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Re: intro & Qs

Subject: Re: intro & Qs
From: Ken Durling <>
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:31:28 -0800
At 08:44 PM 2/21/2005, you wrote:

>Welcome Ken--
>
>Understanding the impressions of movement you can create with your 4
>channel system with your music compositions shoud provide some
>valuable clues. Acoustic settings are often less dramatic and harder
>to image with mics than what's possible with artifical panning of
>mono elements.

Agreed.  In addition much is dependent on the PB equipment's imaging
refinement and also control of listener placement.  I'm used to placing
myself very purposefully in a hall or a studio if at all possible, but most=

cannot be expected to, and the "performance' of recordings will always be
limited thereby.



>Here's one example. I made a stereo recording with 21" spaced omnis
>of a large flock of seagulls circling above me about 10-75' feet for
>about 3 minutes. Listening at home,  I noticed that my ability to
>track the bird motions in stereo was limited to 2, at most 3 birds at
>a time even though 10 or more were calling in flight at any given
>moment. My attention seemed geared to pick out only the closer moving
>birds with the rest of the birds becoming a stationary background
>plane in my mind. I would guess that the further away the birds, the
>more difficult it would be to articulate their motion.

Interesting - might it not have been more discernible with directional
mics?  I haven't done much with this, but accurate imaging requires careful=

phase control too, as I understand it.




> >   Eventually I'd like to try multiple
> >mics spaced a 1/4 mile apart or so, and at least 4-channel playback.
>
>Welcome to the ----wide----- omni club. Must be very healthy snuggies
>to pick up on both mics.


Well, not particularly, just great numbers of them!  They can be heard a
long way off.





> >
> >So I guess that's the first query - I'd love to hear some experiences of
> >recording large flocks.
> >
> >Secondly, I realize I'll need more specialized equipment sooner or later=
,
> >but currently I'm going make my first recordings with Nakamichi CM-300
> >mics,





>I've read of them being popular at one time with tapers.

What, as candle-holders??  ;-)  Or did you mean Tapirs?  Stereo snorts.
Well, when I bought them all there WAS was tape, so they've burned their
share, but seem to work well digitally too.




>Signal to Noise Ratio: "better than 50 dB"
>Sensitivity: -76dB+/- 2.5 dB
>
>These are unbalanced mics unless they were modified. They run on
>internal round 9 volts right?  There could be some issues going on
>here with the US-122's mic pre inputs. Comments anyone?

Yep, Radio Shack special orders.  Recordings through the US-122 so far
haven't been particularly problematic, although to be honest I was
expecting more gain.  I'm going out to the Valley tomorrow, so we'll see
what I get.




>naki CM-300 spec sheet
>http://www.computorney.com/nak/nak-cm300.htm
>
> >going through a Tascam US-122 audio interface onto my laptop, using
> >Samplitude recording SW.  I have cardioid and omni capsules for the mics=
,
> >I'll experiment with both, and have considered getting a pair of their C=
P-4
> >capsules - super shotgun -  from their not entirely infrequent appearanc=
es
> >on eBay.  In fact there's a pair up now.  I wonder if anyone here has
> >experience or comments on these mics.  They're excellent music recording
> >mics, I realize that probably means next to nothing for wildlife
> >applications. They are 70's technology.  I don't know much about the pre=
s
> >in the US-122, that may be another limiting factor, but they've been pre=
tty
> >good so far.
>
>I've read good reports about its a-d quality and driver stability.
>With 54dB gain, you should be set for laptop recording except perhaps
>for very quiet settings. Rob D.
>
> >
> >I've been doing a fair bot of googling other sites, and following along
> >here, so I do have some idea of what equipment I'll eventually need, so =
you
> >don't need to repeat a lot of that info unless it pertains to my particu=
lar
> >questions.  Of which I have plenty more, but I'll leave it at that for
> >now.  Thanks for hearing me out.
> >




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