It seemed fine to me, comparing to some of your other tracks.
I find the idea of calibration interesting. If it's just to help set the le=
vels, in my case I don't see the point because I've only got two mics, so I=
can just remember what I used last time. If it's to be able to estimate SP=
Ls, as someone mentioned in another thread today, when would that be useful=
? And doesn't the same thing apply about remembering the levels?
Or are there other factors that make sound levels vary that I haven't yet e=
nountered in my short recording career? Do different cables affect sound le=
vels (I've only got one set I use)?
I've given up trying to listen to nature recordings other than with headpho=
nes. It's just too noisy around here.
I hope I'm not side tracking the original purpose of your posting here.
Peter Shute
From: =
.com] On Behalf Of hartogj
Sent: Friday, 1 June 2012 11:17 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Common Raven, Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed =
Junco, Western Meadowlark...
Hi Peter,
Yes, they could always turn it down - or turn it up.
Did it seem to loud to you?
"Natural" in this case is based on my embarrassingly imprecise calibration =
method of speaking in a natural voice one meter in front of the mics, and n=
oting the gain setting on the recorder where that voice comes to about -30d=
B on the recording levels. I arbitrarily chose -30dB because that is what M=
artyn says he uses with his calibration method, plus it seems to allow plen=
ty of headroom while still enough saturation for accuracy of most quiet nat=
ural ambience.
I amplify or attenuate for consistency in comfortable playback levels betwe=
en a variety of my material.
For this particular location the natural ambience was probably at least 10 =
dB lower than the ambient noise level of my listening environment at home. =
For that reason trying to listen to the recording at a "natural" level woul=
d be completely futile.
John Hartog
Rockscallop.org
--- In <naturerecordists%40yahoogrou=
ps.com>, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>
> Hartogj wrote:
>
> > Edits: Amplified 20 dB above natural to bring out the nuances of this
> > quiet soundscape ...
>
> How do you define "natural", John? Won't the listener just adjust it to a=
different level on playback?
>
> Peter Shute
>
|