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Re: Coloration

Subject: Re: Coloration
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 16:57:40 -0500
From: "Randolph S. Little" <>
> 
> Perhaps I missed it, but nowhere did I see mentioned explicitly what is 
actually quite obvious from the facts as stated -- that is, that the 
"coloration" is primarily in the off-axis sounds which are basically the 
background noise of the environment.  Add to this the low frequency 
cutoff of the reflector system, and you have the classic "parabola sound."
> 
> The subjective effect of faithfully capturing all the high frequencies 
of the on-axis signal while stripping away the highs from off-axis 
directions is to make the signal seem crisp yet mellow.  The crispness 
owes to the fact that the highs of the (on-axis) signal are no longer so 
masked by highs from the (off-axis) background.  The mellowness owes to 
the fact that we have stripped the harsh highs out of the background.


I'm not so sure about stripping out harsh highs. True the mic has that 
off axis characteristic, but it's being used normally at a distance. 
Where the environment has done a lot of that removal of highs.

Unless the mic has some form of baffle it's still directly picking up 
the local ambiance including it's highs, of course. That part of the 
signal has nothing to do with the reflector.

Walt




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