Mini disc versus digital recorder

trasser · #1 02-28-2007, 04:36 AM

Hi guys.

I'm looking to buy some equipment to record my lessons and maybe live performances as well. Now, I've heard a lot of good things about the MD - is it really a good recorder? And is it worth the money?
'Cause I could also go for a digital recorder, which is cheaper, but I hear that the quality of recordings isn't as good as the MD, and there tend to be quite a bit of digital noise in the recordings. What do you guys think I should go with?

BaldyMcgregor · #2 02-28-2007, 05:29 AM

I personally use a Mini Disc recorder. Sounds great as long as your sound guy mixes you well for recording while you are playing live. In my experience, you MUST keep stage volume low, and let the P.A. do the work. That way, whatever is coming through the board is being recorded and every instrument is being recorded. Nothing worse than a great recording but no bass in the mix. There are other "tricks" you can do if your board has the capabilities--but remember, you can't go back later and "punch in" to fix your mistakes--so it may take you a little while to figure out all the settings to get a great recording. Once you get the levels straight, the recordings sound good enough to have a really decent demo at a fraction of the cost of a studio! Good luck

IanStephenson · #3 02-28-2007, 05:39 AM

MD is something of a compromise - it's still compressed just like the digital recorder, so they too introduce a fair bit of noise into the recording. It may be better quality than a low end digital memo-recorder, but it's still not CD quality. DAT is the best solution, but as it never really took off as a consumer format, it's expensive.

Personally I'd audition a few digital recorders - the low end ones are designed for voice recording, and do indeed suck, but there are better ones now that do 16bit stereo uncompressed (or minimally compressed) which should sound great.

For lessons it doesn't really matter, for recordings you could always drag along a laptop. For not much more than the cost of a minidisc recorder you could add a multichannel audio card.

Personally I never liked miniDisk - even Sony said it sucked in the launch press releases!

Ian

Bruce Lindfield · #4 02-28-2007, 05:48 AM

I've used a mini-disc recorder for many years now to record performances and have been very happy with the quality and ease of use.

What I did find was that the mics that come with them are generally very poor and buying a good stereo mic made a huge improvement in quality - especially on bass response.

The other thing is that it has been very "hardy" and portable - just throw it in the gig bag, set up anywhere and it works! Even though it has a few 'dings' now - it has been reliable for 5-6 years!

I've had several laptops in that time and I would never have dared leaving them anywhere near a stage!!

TL5 · #5 02-28-2007, 06:47 AM

We used them for radio broadcast for several years.

As long as you use the higher bit rates they sound great. If you lower the bit rate in order to squeeze a few more minutes of record time out of a disc the audio will suffer (IMHO).

I have both a DAT and a MD. For serious recording the DAT will be the better format. For rehearsals, reference recordings, and lessons the MD would be fine. (again IMHO, YMMV)

driver800 · #6 02-28-2007, 06:54 AM

check out this thread: Small Affordable Recorder

It's primarily a discussion on the Edirol R-09 and the Zoom H4 digital recorders, though it includes some posts on MD recorders.

brandonwong · #7 02-28-2007, 08:15 AM

I've been using the H4 for a couple of months and it tops my list among the rest.
It's been thru daily gigs, events and sometimes classical orchestra backup device. It would be flawless if it has a digital input.
Check out my fren's organ trio and hear the quality of the built in mic and device.
http://www.myspace.com/halfpastlateorgantrio

watspan · #8 03-16-2007, 06:23 PM

wow! nice work! I've got dozens and dozens of b-3 related jazz cd's and those cat's got chops! Can you tell a little about the settings you used on the H4? I'm looking into getting one myself

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandonwong

I've been using the H4 for a couple of months and it tops my list among the rest.
It's been thru daily gigs, events and sometimes classical orchestra backup device. It would be flawless if it has a digital input.
Check out my fren's organ trio and hear the quality of the built in mic and device.
http://www.myspace.com/halfpastlateorgantrio

Baleen · #9 03-16-2007, 09:54 PM

For rehearsals, I picked up a Belkin TuneTalk mic for my video iPod. It does 16/44 quality, though it doesn't sound quite as good as my Sony Minidisc. It is however much easier to deal mith than the minidisc. I record, dump tracks on the computer, convert to MP3s with iTunes and put them back on the iPod so I have them for practice or future rehearsals.

What also makes it worth for me is that I want a iPod anyway, and this way I have one piece of gear that handles recording and general music playback.

bongomania · #10 03-16-2007, 10:00 PM

I find that MD recordings tend to have a "harsh" sound and sometimes a high-pitched whine artifact (but I only hear it when using high-end headphones or monitors). However it's just fine for practice, lessons, that sort of thing.

bdegrande · #11 03-18-2007, 11:02 AM

If you need multitrack, digital is the way to go. If stereo is good enough....

The newer Hi-MD format is great, and you can get recorders on eBay in the $100-200 range new.

It can record up to uncompressed CD quality audio. MD audio recording quality has always been good (One of my MD recordings was released as a live CD), but this eliminates any compression issues, just transfer to PC as a WAV file.

It can also record to older format MD disks, doubling the record time, great for not having to swap disks in the middle of a show.

It also has lower quality modes, similar to MP3 quality. These allow you to get up to 45 hours on one Hi-MD disk, so it can do a lot of what an MP3 player can do in terms of storing a lot of audio on one disk.

LarryR · #12 03-23-2007, 03:41 PM

Gents,
Any recommendations on SD cards for the R-09?
Edirol online lists a short list of "compatible" cards. What are you guys using and what size? I do see that 4GB is supported.

Dbassmon · #13 03-23-2007, 08:09 PM

MD are really sort of anciet technology. Sure it's digital and it will sound as good as the recording source.

Some D/A converters can sound harsh but that's not a function of the MD.

I have both MD and Digital Recorder and here's the main difference....
MD still uses magnetic media... a magnetic disc which spins and has a record head. It's slow to seek, the surface of the MD is deteriorating from play wear and will eventually fail. The record head is wear and tear item and will also fail over time.

Digital Recorders have no moving parts. They have no motors or heads, no transport celinoids. Transport, record, play is all done digitally. Right there is the deal breaker for MDs.

Edirol, M-Audio and Zoom all make really fine sounding recorders.
Check other threads and the web for more info on those

FYI, I have a Zoom H4 and love it. Sounds absolutely great with 2 AKG 1000 condensors.