At 11:57 PM +0000 11/28/09, John Lundsten wrote:
>>"Rob Danielson" wrote
>
>>>RODE D-PowerPlug seems like a good option ....
>>>As a phantom-powered, 20dB gain preamp,the D-PowerPlug isn't
>>>overly quiet (-116 dBu A weighted), but perhapsquiet enough for
>>>your ribbon mics.
>
>>This maybe a good option but I have my doubts. I would be
>>interested in a comparison between a 24bit recording of the ribbon
>>mics one with the Rode D & the other without but raised 20dB in
>>post. My suspicion is that so long as there is good low level info
>>as you get with 24bit, just raising the may be very low lever
>>recording may well give lower noise & otherwise give as
>>good if not better results.
>>The thing is ribbon mics don't really have a noise figure, the
>>noise you endup with will be down to the basic thermal noise of the
>>source Z and how "well balanced" the system is. IE there will be
>>signals at the micro-volt level you wish to drag up in level, so
>>RF, hum etc picked up on the cable needs to be exceptionally low,
>>compared to a more robust signal level.
>>
>>
>>John Lundsten
>
Hi John-
I think you're right. Adding lower quality pres up-stream from his
recorder would likely introduce more noise than necessary. What
external mic pre or recorder are you using Randy?
With mic sensitivity of only -56 dB +/- 2 dB (0 dB=3D1V/Pa) ~1.6mV/Pa?
and recording ambience in quiet natural locations, don't you think
most of the noise will stem from the mic pre? This seemed to be the
case in a couple of experiments Curt and Mike shared with me, but I
had no way to know for sure.
Are you getting sufficient monitoring levels in the field, Randy? If
not, it might be better to add some amplification to the headphone
output. If you don't have a great quality pre to continue your
experiment with, maybe you could borrow one and crank the line-input
gain on the recorder too for more sound file saturation to see if
this helps. Rob D.
=3D =3D =3D
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