Re: [microsound] Concert and field recording: MD a good idea?

[morning time still at work and bored <transmit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

i agree -- my only complaint about MD has been the shitty compression.  plus, 
sometimes if it's recording something very loud, it skips a little / loses a 
few split seconds of the recording.  that's a little bit weird and i'll have to 
figure out what's causing it perhaps.

the compression bothers me because i like dynamic sound -- loud peaks and soft 
troughs.  the other problem is if you use the two (left/right) channels of the 
MD as totally independent tracks, as i've done often -- that is, recording an 
instrument in each side so they can be mixed down on computer later, with 
adjustments to relative volume.  this is fine for something like a drone, but 
if you have, say, guitar in one side and drums in another, you are probably 
going to experience drops and surges in the volume which sound really shitty.  
for example, if the drums start hitting loudly, the guitar volume will 
subsequently be cut with the drum peaks.  the end result is often lurching, 
uneven, and generally a piece of shit.

but seeing as you probably don't intend to subject yourself to such traumas, 
you'll probably dig it.  i have a panasonic and it's been my friend.  i don't 
know if i'd say the same about my sony ecm lapel mic.

> If you plan to use lossy compression (AAC, MP3) on your recordings you
> should be aware that MD includes its own form of lossy compression and
> that
> repeated encoding/decoding (first MD, then MP3...) can suck the musical
> life
> out of even german schlagers ... apart from this MD is a very nice
> format.

scissors for sparrow
http://home.pacific.net.au/~transmit

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