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Re: newbie intro and question

Subject: Re: newbie intro and question
From: "Gianni Pavan"
Date: Thu May 17, 2012 11:59 am ((PDT))
In my experience K6/ME66 are very nice on Phantom Power; with battery
power I have some problems:
on battery power the noise increases noticeably (by hearing too)
starting at 8 kHz and 2 strong peaks appear in the ultrasonic range.
See spectra on http://www.unipv.it/cibra/res_techtest_uk.html (at the end).
Sennheiser repaired them with little results.
A 15 years old K6/ME66 does not increase noise when operating on
internal battery, but shows a narrower and lower peak around 35 kHz.

Gianni


2012/5/13, Philip Tyler <>:
> Hi
>
> When I had a couple of K6/ME66's and I tried the different powering optio=
ns
> and I thought that the mics were 'nicer' when powered by phantom from my
> MixPre. Rather than when powered by the AA cell when the 'noise' was
> 'dirtier' and therefore more noticeable but was probably still within the
> spec.
>
> My K6/ME66's were returned to Sennheiser as one was noisier than the othe=
r
> when powered by an AA cell. They replaced the power unit in the noisier o=
ne
> and when I got them both back they were then both the same on AA cells. T=
hey
> were always both the same when powered by phantom even before they repair=
ed
> the faulty one.
>
> Phil
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: "" <>
> To: 
> Sent: Sunday, 13 May 2012, 6:38
> Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] newbie intro and question
>
>
>
> Vichi, apart from easier handling, have you found significant differences=
 to
> use the microphone Sennheiser ME66 powered by its own AA battery than a
> Phantom Power P48?
>
> Marco Pesente
> Italy
>
> --- In  vickipowys <> wrot=
e:
>>
>> Alan,
>>
>> I would suggest you purchase one of the smaller digital recorders
>> such as Olympus LS10 or LS11, or Sony PCM-D50 / Sony PCM-M10, all of
>> which have been well tested within our group.  You may be able to buy
>> one for around $300 or so.  Buy or make a furry windcover for it.
>> Use it first with the built in mics, find out what it will do and
>> what are the shortcomings.
>>
>> Then add:
>> small, inexpensive, electret microphones ($10) such as Primo EM172 -
>> these use 'Plug-in-Power' of about 2-3 volts provided by the
>> recorder.  These electrets need some DIY to connect them up and can
>> be used in a parabolic reflector, or in other types of DIY rigs.
>>
>> But aim for:
>> professional-quality gun mic such as Sennheiser ME66 which is powered
>> by its own AA battery.  With a handle and furry wind cover e.g. Rode
>> pistol grip PG2 and Rode softie wind shield WS6 (cheaper than Rycote
>> by a mile).  This can connect directly to your recorder for close up
>> species recordings.
>>
>> Learn to use:
>> sound software that will show waveforms and sound spectrograms
>> (sonograms) so that you can study your recordings in detail. e.g.
>> Audacity (free), Raven (free), and many others for both PC & Mac.
>>
>> What you already have:
>> Sony digital voice recorder - anything that records can be useful!
>> But pay a bit more and the quality will be much better.
>>
>> Hope this helps!
>>
>>
>> Vicki Powys
>> Australia
>>
>>
>> On 10/05/2012, at 10:34 PM, Alan Harvey wrote:
>>
>> > Greetings,
>> >
>> > Just found and joined this group, and will follow the format
>> > suggested in
>> > the FAQ for this very basic question.
>> >
>> > Stop me if you've heard this one! I'm interested in exploring
>> > nature sound
>> > recording but have limited budget and experience.
>> >
>> > 1) Although I've long been intrigued by natural recording, I'm
>> > acting now
>> > largely because I'd like to incorporate an audio component into the
>> > Field
>> > Biology course I teach. Because our main goal will be to capture
>> > recordings
>> > (birds, orthopterans, and frogs) in the field that we can later try to
>> > identify, I think we'd want these sounds to have as much separation
>> > from
>> > the background sounds as possible.
>> >
>> > 2) Realistically, most of these recordings would take place in
>> > either urban
>> > settings or natural settings within a mile of urban development.
>> >
>> > 3) I think portability and "on the go" would be valuable attributes
>> > in a
>> > field biology class. I'm not sure about sound qualities; I suspect
>> > noise
>> > would be best minimized, but stereo image and spatiality probably less
>> > important (I may be biased here, as I'm deaf in one ear!).
>> >
>> > 4) Total budget almost too embarrassing to mention; probably less than
>> > $300, at least initially. There are a couple of internal grants,
>> > ranging
>> > from $500 to a few thousand, that I could apply for with some
>> > preliminary
>> > data/experience (see next question). I doubt I currently own any
>> > relevant
>> > gear (does a Sony digital voice recorder count?).
>> >
>> > 5) I view this as a try-out exercise with the potential for
>> > considerable
>> > expansion if I can make it work in an educational (college
>> > undergraduate)
>> > setting. On the other hand, it's just the sort of activity that I
>> > could get
>> > personally addicted to regardless of whether it works in class!
>> >
>> > Any suggestions would be appreciated. There apparently once was a
>> > shotgun
>> > mike somewhere in the department, but its location is currently
>> > unknown, so
>> > I haven't been able to try it out to get some baseline experience.
>> >
>> > Thanks very much,
>> >
>> > Alan
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Alan Harvey
>> > Associate Professor of Biology
>> > Georgia Southern University
>> > Statesboro, GA 30460-8042
>> > (912) 478-5784
>> > fax (912) 478-0845
>> > http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/bio-home/harvey/index.html
>> >
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>


--
Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali
Universit=E0 degli Studi di Pavia
Via Taramelli 24, 27100 Pavia
http://www.unipv.it/cibra
http://mammiferimarini.unipv.it






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