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Re: bass rolloff question and "head room"

Subject: Re: bass rolloff question and "head room"
From:
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 14:01:24 EST
In a message dated 2/13/04 8:54:13 AM Pacific Standard Time,
 writes:

> This sort of problem is from a misunderstanding of
> digital recording. In analog recording you had a limited dynamic range
> available and it was very important to use all you had. In digital you
> have a dynamic range that's much greater than most environments you will=

> record, so you can allow the headroom for that bass and still get all
> the high frequencies.


Dear Walt et al,

This is a question that has been plaguing me. I record in stereo from a mon=
o
microphone so that if I have a sudden increase in volume from the subject I=
 am
recording the high trac will "Clip" or "burn out", but the low trac will no=
t.
However, I have noticed that when the "high" trac is fine and not burnt, th=
e
low trac does not seem to have the same quality. I use an HHB Portadisc MD.=

So, my question is...at what -dB will the machine start receiving too littl=
e
data to capture all the sound. When something is recorded at -60 dB once it=
 is
equalized with something recorded at -10 dB will they sound the same (and l=
ook
the same in a spectral analysis)? My experience says NO. So, there must be =
some
range of -dB where the machine is just not getting enough data to capture t=
he
sound. Any idea what this -dB figure is?

I know that the above sounds pretty unscientific and unsophisticated, but
please be patient with us scientifically impaired recordists!

My best,

John
John V. Moore Nature Recordings


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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