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Re: Some of my recent recordings - looking for comments&tips!

Subject: Re: Some of my recent recordings - looking for comments&tips!
From: madl74
Date: Mon Jan 19, 2015 4:43 pm ((PST))
> As a passive (but passionate) reader of this mailing list, I have been
> waiting to present you a sample of my recordings. Not all of it is the
> regular nature recording, so beware!
>
> I would love to hear some comments / tips / criticism!

Jonas,

I'll try to give an account of what I hear. I've re-recorded the tracks so =
I
can look at the spectrum etc.

I would be very surprised if anyone could hear MP3 artefacts over the
natural backgrounds on these recordings or recognise a drop in quality from=

the re-recording. Slow MP3 sampling rates do affect the stereo image, and
the digital recording industry appears to cope well at realistic MP3
sampling rates.

The equivalent of a "Turing Test" would be to play a high quality recording=

from a high rate WAV to commonly used MP3 settings and see who can tell
which is which - and guess the sample rates. There is a lot of bluffing in=

the sound business - I know, I used to be in it. :-)

Anyway, back to the recordings.

> Microphones placed in the grass on the meadow
> https://soundcloud.com/jonas-gruska/microphones-in-the-grass

One insect is prominent but placed to the right, with a high background at=

around -24dB. This sounds like wind in trees but is not clear stereo,
perhaps behind the mic array. The wind is also rustling the close grass. I=

tried panning the loud insect a bit more centrally (30% left on Audacity)
but the other sounds didn't match up well. There is a very prominent bass
peak on the background spectrum with a 100Hz maximum which doesn't
contribute to the insect sounds even with a bass roll-off.

> Microphones placed in a bird-feeder
> https://soundcloud.com/fields-by-gruska/bird-feeder

Bass wind noise at start. Stereo background sounds OK including dog whining=

which set it in a garden. Bird wingbeats and other sounds have a good stere=
o
spread. It would also be good accompanying a video of the bird table.

However, there is a bass booming probably coming from the wind and traffic.=

Direct wind noise is prominent in the first 30 seconds and this also shows=

up a strong resonant peak at 75Hz with a strong bass cut at around 24dB per=

octave below that.

 From 60 sec for half a minute there is a prominent resonant peak around
600Hz making a drumming sound which can also be heard in the rest of the
recording. The background traffic and a dog or dogs are primarily to the
right and are not necessarily a problem in a garden context.

> Binaural walk in Bratislava (starts in house)
> https://soundcloud.com/fields-by-gruska/binaural-walk-in-bratislava

I presume this is the same head worn binaural array as the resonances are
similar, a very prominent peak around 100 Hz and a very steep bass cut whic=
h
is very noticeable in the lift.

The stereo image is good as the head moves, with a clear transition to
outdoors, then the sound of a gate. There are resonances outside above 100H=
z
but nowhere as pronounced as in the bird table recording. However, the
geography is confused when the gate is closed because of the head turning.=


Booming from peaks in the 40Hz to 100Hz region continue in the town and
traffic noise. Some peaks can be expected when passing reflective surfaces.=

100Hz corresponds to a reflection about 1.7 metres away.=09

When stepping indoors at the end, the resonances remain and one spectrum
gives sharp peaks at 75Hz, 160Hz, 320Hz and so on suggesting a series of
reflections or corridor resonances and their harmonics.

However, the stereo image is good in free air with sound objects having
clearly placed image points.

> Binaural trolleybus ride
> https://soundcloud.com/jonas-gruska/koliba-hodzovo-namestie-binaural-trol=
leybus-recording

You would expect resonances inside a trolleybus so these were not
distracting. The bass cut was not used for the recording and the bass
spectrum tip-up was all there at about 8 dB per octave. Levelling this usin=
g
my favourite gradual bass roll-off (I can give the Audacity parameters) gav=
e
a more comfortable sound.

As before, the stereo image was good, creaks and rattles and all.

> Tram crossroad from ants perspective
> https://soundcloud.com/fields-by-gruska/tram-crossroad-from-ants-perspect=
ive

I presume you were not wearing the mic rig on your head. :-) I got a
different stereo image - not as clear and the siren(?) at around 45secs was=

not placed at all well, but it had no tranients so that was to be expected.=

I got left to right movements OK but not the good general stereo picture of=

the other tracks.

Hope that helps.

David Brinicombe











"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.



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