MiniDisc use in Music Education

I have used the Core Sound mikes several times now with the MZ-R50. I must say that I am totally enamored with the combination. These mikes are actually so good that I cannot make fine recordings in most of the rooms on campus - they are just not quiet enough and these mikes pick it all up. I am, in fact, thinking of asking for a separate battery box which has a bass roll-off installed for just these occasions when there is low frequency rumble it is too loud (air conditioning, truck rumble, etc.) The mikes picked it all up. On the other hand - in my concert hall where I play with the Nashville Symphony it is great to be able to hear ALL of the bass drum and tympani sound.

I was able to set up the Core Sound mikes at the conductor's podium after one of our major concerts with the orchestra. I was interested in hearing how I sounded to the conductor - It was a wonderful experience because it was so accurate. The sounds of a few people still in the hall and the sounds of a stage hand walking across the stage were so realistic in the playback that it was a little scary. I still can't believe that such small equipment (mikes and MD) can produce such excellent and sonically faithful results. I have recorded the orchestra from the house feed and that was excellent. I have recorded my trombone choir and that was faithful. I have used the MD and Core mikes in lessons and during playback have been able to turn to my students and say, "That's what you sound like!" Wonderful tools.

Yes, there is some slight noise, but if the gain is adjusted properly it is literally below the noise floor of what you are recording. I thought it would be a problem for the type of music I record, but it is not.

One last experience - My spouse is a violin teacher and my daughter plays violin. I recorded my daughter on the MZ-R50 with the Core mikes and carried it into the next room to play it back on my Sony 510. During playback my wife yelled at my daughter to stop playing and put her violin away. My daughter and I started laughing and my spouse was amazed at the clarity and accuracy of the sound. She is sold, I'm sold and every one of my professional colleagues is thinking about MD and Core as a possible mini-recording studio for study and travel. I don't limit it to that. I will be using it to record all of my concerts, recitals and master classes/lectures from now on.

Lawrence Borden
Lawrence Borden
Principal Trombone, Nashville Symphony Orchestra
Assistant Professor of Trombone
Vanderbilt University, Blair School of Music
Coordinator: Music Cognition Research Group at Vanderbilt
Updated 14FEB98
Author: Lawrence Borden
Editor: N C Boyde [email protected]
© Copyright 1997 1998 Lawrence Borden, N C Boyde

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