Hi All
Like a bunch of other folks here, I was inpired by the Sony M10 price drop =
at B&H to buy one, while saving up for a SD702. I have used R-R and MD for=
nature recording in the past. I once used a Tandberg 9241 and Teac 3340s t=
o record hummingbirds and progressively bounce tracks and slow them down so=
they sounded like parrots. Kinda tedious but fun.
Now it's pretty luxurious to have such a tiny bit bucket available.
I'm recording some Cope's Gray Treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) in my back yar=
d. I have to stay about 40 feet from them or they shut up when they hear m=
e moving around, so far. Maybe I'll get more skillful, or they will get br=
aver.
I'm using a Sound Devices MP-2 into the M10, and at the moment a couple of =
Oktava Mk012 cardioid mikes, whose self noise (it says here) is about 10dB.=
Nevertheless, it takes full gain on the MP-2, and full gain on the M10 to=
get any decent level (around -20 to -15 on the playback meters in Audacity=
)
I end up normalizing to -3dB, but am left with a fair amount of noise, some=
of it environmental, but some of it electronic. I have used the denoising=
algorithm in Audacity, which does a good job, although it leaves behind so=
me inevitable spacemonkeys through its effects on noises above the threshol=
d of the noise spectrum sample.
I'm in a mildly urban environment (motorbikes and trucks go by a block away=
, last night neighbors had a party outside while I tried to record treefrog=
s, tonight the municipal July 4 fireworks in the distance sounded like arti=
llery from a distant war, and made great spacemonkies after denoising)
What do others do, especially those interested in scientific analysis. Whe=
n I look at sonograms of the calls, they still look identifiably similar to=
unprocessed, but what are the standards others use? When I listen, there =
is a slight change in timbre (post processed calls sound very slightly brig=
hter and sharper edged, but still very identifiable). I'm not doing any so=
phisticated analysis, but I'm interested in how others approach this issue.
The obvious solution is to get closer, and/or buy an MKH30/40 setup, which =
I can't afford. I do more music than nature recording, so I'm not so inter=
ested in the Roades mikes, since I already have KM84s which I'm not about t=
o take outside in the humid Southern summer.
What do the professionals, scientists, and techno-obsessed do about post pr=
ocessing?
I've really enjoyed spending many months reading a lot of threads here and =
in the archives, but I don't recall seeing much discussed about this.
best wishes, and thanks for all I have learned here,
tedg
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