Hi David,
First to make things clear: I don't consider myself in any way a
technical expert on audio recording.
That being said, I did a little test recently where I played some
white noise through a speaker and recorded it with my PMD670 set at
different levels. I then opened the resulting waveform in Audacity and
paid attention to the levels while playing it back. From what I could
tell, the gain increase is fairly linear between 1 and 8. Somewhere
between 8 and 9 it pretty much maxes out. I also notice that below 1,
one channel cuts out completely around 0.5.
For most of my recording earlier this spring, I electrical-taped the
dial at 6: it seemed a happy medium. But I'm not sure what's actually
best for sound quality.
-John Hartog
--- In David Martin
<> wrote:
> John -- I found it interesting you were using level settings from 7-10
> with the PMD670. I don't have much additional gain at settings over
7 with
> my PMD670, and I was wondering how much gain you get in the 7-10
> region. Although I don't often have a quiet enough background to
worry
> about electronic noise, I rarely record with the level setting over
5 or
> maybe 6, because I have heard what I think is self noise of some
kind at
> higher level settings. (I'm using MKH series mics). I don't have
enough
> experience to know what the source is, and I have never tried to
analyze
> the problem. Just used my ears.
>
> -- David
>
> At 07:08 PM 7/31/2005, you wrote:
> >Last weekend I returned to the Aldrich Mountains: this time we stayed
> >at Deer Creek Guard Station. One nice thing about this forest service
> >cabin (and also the one at Murderers Creek) is no electricity. The
> >lights, refrigerator, and stove run on propane, which does make some
> >noise but nothing like the annoying hums and buzzes that come from
> >electrical devices.
> >
> >Just after dark I went out on a walk listening for owl sounds, but I
> >didn't hear any. A little later as the nearly full moon rose from the
> >trees and illumined the meadow, a coyote began beckoning others to
> >join in chorus. In this recording there are two coyotes, some
> >crickets, and a mystery bird - any takers? (1.6MB) (PMD670 full gain,
> >NT1-As at 60deg and with barrier):
> >
> >http://www.rockscallop.org/ear/jh-050722-nightcoyote.mp3
> >
> >For Rob Danielson's comparisons of recorders and microphones, he
> >requested examples recorded at full gain. For the PMD-670, the maximum
> >gain is an unimpressive 45dB. Here's a 30 sec example at dawn at full
> >gain.
> >
> >http://www.rockscallop.org/ear/jh-050723-0424_rl10-60dg-b1.mp3
> >
> >Here's another short example with the levels set at 7 out of 10.
> >
> >http://www.rockscallop.org/ear/jh-050723-0521_rl07-60dg-b1.mp3
> >
> >Here's another example (PMD670 set at 7) of coyotes joining in chorus
> >around 5:30 am.
> >
> >http://www.rockscallop.org/ear/jh-050723-0526_coyotechorus.mp3
> >
> >Any comments, questions, or suggestions are welcomed.
> >-John Hartog
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >"Microphones are not ears,
> >Loudspeakers are not birds,
> >A listening room is not nature."
> >Klas Strandberg
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
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