Bill Mueller wrote:
> Walt,
>
> What has been your experience in the use of the limiter on the HHB
> Portadisc? I recently recorded a thunderstorm and realized that I
> would end up clipping the big boomers without the limiter. I found
> the portadisc limiter to be very effective where unknown sound
> levels are expected and ocassionally occur. I am aware of the
> distortion that limiters introduce, however I also have seen the
> distortion that clipping creates. I feel that limiting should be
> used with care not to introduce pumping the sound levels (similar to
> agc) and instead used just to prevent clipping unexpected loud
> sounds.
>
> I am used to studio limiters that contain a great deal of control in
> the attack, release and ratio of the compressed sound levels,
> however the portadisc seems to work effectively in capping things
> like thunderstorms, firework displays, and the such.
In the portadisc all the parameters are preset, but preset, you get one
choice pretty much. Or at least I kind of assume it's a traditional design.
I don't use the limiter much at all. If I want limiting I'll generally
hook up the MP2 and use it's optoelectric limiting. When using the
Portadisc alone I depend on setting a large enough pad. I should really
do some more testing on the limiter. Some frogs, like the cricket frogs
put out very high energy pulses that can be a problem.
I am working on recording thunderstorms with the SASS/MKH-110 when I get
a good one to record. Those mics have sensitivity down to 1Hz, so the
low end rumbles of thunderstorms are different using them compared to,
say, my SASS/MKH-20. The MKH-110's pick up so much more rumble, that a
thunderstorm is somewhat more even in sound. You have to set the levels
lower. The Portadisc is supposed to be recording down to 10Hz, so does
not get all that's going on. Looking at a sonogram of a thunderstorm
recorded from the MKH-110's it's obvious a lot of the energy is down at
the very bottom of the frequency scale.
Way back at the beginning of this group we had a discussion about
limiters. The gist of that discussion was that limiters messed up the
sound too much. But, it's probably time to revisit the subject as there
has been so much new equipment brought out since then. My feeling is
some of the newer limiters are not that bad.
Walt
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