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Re: M10 noise removal, was Sony PCM-M10 vs Zoom H4n best for outdoor

Subject: Re: M10 noise removal, was Sony PCM-M10 vs Zoom H4n best for outdoor
From: "chrishails50" chrishails50
Date: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:02 pm ((PST))
Peter, I too use the M10 quite a lot as a pocket carry around. I can hear s=
elf-noise from it in very quite moments - which for me is deep in Swiss for=
ests after midnight. But even then long distance aircraft rumble and insect=
 noise is still there. As others have stated on your soundcloud piece (whic=
h I liked by the way), to my ears a lot of the hiss you are hearing is natu=
ral - wind, insects, leaves rattling etc. Stuff our brain filters out when =
in situ, but is really apparent once you get home and listen to your record=
ing in isolation.

You said you did not want to carry a tripod to get the machine away from tr=
ees - I use a mini-tripod of the "gorilla" type with my M10 - cheap portabl=
e and flexible:

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=3Dgorilla+grip+tripod

And as many have said getting close to the sound source and a good strong s=
ignal gives by far the best result, if you halve the distance you double th=
e signal.

Good luck.

Chris
http://www.wildechoes.org


--- In  Peter Shute <> wrote:
>
> I've posted a "noise only" sample to Soundcloud. I'll stop calling it his=
s for now:
> http://soundcloud.com/petershute/120202-01pcmm10silence
>
> I haven't had time to take the recorder anywhere truly quiet to record a =
better sample, so this was done at home with doors and windows closed, sand=
wiched between two cushions with a blanket over the top. I'm sure there's p=
lenty of sound from outside in the recording, but at least I've reduced it.
>
> The spectrum analysis in Audacity says it's all below 9kHz, with a peak b=
elow 500Hz which might be noise from outside that I couldn't block. Very in=
terested to hear opinions about the nature of the noise.
>
> I also did a similar recording with the level turned right down. There wa=
s similar noise, but of much, much lower volume. I assume this proves it's =
not preamp noise?
>
> I've also uploaded the latest attempt at reducing the noise:
> http://soundcloud.com/petershute/111229-03nr5
>
> With 30dB reduction, I've not been very gentle with the recording, so I'm=
 interested to know what others find wrong with it. The untouched recording=
 for comparison is at:
> http://soundcloud.com/petershute/111229-03brandyck
>
> Concerning my hearing, I took my audiologist's word that I've got little =
hearing above 8kHz, but I played with tone generation in audacity just now,=
 and I can hear up to 15kHz, but I can't really quantify how well except th=
at it's nowhere near as good as at 8. I note that she didn't test above 8.
>
> Perhaps I'm playing it back louder than she would have in a test too. Int=
erestingly, at a level at which I can clearly hear 15000Hz, 15100 is just n=
ot there. I'm probably running into equipment limitations too.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> ________________________________
> From:  =
 On Behalf Of Avocet 
> Sent: Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:19 AM
> To: 
> Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Re: M10 noise removal, was Sony PCM-M10 =
vs Zoom H4n best for outdoor
>
>
>
> > Peter mentioned on his Soundcloud example, the hiss he was concerned
> > with was mostly below 5kHz. To my own ears the problematic
> > microphone hiss noise in that recording was most prominent from 8 to
> > 10 kHz.
>
> John,
>
> In my previous email I indirectly defined "hiss" in my HPF
> specification as being 4KHz and above, in other words the top two
> octaves. "Thermal" (root f) mic hiss goes right up as high as you
> record and to my ears anyway sounds different. The bottom end noise
> (the bottom four octaves?) is "rumble" but I can't think of a
> universal name for mid range noise except "mid range noise". :-)
>
> I'll back you up on annoying hiss being 8 to 10 Khz and this is
> recognised in the "468" weighting for background noise measurements.
>
> BTW at my fairly advanced age of 71 my own frequency response still
> goes from 10Hz to 12KHz which is not bad. That's still over 10
> octaves.
>
> David
>
> David Brinicombe
> North Devon, UK
> Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
>








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