MiniDisc recording advice (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

I have an Aiwa AM-F70 MD recorder that has a switch to set the mic sensitivity. I notice when I set it to "high" there is a hiss and when set to "low" I don't get as strong a signal, though of course the hiss is gone. Of course at the low setting I will probably need to boost the levels, which will probably result in there being hiss. So...it seems I will get some amount of hiss regardless, so my logic tells me it's better to get the stronger level than to try to avoid hiss with an (initial) weaker level. I also have the automatic level control on, so I'm not sure if that is contributing. It's a one-person operation so I can't really monitor levels manually. Any advice appreciated.

 

[TheoGB]

What are you trying to record, though? I've only ever used my mini-disc to record gigs and in such cases the hiss was un-noticed when the music was actually being played, due to its loudness. You could always remove the hiss?

Personally I'd advise a 'test-run' in similar circumstances to the one where you're going to record and try both out, then see the difference when you fiddle with the wave?

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm doing interviews using a handheld mic. The mic is a Shure SM-58 with an impedance transformer. I did a little more testing and the impedance transformer certainly helps the situation. With the auto leveling the hiss is more noticeable during the moments of silence, but that is pretty typical of autogain circuitry. I pretty much have to yell to get the signal to peak when the mic is at low sensitivity...so I think I'll go with the high setting and using the transformer.