MiniDisc Recording Comes of Age
I wasn't bowled over by MiniDiscs when they first appeared. I heard there were some audible artifacts of the compression technology which kept these pocket-sized marvels from being a true match for CDs. And the price of the MD machines was more than I wanted to spend. Just the other day however I managed to score a Sony MZ-R37 portable MD recorder at an online auction and I'm here to say -- jump in everybody the format's fine! The truth is I'm not about to replace my CDs or cassettes or equipment. But I'm a semipro drummer who wanted to get digital quality recordings of rehearsals and jam sessions in a pocket-sized unit. Well all I can say is -- if there are any audible deficiencies of the MD format I can't hear them and as a musician my ears are pretty good. Although I haven't made a live recording of my band yet I have been making test recordings all weekend dubbing CDs of demanding acoustic music like the David Ware Quartet. The MZ-R37 makes and plays back superb recordings that I cannot distinguish from the original CDs; this despite the fact that I'm not using the digital optical hookup available (cord provided). I hear no hiss wow or flutter no glitches between selections and all instruments are present and accounted for and sound the way they should. There are no problems with the azimuth misalignments I constantly encountered with cassettes. Recordings of electronic music sound superb too; the Beatles' "Come Together" sounded awesome! I did discover two things I have to get used to with the MD format. The first is the necessity of using the "END SEARCH" button if you have been listening to a recording before you resume recording; otherwise songs get split in half and weird sequencing events occur. The second is to remember not to push PAUSE before pushing STOP at the end of a recording; every time you push PAUSE on the MZ-R37 it adds a track number. I'm so used to doing that on a cassette deck so as not to introduce a glitch onto the tape between songs. I also discovered that you can make a better recording by overriding the automatic gain control and pumping up the volume so the peaks hit the top element in the display. In terms of things I would change on this unit I wish the buttons were a little bigger; my old fingers don't always have the easiest time zeroing in on the button required for a certain function! And I wish the MZ-R37 had a back-lit or electro-luminescent LCD panel you could see in low-light conditions. I predict I'll be pulling out my pocket flashlight on more than one occasion to check levels and disc run status! And some sort of carrying case would have been a more welcome inclusion with this package for me than the cheapo headphones or optical cable included. Live recordists will need a stereo microphone too one that draws power from the mike input; for sound quality compactness and affordable price it's hard to beat Sony's PC-62 or its successor if there is one. And that pretty much sums up the Sony MZ-R37 MD Recorder itself too!More detail ...
0 comments:
Post a Comment