A couple of weeks ago I did my first test recordings with the Nagra
ARES-M, their little hand-held. (The big hand-held that Martyn bought
is the ARES-PII+.)
The first test I did
<http://www.dandugan.com/downloads/Nagra%20ARES-M%20tests/sys%20comp%20EM23.MD--Nagra.Nagra.wav>
was comparing two completely different recording systems in the same
environment. The location was the maintenance yard of Muir Woods, a
couple of hundred feet from Redwood Creek. The time is midnight,
quiet except for the creek and probably low-frequency rumble from the
ocean a mile away.
The first twenty seconds is my Telinga EM-23s, shoulder-mounted, into
my Sharp MD-MS722 recorder, level MIC L 15. The second twenty seconds
is the Nagra ARES-M with its stereo mic that clips on top, supposedly
the low-noise version with Sennheiser capsules and marked with a
green band, supplied foam windscreen, record level 102 dB (I think
that refers to the SPL for 0 dBFS). The levels between 250-500 Hz
were matched in post, and the Telingas were equalized with a curve
that I use to flatten them.
Clearly the Nagra system isn't up to this quiet an environment.
The second test compares just the recorders with the same mics:
<http://www.dandugan.com/downloads/Nagra%20ARES-M%20tests/rec%20comp%20EM23eq%20MD--Nagra%20M.wav>
I was a Cathedral Grove, about 70' from redwood creek, at dawn. The
first twenty seconds is the EM-23s, shoulder mounted with fuzzy
windscreens, into the Sharp MD, same settings as above. The second
twenty seconds is the same mics into the mic input of the Nagra
ARES-M, I think at the same gain as above. Levels matched in the
octave between 250-500 Hz, both samples use my EQ curve.
I can't hear any difference. On an analyzer I can see the wider
bandwidth pick up when the sample splices to the Nagra. In this quiet
place the output of the EM-23s appears to be self-noise above about 9
KHz on both recorders. If you look at it on an analyzer you can see
the noise slope sharply up at the top end due to the EQ I have
applied to compensate for the mic's high-frequency roll-off.
Summary: Best version Nagra-M supplied stereo mic is too noisy for
quiet ambiences. Mic pre is at least as quiet as Sharp MD-MS722,
making the recorder suitable for quiet ambiences with appropriately
high-output & quiet mics. Wider HF bandwidth of Nagra might be
audible to young ears.
-Dan Dugan
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