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Re: Getting used to mics in the field

Subject: Re: Getting used to mics in the field
From: "Rich Peet" <>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 20:43:34 -0000
I just listened to a couple of your samples and viewed the spectral 
display of them.

In general you already filter harder than I do.
My duck sample in a post below was filtered hard which I resist and 
for my work the goal is not to record a sample for use in "manmade 
created natural soundscapes".  I've done a bit of that and will be 
doing another composite soundscape this summer.  Then I do have to 
noise reduction at a 40db level to build a bite for a segment. but I 
hate doing it and I prefer to leave natural backgrounds in when 
editing species ID stuff.

What I do is rate my recordings in A,B,C,D. "A" is a recording that I 
feel is better than what I hear on large scale published CD's for 
species ID purposes.  It is a recording where I can say "Lang, I beat 
you". A "B" recording is a recording where it has defects but it is 
still in the area of being "published" and sounds of this quality are 
often published. "c" has major defects and is only offered as an 
illustration of the sound. "D" is were I am desparate and the sound 
has value but the recording isn't going anywhere.

Rich


--- In  "Laloux, Dominique" 
<> wrote:
> Walt said :
> 
> >The samples I've put up show both some of the fumbling, 
> >and some of the variation. So far they are all close recordings, 
> >I'll try for some more distant stuff to put up
> 
> Walt,
> 
> This is another very basic question -- it will tell what my current 
level of
> expertise is --, but it relates to background traffic noise.
> 
> What do you call "close recording". I know it is difficult to 
express it in
> yards or meters, as "close to" a very loud bird (or frog) is not 
the same as
> "close to" a more quiet bird or frog. 
> 
> I often find that, even when I am relatively close to a bird (about 
0-15
> meters), I have a reading between -40 and -18 db on the Portadisc 
(with the
> rec level at about 7). If I use a higher rec level (8 or 9), the 
background
> noise becomes really to evident. I then use the normalization 
feature of
> CoolEdit to push the track level to -6 or -2.
> 
> What am I doing wrong ?
> 
> DL



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