Hi Christian,
That is a very lovely recording, very realistic!
If you are interested to go a step further with quality then I would
add that I have heard wonderful soundscapes with no noticeable hiss
from a friend who uses a Sony recorder (model before yours) plus two
Telinga EM23 mics. I am sure the new Telinga clip on mics would be
as good or better. I understand Mike Rooke also makes (or assembles)
PIP mics of a similar quality.
cheers,
Vicki Powys
Australia
On 02/06/2010, at 9:16 PM, redteamwins wrote:
> Hi everybody!
>
> I just wanted to update you all. I went ahead and bought a Sony
> PCM-M10 - it's beautiful, graceful, and just generally wonderful.
>
> Rob, after your nudging, I followed your advice and did the right
> thing and soldered up a pair of WM-61A's that I bought from Digi-
> Key (I've got 8 more that I've got to figure out what to do
> with :). Thank you for those instructions! I got an old pair of
> Sony walkman headphones (right angle plug!), desoldered the little
> baby speakers, and soldered the ends of the wires to the microphone
> capsules. I shrink-wrapped each capsule, put a non-shrink wrapped
> sleeve on the end so that it will all mount on my eyeglasses, and
> put some foam at the end with a rubber band for crude wind
> protection. Building mics like this is probably routine to you
> badasses but I felt pretty proud of myself when it was all done.
>
> I made a recording this past weekend on a beach near Rosarito,
> Mexico covered in small rounded stones. During high tide, the
> waves crash on the stones - as the water recedes the stones roll
> and collide and make a wonderful sound. I was sitting on the rocks
> higher up on the shore and the water was about two feet away from
> my feet when big waves came.
>
> My friend took a photo of these stones years ago:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidg/30181933/
>
> I have posted a recording of these waves here:
> http://soundcloud.com/redteam/mexico-rocky-waves-96-24
> (file currently uploading - it should be up about 35min after this
> message is posted)
>
> The microphones sounded pretty good until my ears tuned in to the
> hiss. This was rather soul-crushing as it's something that's hard
> to un-hear. Also, many of the sounds have a rather hollow quality -
> as if the mics were mounted at the bottom of two plastic cups.
> There were actually mounted with only foam windscreens at the front
> of my eyeglasses. Regardless, this recording is the achievement of
> a dream I've had for at least 8 years and you all helped me get
> there. Thank you all.
>
> Now I'm considering buying the Telinga Clip-Ons for my trip to
> Europe that begins in a couple of weeks. I haven't really been
> able to get much information about them from Telinga. I think
> they're actually too big to be discreet with in public, but some of
> you say such nice things about Telinga that I'm willing to give
> them a shot despite their size - I really need higher quality
> mics. Anyone have pictures of these microphones? Any specs?
>
> Thanks again, folks!
>
> -Christian
>
>
>
>
> --- In Rob Danielson <>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Christian--
>>
>> This is how I see it: You're spending thousands on a once in a
>> lifetime trip. You are excited about recordings acoustic nuances of
>> settings that range from loud to very quiet. The recorder and mics
>> are $200 under your budget,.. The ~$300 Telinga mics will be a great,
>> safe investment that will not lose value and I know you'll be glad
>> you made the investment many years from now. Solder-up a pair of the
>> WM-61A's for $30 http://tinyurl.com/2fr2p6r or pay $80 for them this
>> week and hear what you think.
>>
>> Sorry about throwing the numbers at you. Here's a description about
>> mic self-noise:
>> http://tinyurl.com/2ws926p
>>
>> 32dB(A) Noisiest mics
>> 22 dB(A) Average
>> 16 dB(A) almost quiet enough for quiet location
>> <10 dB(A) lowest self-noise you can get, best.
>> To convert signal to noise, subtract the S-N number from 94. e.g. the
>> MM-HLSO specs,"Signal to noise ratio: 65dB, 1khz at 1pa" so, 95-65 =3D
>> 30 dB(A) self-noise.
>>
>> There's no point in spending a penny more on these smaller mic
>> options unless you can see they'll give you an improvement in noise
>> performance. Here's a list of the basic retail repackaging options
>> for the smaller mics except for Klas' "Clip Ons" which use Primo
>> EM-172's which are new and not on the list. You can contact Klas at
>> <>.
>> http://tinyurl.com/ykdesaj
>>
>> Soldering steps:
>> https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/www/116/Trek01/BuildingMics/
>> WM-61A_BrookBuildsMics/WM-61A_BrookBuildsMics.html
>>
>>
>> At 9:52 AM +0000 5/17/10, redteamwins wrote:
>>>
>>> should I get one of those little 9v battery supplies for whatever
>>> microphone I buy?
>>
>> No.
>>
>>> I'm concerned about a car or bus completely overwhelming my
>>> microphones in somewhat loud street environments. From what I've
>>> learned, that situation is helped by some kind of "pad" or
>>> attenuator cable and/or a battery supply giving more power to the
>>> microphones to avoid clipping. Am I going in the right direction
>>> here?
>>
>> Not a worry. Turn the gain down, go to low sensitivity setting if
>> need be.
>>
>>
>>> At the same time, I wonder if there is some nice place in between
>>> the Sound Professionals' ~US$80 offering and Telinga's ~US$750+
>>> offering! Does anyone have anything favorable to say about Core
>>> Audio's ~US$250 offering? How about products from Microphone
>>> Madness?:
>>> <http://microphonemadness.com/products/mmhlsomsenmi.htm>http://
>>> microphonemadness.com/products/mmhlsomsenmi.htm
>>> I haven't read any real reviews of their products.
>>
>>> I have heard nothing but good stuff about Sonic Studios' products
>>> but jeeeeeeeez ... I can't afford those either.
>>
>> See the doc above. I'd consider these instead for 1/3 cost and same
>> noise performance.
>> https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/www/audio-reports/Shure-WL183s/
>> index.htm
>>
>> But 14 dB(A) performance from the Clip-ons at ~$120 more makes
>> better sense to me. Rob D.
>>
>>
>>> So here's my point - maybe Sound Professionals' US$80 products are
>>> good, but if I can get anything substantially better for ~US250 I'll
>>> totally do it.
>>>
>>> And again - folks - thank you for sharing your advice and expertise.
>>> I'm sure newbies post in here for this kind of advice all the time
>>> and yet you have been so patient with me. I can't wait to make some
>>> recordings for you all to listen to.
>>>
>>> -Christian
>>>
>>> p.s. Can anyone point me to a good primer on learning what you guys
>>> are talking about in terms of dB's? I'm trying to learn how to
>>> distinguish between microphones and I can't decipher all the values.
>>> I think I have a pretty good idea about what a noise floor is and
>>> what self-noise is ... but after that I don't really know what to
>>> look for.
>>
>>
>>
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