At 10:14 AM +0000 2/1/07, tk7859 wrote:
<snip>
>The minidiscs were set to PCM, manual record, high
>sensitivity, and recording vol=3D20.
>
>To my ear this is too much for the lightweight barrier triples (with
>these relatively close in sounds) and too little for the NT4. As well
>as the lower sensitivity the Rode also has a cardioid pattern compared
>to the omnidirectional of the triplet capsules.
>
>Cheers
>
>
Hi Tom--
The additional gain of your TriCap rig would take some time getting
used to, but I consider your field recording levels to be fine. In
fact they could be a click or two higher without detriment. There
seems to be an apparent loudness from the dominant mid range tones of
the geese calls. Human ears are quite sensitive to and quickly
fatigued by such content. Try attenuating just the two fundamental
pitches with parametric EQ and I think you'll hear the phenomenon.
Its counter intuitive, but this technique often makes ambient
recordings (played loud) feel more life-like,tonally balanced. One
question that rise is, does the TriCap rig have exaggerated upper-mid
tones?
In your simultaneous recording test between the NT-4 and your
Tri-Capsule Parallel Boundary Rig;
http://ad2004.hku.nl/naturesound/TomR/mp3compilation.mp3
after boosting the volume of the NT-4 recording 19dB to match
apparent playback volume (highly influenced by 300Hz and below on my
full bandwidth headphones) one can see the considerable difference in
the spectra:
http://ad2004.hku.nl/naturesound/TomR/NT4+19dB-%3ETriCap.jpg
The TriCap rig is much more responsive to the lowest octaves. The
TriCap is smoother, less dynamic or "bumpy" in the lower mid-range.
(The floating blue clouds half way up on the left side of the
sonogram are ~250 Hz). The smoother response of the TriCap from
100-500Hz might account for some of its better spatial imaging. One
can also note that the upper-mid and high-end response of the TriCap
rig is quite a bit lower compared to the NT-4 (and the WM61-A
capsules based on my experience with both capsules in the field).
Here's the AIFF sound file I made the above sonogram from
http://ad2004.hku.nl/naturesound/TomR/NT4+19dB-%3ETriCap.aif.
Any inordinate loudness from the TriCap rig would probably originate
from sounds lower than the geese in your recording (whose dominate
frequencies are ~1150 Hz and ~750 Hz). This is pretty evident in a
sonogram (from two locations) with the dominant pitches of the geese
on the left side and minimal ambience recorded with the same rig on
the right.
http://ad2004.hku.nl/naturesound/TomR/TriCapsGeese_TripCapsMinAmbience.jpg
Rob D.
--
Rob Danielson
Peck School of the Arts
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/~type/audio-art-tech-gallery/
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