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Re: Preventing Thunder Distortion

Subject: Re: Preventing Thunder Distortion
From: "Curt Olson" flipov411
Date: Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:06 am (PDT)
Guy wrote:

>> 1) Close thunder is REALLY LOUD.  If you have your sensitivity turned
>> low enough to not rail/clip/distort close thunder, you're going to
>> have near silence between the thunder hits.
>
> Believe me, I know that close thunder is really loud.  Ironically, one
> of the best recording I've got is of a really loud thunder clap that
> sounded right overhead.  That one didn't clip. The clipping problem I
> had was on thunder that was a bit further away and far below the level
> of distortion according to my 722 meters.  That's what confounds me
> and makes me wonder if it's a mic overload issue.

I've pondered this same question myself.

I managed to capture a clean thunder recording last year, directly
overhead. I figure it was a rare circumstance that might not happen
again for a long time, if ever...

http://www.trackseventeen.com/media/tsp/050809-thunder.mp3

Since then, with thunder occurring a little further away, I've gotten
lots of distortion, just like you report -- even when meters on the
recorder are showing plenty of headroom. I'm guessing the problem must
be mic overload. Of course, more gentle rolling thunder is much easier
to deal with...

http://www.trackseventeen.com/media/tsp/060508-thunder.mp3

Curt Olson





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