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Re: PMD 660 Dilemma. test recordings

Subject: Re: PMD 660 Dilemma. test recordings
From: Rob Danielson <>
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 09:53:50 -0500
Hi Rafael--
Thanks for this comparison. Interesting critters. Of course, mic
preamp noise is going to be a more of a concern when using high gain
to record low levels in the field like ambience and less of a concern
for louder sound sources.  To confirm this, I took a few segments
from your files, matched the playback levels and the results are very
close in terms of noise performance. A test at maximum preamp gain
with a very soft, hiss-free sound might reveal more.

Did you happen to notice that the mod's waveform looks almost as if a
limiter was on?  Rob D.

At 10:45 AM +0200 10/11/05, Rafael Marquez wrote:
>Dear Nature Recordists
>
>I have posted two wav files in  the "Nature Recordist's Lair"
>section of Fonozoo.com
>
>http://www.fonozoo.com/eng/rinconbioacustico.php
>
>One of two recordings made with PMD 660 under controlled laboratory
>condition.  One is a unit that was modified by Oade Brothers, the
>other one is a unit "out of the box".   I used the only model of
>microphone of which we have two units in our lab.
>
>I am very happy with the unit modified by Oade Bros which I have
>tested in the field this past summer.  the other unit was only
>purchased recently and I have not tried it yet (more comparative
>recordings
>
>The sounds recorded were emitted by a Aiwa AFB-7 self amplified
>speaker in a semi-anechoic chamber. Recordings were made
>synchronously with two microphones Sennheiser MKH 416 - P 48 U 3.
>
>I did not have time to analyze the resulting recordings (and given
>the lack of markings in the dial button of the recording gain knob in
>the PMD 660 I could not correct accurately for gain level, but from
>the first look at them it seems that the Oade-modified performs a bit
>better (but the out of the box model is far from being as bad as
>described in some messages, (perhaps it is one of the faulty units of
>early PD 660s?).
>
>Indenpendently of the comparative tests maybe you will enjoy the recording=
s...
>
>Warm regards from Madrid
>
>R
>--
>
>Dr. Rafael Marquez
>Fonoteca Zoologica, Dept. de Biodiversidad y Biologia Evolutiva
>Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC)
>Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2
>28006 Madrid
>Spain
>
>e-mail: 
>phone +34 91 4111328 ext 1257
>fax +34 91 5645078
>www.fonozoo.com
>

--
Rob Danielson
Film Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee


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