My mini-disc is fighting me

Stargal

I'm trying to record my voice onto my mini-disc player, using an external microphone, but everytime I play it back, the volume is really low and I can hardly hear anything.

I've tried recording with the volume at its highest on the MD, as well as at its lowest and then playing it back high, but nothing works.

I've googled it, read the manual and nothing.

I have a radio assignment to do, so really have to get this thing working - does anyone know anything, ANYTHING that could help? Getting a bit (!) worried at this stage.

Mods: Hope this is the right forum. Looked around for a good bit, cos I don't usually frequent the techie ones, and this seemed the most suitable.

MrJoeSoap

Could be the microphone thats the problem, is there any volume control on it, or do you have an alternative microphone?

Stargal

I think the mic is ok - I got it from college and it seems pretty decent. There isn't a volume control on it, which made me think that the volume on it is set, and it's the MD that's the problem.

Stargal

Think I solved it - when I put the recording into the software that I'm using (Audacity) and fixed it up a bit, it sounded fine. Still don't know what the problem was though... very mysterious.

MrJoeSoap

Weird, but good to hear.

flogen

stargal wrote:

Think I solved it - when I put the recording into the software that I'm using (Audacity) and fixed it up a bit, it sounded fine. Still don't know what the problem was though... very mysterious.

is it definitely a mic-in? could be line-in or even an optical line-in (my MD has that, pain in the arse because I didn't realise before I bought it).

I have 2 mics too, one very cheap and one slightly more expensive (and it feels less cheap/plastic)... needless to say the cheap one works fine but the more expensive one doesn't, think I need a pre-amp for it or something.

Stargal

Seems I didn't quite fix it after all - I've been playing it back (in Audacity) and there's loads of white noise so it sounds all fuzzy

I'm using a line in (optical)for the mic but that's cos the only other option is the headphone slot! There's nowhere else I can put the mic into.

Stupid mini-disc ftl.

Soundman

Line level is generally speaking 20dB louder than mic level so having the microphone going into the line input will be quieter than it should be. The reason you are getting so much extra noise is due to the signal to noise ratio because of the way you have it set up.

What is the mic you are using? Most microphones that you see advertised for use with MD units are different to normal mics due to the fact that the ouput that they give is at line level (20dB louder) which gives a better signal to noise ratio. Basically the more signal... The less background noise...

Apologies if none of that makes sense. Just google the terms and it should become clearer. Too tired to think in layman's terms.

Bard

Sounds like your Minidisc isn't made for recording from a mic. Line-in isn't sufficient for microphone recording, as Soundman says. You'll either need a different mic (with louder output), a different MD recorder (with a mic-in port), or a microphone preamplifier (a powered box that sits between the mic and the recorder).

Stargal

Thanks for the help lads.

I've gotten a different MD now, one that has a mic-in, rather than just a line-in. Spent a loooong time last night trying to fix the other kind (slightly pointlessly, I know!). In the end I just recorded at a low volume, and I'm going to normalise it in Audacity, so that at least it's a bit louder. Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of a good bit of the white noise too, but not so hopeful about that.