I've had the luck to record in a few places with no human noise for
many, many miles. There is still low frequency noise from wind, even
slight breezes. My equipment (Sennheiser MKH 30/40) picks it up
better than my ears. In the headphones and home in the studio it
sounds quite loud even though I don't hear it at all with my native
ears on site. I've decided that the recording equipment , while
accurately reproducing what is there, does not accurately reproduce
what I "hear." Thus, I don't feel badly about knocking off a little
on the low end at times if the purpose is for human enjoyment. Of
course, this isn't done for recordings made for scientific
documentation purposes.
Kevin
On Apr 4, 2009, at 8:48 PM, Steve Pelikan wrote:
> Friends:
>
> This is a subject that has been touched on often but never discussed
> explicitly (in my memory) and that is low frequency filtering of
> "ambient" recordings.
>
> I've started to get interested in making stereo recordings of entire
> "sound scapes" --- meaning whatever is there --- and am in the
> process of deciding how I'll treat such recordings --- so I'd
> appreciate other people's opinions.
>
> My understanding of the 'elevated' low Hz 'noise' in most settings
> is that most of it (that I experience) is low Hz man made noise that
> carries a long way because of its wave length ( Hi Hz interacts with
> "stuff" and disappears rather quickly with distance).
>
> When I'm out to document things I record w/o filters. This is in the
> eastern US where there's lots of manmade sound. When I want
> something that "sounds nice" I use (or process with) a low Hz filter
> (10 dB to 20 db/ octave starting at 160 -600 Hz, say).
>
> I've heard "professional" recording with _nothing_ below 200 Hz
> and they sound goofy to me. I've been tempted to filter recordings
> more heavily but realized that it (for eg) might eliminate low Hz
> thumps of a woodpecker on a rotten stump.
>
> How do you al think about this issue? What do you do?
>
> Sometimes I put on a low Hz filter so I can set the overall record
> level higher (buy headroom by eliminating something under 100 Hz).
> Sometimes I really miss the low Hz stuff.
>
> Sorry for this elementary and ambiguous posting/question but it
> think there is room for some discussion on this topic. In the end we
> all need to listen carefully and do what sounds best for a
> particular setting, but I'm curious if there is a general
> understanding about this matter.
>
> Cheers! (and Good Recording! which others have used and seems a
> superior salutation)
>
> Steve P
>
>
>
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