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Re: Brain Filters and the price of MDs

Subject: Re: Brain Filters and the price of MDs
From: Klas Strandberg <>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:47:05 +0200
No, I don't even know if I still have it. It wasn't very nice, as such, but
illustrated the two approaches.

You don't have to do this, it's enough to imagine:

Imagine a noisy pub or restaurant, where lots of people are talking. Imagine
a stereo recording.
Imagine that you listen to it, both stereo and mono. In stereo you will hear
something of what people say, where the bar is, where the sounds from the
kitchen come. Listening only to one channel, it will all turn into a mess,
which will be defined as "noise". 

There is nothing wrong with mono, that's not what I'm saying. But mono is
different, and I think it is wise to think a bit on what "noise" is, and is not.

A friend of mine asked me to clean some of his stereo recordings, if
possible. You could hear dogs bark and people in the background. I agree
that most people would classify it as a "noisy" recording made by a "bad"
recordist. Personally, I think it was wonderful. It was so spacy,
illustrative, and also telling that this bird had it's habitat near a village.

Klas.



At 01:01 2003-10-23 -0700, you wrote:
>Is the Robin posted for listening somewhere?
>Tony Baylis
>--- Klas Strandberg <> wrote:
>> In 1982 I made an experiment:
>> 
>> I recorded a Redwing in AB stereo:
>> In the background you could easily hear traffic
>> sounds from the city and
>> airplanes from the airport.
>> 
>> When people were presented the recording in stereo,
>> with headphones, they
>> all looked happy, smiling, saying things like "it is
>> so natural, how can you
>> do this?"
>> Nobody commented the traffic sounds.
>> 
>> When presented the recording in mono (one of the
>> omnis) people didn't look
>> as happy, no smile, but they said things like "it is
>> very good quality".
>> 
>> When the recording was low frequency filtered, they
>> all said things like "it
>> is a pity that one can hear so much traffic noise.
>> 
>> So, in mono, when filtered, people took more notice
>> of the traffic. I
>> concluded that mono doesn't trigger the "brain
>> filters" good enough,
>> especially not when you have manipulated the mono
>> sound.
>> 
>> In 1995, I made a stereo recording (Telinga PRO5 +
>> stere DATmic) of a Robin
>> sitting on a car antenna at Trafalgar Square, in the
>> middle of London
>> afternoon traffic.
>> That is not a recording of a Robin, and should not
>> be judged as a "very
>> noisy recording of a Robin." It is a recording of "a
>> Robin at Trafalgar
>> Square traffic jam," and the traffic sounds are not
>> noise, but part of the
>> recording. 
>> 
>> Klas.
>> 
>> 
>>  
>>  At 00:57 2003-10-22 -0000, you wrote:
>> >--- In  Walter
>> Knapp <> 
>> >wrote:
>> >> I would love to have a sound filter for my
>> recordings as capable 
>> >as our 
>> >> brains at ignoring unwanted sound. It's not only
>> a revelation how 
>> >much 
>> >> more we start to hear when getting into
>> recording, but also a bane.
>> > 
>> >At present my field is my backyard, and even inside
>> the house I hear 
>> >calls all day long.  Since beginning recording my
>> ears are now 
>> >acutely tuned to the activity outside.  
>> >
>> >It's spring here and the trees are full of
>> birdsong.  It's getting 
>> >such that I wish I had a brain filter to block
>> birdcalls.  Every 
>> >time I hear a perfect full length paragraph of
>> song, with all the 
>> >sentences the birds utter separately included in
>> it, I get a feeling 
>> >of disappointment.  The reason being that I haven't
>> yet managed to 
>> >make the perfect recording of the perfect
>> paragraph!!
>> >
>> >On the subject of 'the perfect recorder' I just had
>> a look at the 
>> >HHb Website in the UK.  The picture of the MDP500
>> Portadisc has 695 
>> >UKPounds beside it.  This is about $1700
>> Australian, which would 
>> >seem to compare well to the price of the Sony 'top
>> of the range 
>> >NetMD' which is near $800, in the stores in
>> downtown Alice Springs.
>> >
>> >Greg
>> >
>> >Having a morning off, at home in Alice Springs,
>> Northern Territory, 
>> >Australia 
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>> >
>> >
>> > 
>> >
>> >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
>> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Telinga Microphones, Botarbo,
>> S-748 96 Tobo, Sweden.
>> Phone & fax int + 295 310 01
>> email: 
>>        
>> 
>> 
>> 
>
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Phone & fax int + 295 310 01
email: 
       




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