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Re: Crows talking

Subject: Re: Crows talking
From: "Dan Dugan" dandugan_1999
Date: Fri May 30, 2008 8:17 am ((PDT))
  Alexia Stevens wrote:

>  I was (and am) using a Sony Hi-MD
> recorder, and I have since learned to keep the level lower than I used
> to, back when I was awed by the sheer volume of sound that I could
> capture.  It had never occurred to me to amplify sound after I record
> it, so thanks for mentioning it.  Is the idea to record at a low
> level,
> then boost the whole signal afterward?

I've found that, thanks to the wide dynamic range of digital
recording, I can use a standard recording level that works for 95% or
more of the scenes I'm in. I arrived at it in a crude but effective
way--holding the mic at arm's length facing myself, speaking in a
normal conversational voice and setting the peak meters to around -6
dB (dBFS, to be precise). That calibrates your 0 dB (maximum) point to
around 70 dB.

That setting gives me enough gain to get the natural ambience above
the system noise floor, and enough dynamic range to handle most "loud"
natural sounds, for example a raven perching right overhead and cawing.

-Dan Dugan



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