At 4:49 PM -0700 4/1/08, umashankar wrote:
>Many film sound recordists need to record low level signals, highly
>amplified. we dont alwys get to record dialogue from three or four
>feet away!
>
>in fact, my first experience recording bird song was for a
>documentary series. Almost forty years ago, i sat and hammered out a
>one meter aluminium dish, mounted a sennheiser md 421 at its focus
>and recorded. one session with an Uher portable recorder, and the
>other with nagra. The Uher recordings all had a hiss (except when i
>was recording the Sarus crane) and had to use a primitive analogue
>noise reduction system before i could use them. The Nagra recordings
>were a revelation. And the difference was entirely in the mic pres.
Yes, dynamic mics for everything, even shotgun mics like the DL-42.
The preamp in the Nagra 4.2 was incredible to behold after years of
hearing Uher-like quality. I think the noise of the special order
Nagra preamp (was it the QP?) is on par with today's better pres. Dan
would know for sure. The first practical, affordable stereo field
sound-only recorders came out only 20 years ago, in portable video
decks, about a decade earlier.
>
>Those days, one did not even touch a condensor microphone (except
>the 805) for low level work, as they were too noisy. Among the
>dynamics, one judged how quiet the recording would be by looking at
>how high the output was (they are all roughly 200 ohms).the best two
>were the md 421 and the beyer m 88 - i still have both.
>unofortunately very few new recorders have enough gain (alteast 20
>db more than needed for condensors) to directly use dynamic
>microphones.
We still have a bunch of RE-10's and 11's that will work okay on the
Hi-MD's with its 75dB gain. Rob D.
>
>umashankar
>
>i have published my poems. you can read (or buy) at
><http://stores.lulu.com/umashankar>http://stores.lulu.com/umashankar
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Rob Danielson <<type%40uwm.edu>>
>To:
><naturerecordists%40yahoogroups.com>=
m
>Sent: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 11:09:16 PM
>Subject: [Nature Recordists] Our friends in Broadcasting (was New To
>Field Recording
>
>At 3:13 PM +0000 4/1/08, oryoki2000 wrote:
>> > There are some very useful observations made
>>> in some of the Transom reviews, but I'd be
>>> very careful trying to apply their conclusions
>>> to nature recording. Their conclusions often only
>>> to the recording of robust sounds.
>>
>>Agreed. In fairness, the Transom site audience
>>is people working in ENG. So close mic placement
>>would be the norm.
>
>And I bet there are readers/contributors on this of list who are
>important exceptions.
>
>I feel that its very important that more and more field recordists,
>by their practices, are questioning a "normal" that does not include
>capturing location/acoustic space. The worlds of sound around me
>happen in space. Sure, I enjoy posting and mixing but I can also have
>a growing relationship with what the real spaces and living creatures
>are doing.
>
>Low-noise mics and digital media have made it possible to "turn up
>the gain"-- which, I feel, is analogous to a photographer using a
>filmstock with a wider latitude in order to bring home more shadow
>detail, more options. I apologize for being blunt, but rating a
>recorder on the basis of close micing with an RE-50 is way more
>close-minded (high contrast) than the ENG recordists I know. They are
>often fighting to stop and record "more nat sound." We can help them.
>
>The directions are fairly clear: the attitude that says gain and
>noise are "crazy" and "excessive" will be changing and those who are
>curious about this technology means to the recording arts will be in
>growing company.
>
>>It's worth noting that people who don't have an
>>interest in nature sound recording think we're silly
>>for our focus on how a mic preamp sounds with the
>>volume cranked all the way up. in my experience,
>>most all digital recorder preamps have satisfactory
> >self noise if you keep the volume at 50% of maximum.
>
>Which, of course, means the sounds are high level. Remember, many of
>the new recorders we have to choose from have low gain to start with,
>so one-half is not an option for nature recording.
>
>>For concert recordists, the problem is often the
>>reverse. The sound pressure level requires signal
>>attenuation, not amplification.
>
>And punishing playback levels to get above very high ambient
>background levels. "Quiet" is political. One might ask oneself,
>"Which side am I on?" Rob D.
>
>>
>>Different strokes, as we used to say.
>>--oryoki
>
>--
>
>------------------------------------
>
>"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>__________________________________________________________
>You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of
>Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.
><http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com>http://tc.deals.yahoo.=
com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com
>
>
>
--
|