HI Max,
I've never sold anything good without regretting it later (usually within a
week!). A couple of those guitars would buy me a lovely mic closet today.
I took the Sony ECM MS907 out this morning. Terrible day for air traffic. I
was on the edge of the city. Things are pretty slow for wildlife sounds
around here at this time of year (and at my skill level), so it won't sound
like my uncle's English country garden in Norwich!
It's pretty hissy, but not the most objectionable hiss I've ever heard. The
MS907 is plugged into a Marantz PMD 661 with the gain set to 8. I haven't
applied any EQ, or postGain; just chopped and x-faded. At 2:12 I replay the
last few seconds with some gentle denoising (Voxengo Redunoise --signature
acquired from the under-the-bedclothes test) with 2db of makeup gain.
Temperature is about 4=B0C, gently breezy and you'll hear some snow falling
off trees in the sun. The creek will perhaps give a better idea of the
imaging at 120=B0, which hasn't been altered. I'm guessing this would be
similar to the HD-P2 at about 7-7.5, as the Marantz pre's seem to offer a
little more, and quieter gain.
http://www.samplesmith.com/NatRec/121114-GriffithWoods_SonyECM-MS907_661_In=
Gain8.wav
I also met a new
friend<http://www.samplesmith.com/NatRec/2012_11_14_IMG_0066-1-1.JPG>who
made my day -love these image-stabilizing tele's!
k
On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 8:21 AM, Max <> wrote:
> **
>
>
> Hi Keith!
> Let's hope I have better luck with THIS reply!
> Firstly, in reference to the CAD 179, I do have one of those, and bought
> it with the intention of making up an M/S rig, but never did get around t=
o
> it. The original idea was to use it with my MKH60 which I sold complete
> with Rycote basket and fluffy for a silly price brrr! Secondly, I also
> still have my HD-P2. This is pure luck, because I bought it in a bit of a
> state, with repair work needing doing, and because it looks a bit rough I
> didn't bother to sell it, even though it now works perfectly. A month or
> two back a brand new sealed case for it came up on eBay at a silly price,
> so I bought it, and at least it looks better now! The only other mic I'm
> likely to buy sometime is the AT BP 4025, which Jan brought to my attenti=
on
> with one of his marvelous recordings. I still have a couple of ME66's wit=
h
> K6's, but one of them is faulty; must sort that out! Lots of things to ke=
ep
> me happy for a while anyway.
> I went out yesterday to see if I could find some Crossbills to record; I
> found them, but had equipment problems. I'd taken the Nakamichi collectio=
n
> with me and had the long shotgun on it. It soon became clear I there was =
a
> problem which made all three mics useless! The birds were there with a ni=
ce
> flock of Siskins, but the means to record them wasn't!! On inspection thi=
s
> morning, it turns out that the problem was with the lead which came with
> the mics. Clearly at some time the previous owner had replaced the lead a=
nd
> for some reason hadn't connected the ground in the XLR! When I'd previous=
ly
> tested it, it must by chance have been just touching?! For some stupid
> reason; I'm guessing old age, it didn't occur to me to use the internal
> mics! Such is life
> Cheers
> Max
>
> --- In Keith Smith <> wrote=
:
> >
> > Heh, It's probably my bad Karma, Max.
> >
> > I did notice the 25 DB?, so I haven't been in a hurry ;)
> > When I bought the Sony mic it was a few years before I became at all
> > serious about recording. It was an improvement over something even
> cheaper.
> > I was making casual recordings of gigs I played, so much of the
> self-noise
> > would have been masked by cymbals and the background noise of the crowd=
.
> >
> > As I think back, I have to admit I'm a wimp. Although my first recordin=
gs
> > go back to a Webcor wire recorder, it wasn't until half decent audio
> > interfaces for computers became affordable that I could get results tha=
t
> I
> > could stand, and thereafter develop more than a cursory interest in
> > recording.
> >
> > Some of the most useful material I've seen on comparing mic specs came =
on
> > links I found in this group. It was a great help to get a feel for how
> the
> > relationship between sensitivity and self-noise affect noise performanc=
e
> of
> > a mic/pre combination.
> >
> > http://www.avisoft.com/tutorial_mic_recorder.htm (Raimund is a major
> > contributor here.)
> > http://www.rane.com/note148.html
> >
> > I also find this site very useful:
> > http://www.microphone-data.com/
> > You need to set up an account (free), but I haven't received any new, o=
r
> > more spam than usual after signing up.
> >
> > Take a look at the sensitivity vs self-noise of some of the >$2K
> > Sennheiser's that get mentioned on this list. Then take a Valium & lay
> down
> > for a while.
> >
> >
> > A little OT:
> > One source of inexpensive and quiet mics that seldom gets mentioned her=
e
> is
> > CAD. I have 3 M-179's and a Pair of e300=B2's. One caveat with these is
> that
> > they're pretty greedy on phantom power, drawing around 8ma/ea, which wi=
ll
> > probably exceed what your portable recorder will supply. They are
> > multi-pattern though (179's are inf variable), and great for MS
> recording.
> > I got some decent MS stuff with a pair of 179's on my Tascam HDP2,
> before I
> > realized I might be toasting the phantom supply. Now I'm a bit timid
> about
> > trying it again.
> >
> > Rode is in the same league for noise, and probably less greedy but on
> some
> > models they seem a little queasy about actually stating current draw
> (just
> > listing as P48).
> >
> > I think my next move is to get some Primo EM172's (lots of stuff here o=
n
> > these) and warm up the soldering iron.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Keith
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 7:25 PM, Max <> wrote:
> >
> > > **
> > >
> > >
> > > I've emailed you privately Keith
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In "Max" <maxcatterwell@> wrote=
:
> > > >
> > > > Very strange!!! I added my reply to Keith on the end of my previous
> > > post, but once again it wouldn't send. So I deleted it, and off it
> went????
> > > I'll try adding it here, but I'm not hopeful.
> > > > No, it won't go!?
> > > > I'll try posting under a new title
> > > > Max
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- In "Max" <maxcatterwell@>
> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi David,
> > > > > I'm having great difficulty posting this evening; I've been tryin=
g
> to
> > > reply to Keith for hours without success. I'll post my reply to him o=
n
> the
> > > end of this, just in case.
> > > > > OK, I appreciate your reply and the extra input you've given. One
> > > thing I'm assuming about this mic, is that the decoding is done
> internally.
> > > At this point in time my technical knowledge is limited, but as
> there's no
> > > mention of having to decode, I'm guessing it won't need to be done. I=
n
> a
> > > way I hope it DOES have to be done, because it would be something to
> learn
> > > and play with in Audition! But as I've said already, I'm not really
> > > expecting much for such a dirt cheap mic, but it was the m/s spec tha=
t
> > > rather intrigued me. Time will tell.
> > > > > Cheers
> > > > > Max
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --- In "Avocet" <brini@> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > What do YOU make of the specs? It's so cheap that I'm tempted
> to
> > > buy
> > > > > > > one whatever, to try with my LS-10.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Max,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > It is likely to be value for money, take that as you will. :-)
> As a
> > > > > > kickabout mic or for putting on idents, fine, but don't expect
> much
> > > > > > with those specs.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The stated noise level is high, whatever weighting is used but =
I
> > > would
> > > > > > have thought that they would have stated A-weighting if that is
> what
> > > > > > they mean. Witn no info, I'd expect a "best case" test. They ar=
e
> > > > > > unlikely to publish a "worst case" test.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The output worries me at 5.6mV/Pa which is low for any mic. Wit=
h
> > > quiet
> > > > > > sounds like nature recording, the input noise of any affordable
> > > > > > recorder will probably be audible, even over the 25dB mic spec.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > As a music mic, the max SPL of 110 dB rules it out for close
> miking
> > > of
> > > > > > instruments or even voices. It may be bad for handling noise an=
d
> > > prone
> > > > > > to wind as well due to the fig-8 reponse.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > You can't easily separate out the M cardioid capsule so you wil=
l
> > > > > > always have an all-round pickup from the fig-8.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > David
> > > > > >
> > > > > > David Brinicombe
> > > > > > North Devon, UK
> > > > > > Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Keith Smith
> >
> > Keith Smith Trio, Northern Lights =96 Altai Khangai - www.keithsmith.ca
> > Photography - www.mymountains.ca
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
--
Keith Smith
Keith Smith Trio, Northern Lights =96 Altai Khangai - www.keithsmith.ca
Photography - www.mymountains.ca
|
