Anyone who has ever tried to track down an electrical fault or short knows
it takes a dedicated procedure of replacing one component in a system at a
time until the culprit is revealed. In a couple of recent bird song
recordings I heard a faint rumble suggesting wind, when it was a very still
day. Furthermore I was using a Rycote Softie over a Sennheiser ME67 which
was more than up to the task of any light breeze. I found this anomaly on =
a
recording of Eastern Wood-Pewee and Gray Catbird, the latter to which I hav=
e
linked. The sound is very subtle. After changing out microphone cables, K6
power modules, headphones, mic capsules and comparing other microphones on
the same recorder, I was able to isolate it to a length of Canare cable tha=
t
I had assembled myself with Neutrik connectors. When I disassembled the
suspect connector there was no reason to think there was an issue since the
contacts were well soldered. Nevertheless I rebuilt it and the issue has
gone. In a quiet room the click or rumble has disappeared. However, with
the first installation I had used some old, no, make that very old, solder.
The new assembly is with new solder. I hope I am right, and I pass this
along for the benefit of others who may face a similar aggravation.
https://soundcloud.com/russ-wigh/gray-catbird-1
Russ Wigh
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