> My blindness definitely is one of the reasons for that. Now I am
> 26 and am still strugglling for the right technical solution to get
> clear and pleasurable stereo recordings, but, I guess, most of us still
> do in a way.
Philipp,
I've got a tip from when I was a professional TV Film Recordist. There were
many occasions when I couldn't see the meter on the tape recorder, but I
trained my ears to recognise a peak level and adjusted the headphone output
to make this read just under 100% on the meter.
Now we have gone digital, there is much less need for accurate level
control, but it is safer to record on the low side as this can be brought up
later with no quality loss. I still don't use a meter.
The trick in training your ears is to always use the same, preferably
closed, headphones. I don't just listen for the peak sound, but I get a
physical feeling in my ears at a fairly loud point, but not as loud as to be
uncomfortable. I set the recording level to below that point and who needs a
meter?
This feeling in the ears is below the maximum comfortable listening level.
Get to recognise a level below anything that sound too loud.
In fact I usually record so as to peak at minus 10 dB or lower, so if
something unexpected happens, it doesn't hit maximum on the digital
recorder. You can usually get away with recording at minus 20 dB peak if you
could be expecting something loud like thunder.
The other thing to train you ears to do is to recognise audio compression.
almost all music and speech is compressed making the loud bits more even in
loudness. In addition a digital recorder will have a limiter, which is a
hard compressor set just below the 100 percent level. Once you have a feel
to recognise compression, you have another clue to the peak levels of your
recording. This is useful in adjusting your recordings later while editing.
Hope that helps.
For stereo, you may have to train your ears for headphones so you can judge
a stereo image. Compare a good stereo recording of music or wildlife on
stereo loudspeakers and then on headphones. Centre and full left and full
right are easy to recognise, but you may have to train your ears to your
headphones for the half way and quarter way points.
Out of doors of course you can simply listen to birdsong with bare ears and
then through the headphones as see how they compare.
You of course need a stereo mic if you haven't already got one, and
personally I would go for a double mic with a pair of cardioids mounted
together at an angle.
David Brinicombe
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/
<*> Your email settings:
Digest Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo Groups is subject to:
https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|