il.com
Date: Sat May 25, 2013 7:52 pm ((PDT))
Thanks very much guys!
I was up at 5am to catch sounds at a local Landtrust and luckily caught a G=
reat Blue Heron that floated over the pond sqwuaking the whole way.
Then I went to the Church and recorded the (800pound) bell at 11am. Kind =
of challenging (for me) as the wind was up and we were up on a hill. The b=
ell tower had little to no room so did not get a mic in it. I aimed two ext=
ernal mics at the tower--as close to the tower as I could get-- aimed at ar=
ound 35-45degree angle up. The bell part of the tower is 50 feet high. Th=
e Zoom recorder mics were also aimed that way. I had the rec levels down t=
o 40%. The sounds did not seem to distort at this level. My first impress=
ion was how clear the sound was that close. But not sure how much ambience=
of lower end sounds were picked up. I will listen/play with the files on =
the computer to see what I come up with and will post them to SoundWave (al=
ong with the Heron call). Thanks again ,
Chad
(near Ottawa)
On 2013-05-25, at 7:48 PM, wrote:
> I've recorded a lot of different bells in my time on tape where you have =
to
> be more accurate with levels, but the general advice I would give is to
> record low. With 16 bit digital, set the peak down at -10dB or lower and =
you
> will lose nothing, but avoid overload.
>
> I mainly used MKH416's and never had a mic overload. So saying, a "clean"=
> mic overload would not necessarily be a disaster.
>
> Now for the art. :-) Recording a church bell at a non-distorting level is=
> liable to make it sound puny. What you need is reverberation or ambience,=
so
> I would recommend a second mic at a different distance, If you can find a=
> local echo, all the better. Don't necessarily point the second mic at the=
> bell tower.
>
> If all else fails, a space mic at a respectful distance like 15 metres or=
> more further away from the main mic will add a second source with a short=
> time delay and help to get an outdoors sound.
>
> The main problem may be that the direct sound makes it difficult to monit=
or
> what you are picking up, or the balance of mics, but you may be able to t=
ake
> refuge inside the building.
>
> I would not use a highly directional mic like a parabola as I would be
> looking for a good ambience effect to make it sound like bells in a tower=
.
>
> David Brinicombe
>
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