence.

[Donny]

Donny,

Thanks for the warning on the DVD thing --although i've got a couple of concert DVDs where a stereo mix is one of the choices, and those are the DVDs I was thinking of trying. I find it a little frustrating that this isn't a normal option, as lots of us don't have home theater set-ups.

My reply maybe crap as I've only tried the one DVD and I didn't even look at the mix on the DVD. If I had changed it I may not have had the rubbish result.

I could have recorded it straight from the surround sound amplifier though, switched to stereo. that may have done it.

[clave]

Donny,

could be. I'm going to try going directly from my DVD player to MD, with the mix switched to stereo. I'll let you guys know what happens. (Can't do it yet, as my recorder/player's still in transit.)

GA, a lot of people are having trouble with the BB software. I'm using Opera to post rather than IE, as none of the HTML functions are working in IE. (I wrote to xricci about it and he says lots of us are experiencing similar problems.)

[tpt1]

[B]... I've recently found out, bloody good for capturing live jazz too (albeit with a portable machine), although getting a decent balance is difficult but I'm sure this isn't insurmoutable.

I am going to buy one of those Hi MD machines with the mic input as soon as I get the money together. Mini Disk is great for live recording. I think it depends a lot on the mic you buy for it, Donny. I have heard some pretty awesome live recordings done on Mini Disk.

[GA Russell]

I went window shopping for something for my car today. Yikes!

The only unit which plays the MiniDisc doesn't play anything else.

Units which play CDs start at $159. Units which play CDs and also mp3 CDs are another fifty dollars.

Now here was the shocker. The units which play both CDs and cassettes start at nearly $400! This upsets my plan to purchase a MiniDisc 510 with a car kit.

I'm wondering now if my finances will require me to buy a copy of Nero and just make CD-r's. I really like the idea of a MiniDisc, but since I was planning on using it mostly in the car I may have to give it a pass until I have some serious money to spend on the whole kit and kaboodle.

[vibes]

Why not just connect the MD player to your stereo using an FM transmitter?

[GA Russell]

Vibes, does that work in a car? It would seem to me that the car radio wouldn't pick it up because the antenna is outside the car. If it works, then that sounds like a great idea!

[GA Russell]

Clave, here's a thread from the MiniDisc T-Board about blanks:

http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=24423

[vibes]

Vibes, does that work in a car? It would seem to me that the car radio wouldn't pick it up because the antenna is outside the car. If it works, then that sounds like a great idea!

As I understand it, yes, they do work. The sound will not be as good as a cassette adapter (for obvious reasons), but yes, they should work. Best Buy carries a few different models.

[clave]

[QUOTE]Clave, here's a thread from the MiniDisc T-Board about blanks: http://www.minidisct.com/forum/show...?threadid=24423[QUOTE]

thanks, G. A. The bit about discs with shutters is very helpful.

[Donny]

I went window shopping for something for my car today. Yikes!

The only unit which plays the MiniDisc doesn't play anything else.

Units which play CDs start at $159. Units which play CDs and also mp3 CDs are another fifty dollars.

Now here was the shocker. The units which play both CDs and cassettes start at nearly $400! This upsets my plan to purchase a MiniDisc 510 with a car kit.

I'm wondering now if my finances will require me to buy a copy of Nero and just make CD-r's. I really like the idea of a MiniDisc, but since I was planning on using it mostly in the car I may have to give it a pass until I have some serious money to spend on the whole kit and kaboodle.

I bought my Kenwood KMD 673R for my car about 18 months ago. It's a mini disc player with radio AND a six disc CD player in the boot (trunk). I'm absolutely knocked out with it. It also allows you to adjust the tone controls (treble, mid and bass) for each section. For instance I don't need deep bass for radio (on which I listen to mainly news broadcasts) but the CD and mini disc tone controls you can set differently.

OK so it cost the sterling equivalent of of US$500 but it's the best $500 I've ever spent, enabling me to hear jazz compilations or broadcasts on long journeys without having to change the disc and the facility to drive back from my jazz record shops in London and hear my new CDs on the way back.

Interestingly after I bought by car mini disc I spotted a Sony one that also records from the unit's radio, now that would have been really useful.

[Frank Mullen]

I just got an iPod with a Griffin iTalk that accepts a microphone. Can any of you tell me a) why it needs a Mike, it already is a mike and b) can you recommend a mike of good quality commensurate with the capabilities of the iPod? :confused2 :confused2 :confused2

[Donny]

I am going to buy one of those Hi MD machines with the mic input as soon as I get the money together. Mini Disk is great for live recording. I think it depends a lot on the mic you buy for it, Donny. I have heard some pretty awesome live recordings done on Mini Disk.

No the mike is fine but recording WITHOUT the drums overloading the mix is difficult. As I said I'm recording a guitar, organ, drums session on the 19th September and will put the mike close to the amplifiers to see if I can get over the drum problem. The recordings I've done so far are superb but the drums are just too loud in the mix, which is why the drummer in the recording studios is usually stuck in a glass booth. I'm certainly not anti-drummer (as a sort of drummer myself) it's just that the cymbals, bass drum and snare seem to overload the mix. Plus the bloody musicians (especially the saxists) will insist on moving around (don't they know I'm recording) (irony).

[clave]

GA,

Stick with MiniDisc; forget hard drive players! The convenience goes far beyond removeable media -- with MiniDisc, you don't have to worry about hard drive failure. (Which just hit my Creative Nomad Zen Xtra about an hour ago -- it's still in warranty, but my illusions about the durability of these things have just been shattered! Baby them all you want, they fail just like motherboards and other crucial computer components....)

[GA Russell]

Sorry to hear it clave! But I'm having doubts about the durability of some MiniDiscs as well.

I was offered one model, so I did some research on and learned that it has a bad reputation for defective optical blocks, whatever they are.

So I'm thinking now that I will buy a Minidisc at a store which will take it back no questions asked if it stops working.

[Donny]

My first mini disc recorder (full size, not portable) went wrong after four years.I bought another one. I'm still so pleased with the medium, not only can I record, perfectly from radio, I can also record live gigs (with a seperate mic). Editing is so easy, move tracks, delete, whatever. Compilations for the car player, excellent. I really can't fault the mini disc. .

I'm a giant fan. When I think of the live gigs I could have recorded in the past, at CD quality, on mini disc from the BBC radio broadcasts, I feel quite sick. I have them on cassette but the difference in quality between the cassttes and mini disc is unbelievable.

[clave]

Sorry to hear it clave! But I'm having doubts about the durability of some MiniDiscs as well.

I was offered one model, so I did some research on and learned that it has a bad reputation for defective optical blocks, whatever they are.

So I'm thinking now that I will buy a Minidisc at a store which will take it back no questions asked if it stops working.

Thanks, GA -- although I'm feeling dubious about the whole hard drive player industry right now. I've done some brief experiments with Sony's Net MD (ATRAC3 software), using the highest possible quality that the program allows, and am hapily stunned by the results. The sound (from a ripped CD, in this case Andy Bey's "American Song") is very impressive. However, the results I got from MP3s (legal) made from old 78s (Ethel Waters and others of her era) is absolutely amazing. They sound terrific; there's a great deal of depth and fullness to the sound that simply isn't there when using typical MP3 software (I've tried some of the best, too...)

So now I'm wondering if this is standard, or if my ears are playing tricks on me! The real test will come with live radio + a bit of sampling from CDs, using optical as well as analog inputs/outputs. If all goes welll, I'll be saving some $ toward the eventual purchase of a Hi-MD unit, etc. (I also feel that my used MD player/recorder was a steal at 50.00 USD, from Ebay.)

[clave]

I'm a giant fan. When I think of the live gigs I could have recorded in the past, at CD quality, on mini disc from the BBC radio broadcasts, I feel quite sick. I have them on cassette but the difference in quality between the cassttes and mini disc is unbelievable.

"A giant fan": I figured that out a while back! Now I'm beginning to understand why, and can easily imagine your reasons for preferring to record live radio on MD vs. cassette.

[GA Russell]

For those in the US (and I suppose in Canada)...Does anybody know what model MiniDisc recorder is sold at Sam's Club?

I am a member of BJ's, where they used to sell one of the 500 series, but last time I checked sold only the 420.

Has any Costco member checked to see what they sell there?

[DWBass]

Well, I just bought one of these.

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/imagesProducts/250x250/MZN420DPSGRAY.jpg

I had an old MZ-E33 portable that came bundled with a standard unit. This new unit is nice. I can put up to 5 hours of music on one minidisc! With the supplied software, you can rip cd's onto your PC's HD and then send it to the unit in either LP2 or LP4 format. It won't do the standard SP format. The sound quality is excellent in either mode. Not totally HiFi but hey, that's not what I bought it for. It came with the standard style headphones which is a nice change as many of the newer products come with the stupid behind the head or hang from the ear style headphones which is total garbage for the mature listener. This unit will not skip! No matter what I did, short of dropping it, it did not skip. For the money, $99, it's not a bad unit. At some point I will spend more for the ability to record with a mic. The only thing I don't like is the way you have to change the eq sound settings. You have to master some rather intensive button pushes but once it's set, it's set.

[Saundra Hummer]

I keep hearing recording from CD's with a mike???

Isn't there a way to record them without that process, or do they have a built in failsafe?

I know we used to record off the radio and off our tapes to another tape in the same unit, our old Pioneer which had two tape units, a radio, and a turntable. I don't remember if we could record from our vinyls, I don't think so, at least I don't remember doing it, but we could record from the radio, or the tapes. I know there are a lot of ways that have been devised to get around a lot of the new technical things designed prevent you from recording, etc. But aren't there any units out there similiar to the old Pioneer units? I know the mike wouldn't give as good a sound. Aren't there instructions out there somewhere that would tell how to jerry rig systems for recording, all without recording with a mike, but using the internal works of your players, recorders, or a combination of units? I know there are ways people have figured out how to bypass cable boxes without being on cable, our daughter knows of a fellow who does that, he has a disk, and knows how to unscramble signals or something like that. So surely there is away to record that wouldn't involve a microphone. Just curious!

[DWBass]

I keep hearing recording from CD's with a mic???

Isn't there a way to record them without that process, or do they have a built in failsafe?

I know we used to record off the radio and off our tapes to another tape in the same unit, our old Pioneer which had two tape units, a radio, and a turntable. I don't remember if we could record from our vinyls, I don't think so, at least I don't remember doing it, but we could record from the radio, or the tapes. I know there are a lot of ways that have been devised to get around a lot of the new technical things designed prevent you from recording, etc. But aren't there any units out there similiar to the old Pioneer units? I know the mic wouldn't give as good a sound. Aren't there instructions out there somewhere that would tell how to jerry rig systems for recording, all without recording with a mic, but using the internal works of your players, recorders, or a combination of units? I know there are ways people have figured out how to bypass cable boxes without being on cable, our daughter knows of a fellow who does that, he has a disk, and knows how to unscramble signals or something like that. So surely there is away to record that wouldn't involve a microphone. Just curious!Boy are you way off!! :frown2: I'm not talking about recording 'cd's' with a mic!!! I just explained that these new units come with software that will rip your cd's to your HD and from there you can send the music to your MD via USB. I'm talking about live applications. I.E. concerts, band rehearsals, sound bytes, etc. There are some units that have a mic input that will enable you to record audio on the fly. The unit below has this function.

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/imagesProducts/250x250/MZNH900.jpg

Sony MZ-NH900

[Saundra Hummer]

Just misunderstood, and way off I guess as you have so politely pointed out. I just keep hearing recording and mics, so thought that was one of the applications that was being wanted, and I am still curious about that application, way off or not.

[clave]

Sandi,

Take a look at www.minidisco.com for more info. and plenty of pictures. the medium has'never caught on in the US, unfortunately.

[Donny]

I've just done my fourth live recording with mini disc using a single stereo microphone. This time the superb young English guitarist Nigel Price and his organ Trio. Once again the drums bled into the stereo mix. The recording quality is superb but the drums are still too loud in the mix and the guitar sound was ruined to a certain extent by the organ's bass notes rattling the snares on the snare drum.

I did dozens of jazz recordings 25 years ago with a reel to reel tape recorder and two mikes and most of those recordings were much better balanced.

Any ideas guys (and gals) to how I can improve my recordings as this is really pissing me off.

I also bought Nigel's CD from him and one of the tracks was recorded live in an English pub (as mine was) and the recording was superb, so I reckon it must be my gear.

[DWBass]

I've just done my fourth live recording with mini disc using a single stereo microphone. This time the superb young English guitarist Nigel Price and his organ Trio. Once again the drums bled into the stereo mix. The recording quality is superb but the drums are still too loud in the mix and the guitar sound was ruined to a certain extent by the organ's bass notes rattling the snares on the snare drum.

I did dozens of jazz recordings 25 years ago with a reel to reel tape recorder and two mikes and most of those recordings were much better balanced.

Any ideas guys (and gals) to how I can improve my recordings as this is really pissing me off.

I also bought Nigel's CD from him and one of the tracks was recorded live in an English pub (as mine was) and the recording was superb, so I reckon it must be my gear.I guess there's no chance of getting a feed from the mixing board?! A lot of live recordings have the drummer behind a sheild to prevent bleeding into other mics and such and to control stage volume. The organist would also have to move the Leslie away from the drums. Not sure if this something you'd be in control of though. Possibly move back away from the stage or at least furthest away from the drums. The mic sensitivity is pretty high and you'd still get a good recording.

[GA Russell]

To answer my own question, a friend of mine went to Sam's the other day, and found that they don't carry the MiniDisc. They did, however, have an RCA mp3 20 gig hd player for I think $169.

Anybody know about Costco?

[Donny]

I guess there's no chance of getting a feed from the mixing board?! A lot of live recordings have the drummer behind a sheild to prevent bleeding into other mics and such and to control stage volume. The organist would also have to move the Leslie away from the drums. Not sure if this something you'd be in control of though. Possibly move back away from the stage or at least furthest away from the drums. The mic sensitivity is pretty high and you'd still get a good recording.

No, both the guitarist and the organist had their own amps and I was as far away from the drums as I could be. It's a noisy English pub and if I took the mike further away, all I'd pick up is the noisy bastards who came to talk rather than listen, the background noise is bad enough with the mike as close to the musicians as I could get it.

Never mind I'll keep trying, maybe I'll suggest to the promoter (a friend) to stop employing groups with drummers (shit I'm a drummer, what am I saying)

[Saundra Hummer]

Get on Overstock.coms mailing list, and watch them closely, and do some shopping on line, you can find just about anything your little hearts ever desired one time or another, you can't believe the bargins and for the most part it is all legitimate, although I would be very careful of online auctions unless someone has a large approval rating, not just twenty or so, as they can load that up to look good, when it's just a scam. Write to the purchasers and ask them to write to you independent of the auction, and look up their history, and the buyers history, and that helps you know if they are really buyers or shills.

The buys on Overstock.com are fantastic at times, from electronics to bathtowels. You just never know what will be popping up. One day to the next is different, and chances are you won't find what you're looking for, but give it a try and see what happens. Then just surf the web using the brand names you are interested in, it's a great way to shop.

[Saundra Hummer]

I'm don't have any of the music players you're talking about, ipod or the other one, but I am curious, as to why it is that someone would want to pay someone to download items to them, saying they don't understand how to do it, and that they don't understand those types of things. They are wanting certains songs; songs from their own collections, besides from radio. Is this a confusing thing to do, or is it just time consuming? I know of a fellow in California who is starting a small business doing this. Is it all that confusing or is it just the time that is a problem and how could anyone make a business out of this? Just Curious.

[clave]

I bought an iPod before Christmas, and I absolutely love it. If you've got a high-speed connection (and are using a service like emusic.com), downloading's not a problem -- that said, most of what's on my iPod is from my own collection.

As long as a good MP3 player works well, it's a wonderful thing for music lovers (especially people who travel a lot) and working musicians to have at hand. I've been away from home a lot lately, and I don't have to worry about carrying stacks of Cds (or minidiscs) with me -- the iPod software also works very well in terms of allowing me to dial up (literally) different versions of the same piece for comparative listening, and so on. (Although I am using other software in addition to what Apple puts out, since I found their program somewhat limiting.)

It's easy for musicians to get their work out to the public in MP3s -- either for free download or purchase -- and in many cases, out of print material is now available for download. When the original CDs are well-nigh impossible to find, that's a godsend!

So as long as my iPod keeps functioning well, I'll be happy -- though it will never replace my CD Walkman or my home CD player, come to that.

[makpjazz57]

I may try one of the newer model minidisc players/recorders. I had an older model and it was quite fragile. Actually it worked well, but the glass front cracked with minimal pressure. I still prefer my DAT for live recording - minidisc comes off a bit thin compared to DAT.

Marla

[asdf529]

I own an MD player and highly recommend them for capacity and dependability.