Chip McDonald Posted November 18, 2001 Share Posted November 18, 2001 So, I splurged and bought the dreaded Portable Minidisc Recorder. I needed something to record jam sessions with - since you can't buy jamboxes with built in mics anymore. Grabbed a set of cheesy Rat Shack $33 mini omnis. They work surprisingly well, not a lot of top but fairly neutral sounding. So, I'm standing out in a field in a rural part of the outskirts of town 3:00 am.m. with some friends, having successfully evaded the dreaded deer dogs and having found one patch of land relatively unpolluted by light. The idea being to see the Leonids in action... You can hear all of these dogs off in the distance, but we're actually away from the usual background din of traffic, planes and such, so I think "hey, let's see what this sounds like on the minidisc". I stand there doing my rough approximation of a head-size spaced pair with the ommnis, trying to capture the Sounds of Canine Exuberance from Afar. Which worked amazingly well, although the noise floor is too high. However, I also managed to capture: The sound of one friend "watering the field" around the corner of the car, and the guffaws ensuing from this inadvertant discovery. The sounds of nature combined with sudden "WOW... WOAH! Did you see that one? WOW" over and over, which is tremendously hilarious out of context. Various "shhhhhh! Wait.. Listen.. Did you hear that?" as visions of Carl from slingblade pops up out of the field and says hi... again, hilarious out of context. Myself explaining in typically dry stentorian manner why we saw a series of meteors appear in the same part of the sky, realizing yes, I do sound like Spock sometimes. Hilarious out of context? Er... Listening to a conversation about "take that road there... no, that one.. look, the sky is darker that way.. no, over there... WAIT.. Try that field there where the bloody upside down crosses are hanging, next to the old man with the sickle...yeah, that looks like a good place" The best part: Just about everytime a "Good one" appears... I'm looking the wrong way. I turn around to see a tail disappearing "did you see that one????" "No... Nope... I was just looking there..." Only I have such bad luck I can miss a Cosmic Scale Event. The meteor shower could have depicted the entire Girls Gone Wild tv commercial up in the sky and I would have missed it. Unbelievable. What I did see what very neat (not anywhere *near* as neat - or intimidatingly surreal - as comet Hyakatake), but the minidisc recorded a night of some creepy dog howls while some friends stood in a field in the cold - and captured how entertaining it was. Paid for itself. Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted November 18, 2001 Share Posted November 18, 2001 minidisc rocks. (though the sony i had sucked for live music 'cause of the way the rec level setting was. exchanged it for a sharp which was more flexible) now, i can't live without it. -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted November 19, 2001 Share Posted November 19, 2001 Yeah, I don't like the auto leveler thing on mine, but its still a great little tool. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted November 19, 2001 Author Share Posted November 19, 2001 The thing is that it defaults to it and it's not very clear that the compressor is on. On the other hand, if I'm going to use it in an environment where it would halfway "count" (I don't know what that situation would be) I can switch it off. Having it there makes it convenient for quick "turn it on and forget about it" use. I bought it (Sony Rz700; really the only thing available where I live that records) because I needed something to record jams with, and it's perfect for that. Take it to gigs and leave it running, if something happens, cool, you've got a little documentation of it. If not no biggie, because they're so portable and easy to deal with. My only major quibble is that if you jostle mine you get weird Trent Reznor sounds after the fact, like it has only rudimentary shock protection. They could have made the limiter-off/recording level feature easier to get to, but they're apparently underestimating how many people are using them for recording. Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfjunkie Posted November 20, 2001 Share Posted November 20, 2001 hey chip, you know they make [i]video[/i] recorders? i've never heard about someone documenting a meteor shower with an [i]audio[/i] recorder! seriously (or unseriously...) i've had similar fun with my SHARP 702. i have yet to get a good mic for it, but the clip-on condenser from an old aiwa cassette recorder works great, and it's inconspicuous. clip it under my collar, recorder on/hold, go for a walk. great random stuff- dogs, cars, surly convenience store clerks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masternfool Posted November 20, 2001 Share Posted November 20, 2001 I actually just recorded a pre bid meeting (not ebay) with ours, great except for the air conditioning rumble. But thats better than rumble and tape hiss. I used to do wedding videos and I would throw one up on the alter and let it run and later edit the vows in to the video...Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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