Minidisc mic for recording live music..which is better?

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:30 pm

trying to decide which to go with for use with a minidisc recorder - the sony electret condensor mic or ECM-MS907. The first is much smaller but not digital, which is appealing, but I'm wondering if it would record well. Thanks!

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:11 pm

I can only assume that by the "Sony electret condenser mic" you mean a mic that came with the unit(No model #)?. Maybe it's a "mono" mic?

An electret condenser can often run on an internal battery and needs no "phantom power" which must be supplied, otherwise, from something - maybe your recorder? Anyway, can make no further comment on THAT mic - not enough info.

The mic of the quoted model number, however, with a quick web look at it is a "stereo" mic(Possibly also an electret?), all in one unit. Positioned near the center of or at least aimed at the "action", as it were, a stereo mic might give you some stereo effect? This mic is NOT "digital", perse, at least from my quick read of it..? It is stated to have "wide frequency range for digital recording" -- not the same as the mic, itself, BEING "digital"...

A true digital mic would have an A/D converter "onboard" to convert the analog pickup of the mic into a digital signal, to be run directly into a digital input on a digital recorder...

A mic of spectacular quality(To say nothing of any possible benefits to a digital mic?), is not neccessary for recording on a mini-disk, which is already a "compressed" format(Which, by design, loses some resolution but saves "space" on the recording disk, so as to hold more tunes - like an .mp3)...

Again, for recording live music(Though I hope you don't plan to go to concerts and "pirate" record! Someone will take your mic AND recorder for doing that, and justly so!), I believe I might prefer a stereo mic...

TG

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:14 pm

I hate to be a grouch about this, (and I actually own a Sony Minidisc recorder and perhaps the mic in question, which I like a lot), but....

This is not a Pro Audio question; if anything, it should be in the home recording section or the home/project studio forum or budget gear.

I'd suggest you repost this over there, maybe you'll get a better response on this question. Thanks, and good luck.

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:34 am

Thanks for the reference, JoeH. I actually did repost this in live recording. sorry- new to the area.
TG, I am using the combo solely to record band practices and gigs, so no worries about pirate recording. By the way, some bands do allow this- you just need to check the band webpage before going. Thanks for the notes about the mics.

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:50 am

Sony border on misrepresentation when they bill their microphones as "digital". What they mean is that they are analogue microphones suitable for use with minidisc and other digital recorders.

There are several issues to consider:

* Sound quality: obvious, but generally the more expensive, the better quality.

* Size and weight: consider hand-held vs tieclip

* Stereo image: does the mic have an L-R pair of capsules or does it use the mid-side (MS) system that usually gives a better stereo image?

Most of the low to medium price single-point stereo microphones (including the MS907) use electret capsules, where the plates have a permanent static charge but the internal FET follower needs a volt or so of power in order to work. This can either come from an internal battery or from the recorder ("plug-in power").

Of the Sony MS range, the MS907 is adequate, but the MS957 is much better. If you want a tieclip type, consider Vivanco, but avoid Yogi (noisy). Vivanco is more common in Europe than in the US, but they are distributed in Canada when I last checked.

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:00 am

Wow, I'm starting to like this board. You all know your stuff. I think I'm going with the much smaller ECM-DS70P, as there's some evidence for it not being a "single-point" mic. Boswell - Would this have anything to do with the L-R capsules?

p.s. - I'll redirect to here..might be a more apt forum Thumbs Up

http://www.recording.org/ftopict-36886-.html

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:03 pm

"Single-point" is a general term describing microphones that attempt to give stereo L-R field coverage from a single housing. They might do this using two capsules, one for the left field and one for the right, or they could use a mid-side (MS) system combining the outputs arithmetically, as mentioned before, or there are other techniques.

The ECM-DS70P is a fancier version of a stereo tieclip mic, and gives reasonable results for its size and price, but its stereo image is not as good as an MS system microphone. Its big drawback is conducted mechanical noise when plugged into a minidisc recorder (particularly Sonys), but that is easily circumvented by using a short minijack stereo plug-socket lead.

Good luck with the recordings!

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