Recording speech on Minidisc recorders

H

hansov

Registered User
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This could be for this forum or the one above - I'll chance it here. I need to record some lectures etc and I have a Sony Minidisc recorder. I stuck in a microphone in the line-in socket and recorded or so I thought! Nada. Is the line-in only for recording from a source such as a CD player.
 
Im not sure this would work as your bog-standard mike wouldnt be powered. If you could route the mike through an amp such as on a hifi seperates system and then out to the minidisk or even if you have a pc/laptop with a mike input it should work by then linking the headphones socket to the line in on the player.
 
Thanks car. I wasn't planning on bringing a road-crew to the lectures as well . From what you're saying a powered mike is the answer? I was using the minidisc as a small device for recording the lecture - now the 'small' adjective seems to be getting redundant!
 
Yes on the powered mike question. Are you giving the lecture or listening to one? If youre listening, then you might have a look at some of the newer mp3 players with voice recorders on them, I can vouch for the creative zen for same but Im sure youd find something cheaper. the minidisk is quickly being surpassed by the mp3 players, a lot of professionals still like to use the MDs but this is reducing.
 
Listening. Now next question - where would one get a cheap powered mike?
 
I use a bog standard cheapo computer mic to record voice to my MD player and the quality is very good. There are 2 input sockets, "Line in" and "Mic". The line in is for connecting to other devices and is also an optical input. To record from a non powered mic you must plug it into the Mic input. While recording with a non powered mic gives excellent results when the sound source is a few feet away I'm not sure how it would perform in a hall situation.
 
Oh, and I also have a Creative Zen and a Rhomba which are the business but the MD is my preferred choice for recording voice.
 
Try the Skytronic stereo lapel powered mic - You can get it in Back From The Future, Peats and even some Sony shops (and Maplins, but there it's called the Yoga somethingorother).

Has it's own AA battery box. I know people who record gigs with this setup. You may still have a very low volume level though for speech. Go into the recording setup and select manual instead of auto and crank all the way up. Might be enough. Get the mic close to the lecturer too. Best of luck.
 
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