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Re: mic arrays and M/S behaviour

Subject: Re: mic arrays and M/S behaviour
From: "Luiz do Carmo" lecarmo
Date: Wed Sep 1, 2010 12:27 am ((PDT))
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the welcome and the attention. I ought to say that I am the one =
who
is late most of the time. As you might notice, I don=E2=80=99t have a reaso=
nably steady
working schedule.

As for the missing ambience tracks, there is a Brazilian saying which state=
s:
=E2=80=9CSince the rings are gone, bless your fingers.=E2=80=9D (=E2=80=9CB=
etter lose the saddle than
the horse=E2=80=9D). Oh, well...

I haven=E2=80=99t had the chance or time to make a full research on the arr=
ays you=E2=80=99ve
suggested, but I=E2=80=99ve taken a quick look around and the Back to Back =
Crown SASS
seemed to be a good idea, at least in theory. And it could be mounted with =
the
AT4022, considering it looks DIY friendly. (I couldn=E2=80=99t find or best=
 translate
the specs concerning self noise and sensitivity on the Crown mics, though).=
 I
hadn=E2=80=99t boundary mics in mind (or assemblings adapting the concept),=
 although
I=E2=80=99ve heard of them, but mostly among nature sound recordists. I onl=
y know one
sound mixer =E2=80=93 here in Brazil =E2=80=93 who uses PZM mics in his rec=
ordings, and mostly
for documentaries.

I still couldn=E2=80=99t get rid of my doubt, which concerns the cardioid m=
ics that play
the mids in a M/S array. Do they actually =E2=80=98sound=E2=80=99 or only w=
ork as a tool to
separate (or design) the L and R channels? Because if they do not take part=
 on
the overall sound after decoding, I could have a pair of MKH-416 or even th=
e way
less expensive NTG-3, with a NT2-A in the middle. Does it sound completely=

nonesense?

About the recorder, I followed the thread discussing the DR-680 and got wor=
ried
about the reliability of the software, as far as an issue concerning files =
that
=E2=80=98simply disappear=E2=80=99. In a feature film it could lead to murd=
er. But I didn=E2=80=99t give
up on this machine. I had this recorder already in mind since its release.

The R-44 looks a little flimsy, but what got me not so much excited about i=
t was
the way it saves the tracks, stocking every single take in a different fold=
er.
It wouldn=E2=80=99t be a big hassle for ambience recording, but for a film =
set where I
record 100 plus tracks in a day it could drive me crazy =E2=80=93 either to=
 playback or
during post.

I=E2=80=99ve also thought about a setup with an interface + laptop =E2=80=
=93 mostly for the
small issues regarding the DR-680 and the R-44 =E2=80=93, but the noisy pre=
s on the
M-Audio Fast Track Ultra were not compelling. Then I heard here about the M=
otu
Traveler-mk3, took a look at it and was impressed with the quality of the
preamps =E2=80=93 allegedly great, at least for the reviewers.

I believe that I=E2=80=99m researching on mic arrays first, because I=E2=80=
=99m maybe waiting
for the release of an FR=E2=80=994=E2=80=99-LE, which would be the best thi=
ng to happen for my
budget/expectations.

I=E2=80=99ll keep on researching and thanks again for the help.

Luis



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