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Recording & Mixing Techniques 19
MD4—Owner’s Manual
4 Recording & Mixing Techniques
This chapter explains MD4 recording and mixing techniques.
Recording a New Song
The NEW REC function is used to record new songs on a disc. Songs are recorded sequentially,
as shown below. With a blank disc, simply pressing the [REC] button engages New Record
mode. For a disc that already contains some songs, however, you must first locate the Blank Top
area of the disc, as explained below.
Searching for the Blank Top
“Blank Top” is the top part of the largest unrecorded area on a disc. To locate the Blank Top,
press the [ ] button repeatedly until BLANK TOP appears on the display. When the BLANK
TOP is located, MD4 is ready to record a new song.
Since nothing is recorded at the BLANK TOP, you cannot use the Play, Review, and FF CUE
functions. Press the [ ] SONG SEARCH button if you want to return to the previous song.
So long as a blank area exists on a disc, recording beyond the end of a song is possible. This means
that songs can be made longer. At the point where recording continues into the blank area, NEW
REC appears on the display. For punch in/out recording, you can select the REMAIN Time
Counter mode to check how much recording time, including the blank area, is available. For
rehearsal, MD4 always stops at the end of a song.
If you have erased a song that was in between other songs, there will be a new blank area on the disc.
Searching for the Blank Top will locate the Blank Top, that is the top position of the largest blank
area, which will be used to record the new song. The REMAIN time will be shown automatically.
If you record over an existing song, the total recording time will be the same as the total time of
the song being overwritten. If the next existing song is erased, however, the total time for the
new recording will be the sum of both songs. For example, Song 1 is three minutes and Song 2
is two minutes. Erasing Song 2 provides a total time of 5 minutes for the new recording.
Setting the Recording Mode
The following table shows the three MD4 Recording modes. Songs on the same disc can be
recorded in different modes, but you cannot change the mode while recording. These modes
allow you to use disc space efficiently. Audio quality is the same for all three modes.
Normal MiniDisc decks cannot play MD4 MD DATA discs. They can, however, play MiniDiscs
containing 2TR and MONO mode songs. When a recordable MiniDisc is loaded into MD4, the
2TR Recording mode is selected automatically. For subsequent 4-track recording onto an MD
DATA disc, set the Recording mode to 4TR. The Recording mode setting is not stored when MD4
is turned off, and it always defaults to 4TR when it’s is turned on.
Rec Mode Tracks Used
Recording Time
(minutes)
MD DATA Disc MiniDisc
4TR 1, 2, 3, 4 37 O X
2TR 1, 2 74 O O
MONO 1 148 O O
Blank Top
Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Blank Area