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Re: Another neophyte flailing around on this subject...

Subject: Re: Another neophyte flailing around on this subject...
From: "Rob Danielson" danielson_audio
Date: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:29 pm ((PDT))
At 12:44 PM -0700 8/13/10, Marcus Buick wrote:
>
>
>
>Hello everyone, my name is Marcus Buick and I am new to this list. I am an
>audio engineer by day, and a psychoacoustician by night.

Hi Marcus. Thanks for the observations you've
shared. I'd be curious to hear more about your
night job.


>The single most important choice when making a
>great (and accurate) recording is
>microphone placement. Nobody I have met is able to discern microphone bran=
d
>difference once more than two or three microphones are mixed.

No one has put together a book on the topic of
placing stereo and surround arrays in natural
settings yet, but many followers of this list
really work at it. There are some interesting
discussions about mic placement techniques in the
list archive-- concerning height, finding a sweet
spots and balancing the stereo image within the
reverberant field.
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/cgi-bin/namazu.cgi?query=3Dmic=
+placement&submit=3DSearch!&idxname=3Dnaturerecordists&max=3D20&result=3Dno=
rmal&sort=3Dscore



>While my TLM103=C2=B9s have a self-noise of7dBA, I
>would use my cmc6xt-lin=C2=B9s (self noise 17dBA) 99
>times out of 100. While I don=C2=B9t want to discuss
>details like Alising Intermodulation Distortion
>of mics extending to 40kHz, I will say that in
>extensive tests between my 4006=C2=B9s and
>cmc6xt-lin=C2=B9s w/MK2 capsules I find the Schoeps
>to be more pleasant to listen to (of ambient
>capture) for MY ears.....
>
>I buy the gear I can afford which record sounds that are lifelike to me. I
>purchased Schoeps because my Sennheisers weren=C2=B9t capturing the subtle=
ty I
>needed. I spent the money for Grace preamps when my Mackie pre=C2=B9s were=
 too
>noisy. This gear makes me money in my profession, but it=C2=B9s probably n=
ot
>practical for the general hobbyist. Purchase only what makes your ears/bra=
in
>happy.

>From time to time people assemble comparison
tests of high-end mics in actual field conditions
and they are always informative to evaluate.
Compiled as a blind test, we can see if a
consensus develops about certain "subtleties"
making them more comprehensible.  Should you find
yourself planning a test that you want to share,
post a list of the variables and constants you
intend to use and we might be able to make some
time-saving suggestions.  Welcome aboard. Rob D.


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