1989

Found this video which I think very useful-
Technical Field Recording 14: Sound in Contact by Ian Smith

4 Likes
1990

Are they wide and narrow AB stereo pairs or some other more exotic quad arrangement?

1991

I recorded pops in a few configs, but I consider it as two seperate stereo images which I’ll also experiment as quad… Standing in the tunnel you really feel & hear the shockwave travel down the tunnel and bounce back, so I first setup with 8040 pair against the wall with one 8040 looking in/out the tunnel and the 8020s widely spaced further in and out the tunnel… Very interested to see if I can hear a doppler pass in the verb as I felt like I should be able to…
Then I reset as per the photo with a front on stereo image, 8040s in tight stereo and 8020s on wall edge… So for quad experiemnts I’d use the 8040 as front LR and 8020 as surrLR.
Not sure Altiverb has a balloon as an option for deconvolving, so I may have to record a pop in my fairly dead studio, and try using it…

But I wasn’t only recording it for IR use - its a fascinating & powerful sound as is… When I record in the more complex tunnels in Wellington I’ll be able to access power, so will use a sweep from studio speaker rather than balloon… and will rig mics in different rooms, corridors etc… Also have a long list of props etc I am going to take in there eg I have a marching bass drum and it will sound unreal in there!!

10 Likes
1992

Please put the IR on bandcamp!

3 Likes
1993

Sorry for a bit offtopic question but Sound Devices Mixpre3 is soon arriving in my mailbox. Going to power it with MX-LM1 - L Mount Battery Sled. Please recommend good batteries for it!?

1 Like
1994

I use Wasabi Power batteries for my 10II

They are good. Kastar is another good quality third party camera battery brand.

BUT if I had a 3 I’d power it with a USB power bank. Nitecore NB10000 specifically is awesome.

5 Likes
1995

Any suggestions on small protective bags for Sound devices mixpre3?

Also, where to get this type of handlebar for LOM Usi’s with magnetic mounts?

image
image750×749 88.3 KB

Edit: oh I could simply do it myself LOM knowledge base: research:diy_stereo_bar

6 Likes
1996

Here are some recordings from Durie Hill Tunnel.

No plans to release the IRs quite yet. There is another more complex set of tunnels in Wellington which I will access and as power is easily available I’ll record sweeps… and will aim to revisit Durie Hill & record sweeps there too, and then release an IR set.

21 Likes
1997

I thought that if you recorded a balloon burst or starter pistol then the recording is the impulse response and to use you simply load it into your reverb and off you go… but I could be wrong!

3 Likes
1998

Nifty article on using field recordings to help restore ecology:

Includes this nice Acoustic Monitoring guide for ecologist / conservationist:

11 Likes
1999

While yes you can use anything as an IR, but for example if you re-record a sweep or a starter pistol, you then load it into Altiverb and ask it to deconvolve. Altiverb then subtracts the clean original sound (clean sweep or starter pistol) from the recording, leaving only the verb. That’s the ideal/accurate way to capture a verb.

To use the balloon pop AND the verb, as an IR of course works and thats what I used at the start of the vid on some vinyl glitches. But thats not an accurate capture of the verb, its an accurate capture of a balloon popping with verb.

Altiverbs sweeps have a little bleep at the start and end, and you choose how long a sweep to use based on the maximum reverb time - I think the longest is 16 seconds (which means there is a 16 second gap after the sweep finishes, for the verb to die away, before the end bleep) If you didn’t deconvolve it, you’d hear a sine sweep with verb, which is not what you want.

As I understand it, capturing IRs via a sweep is the highest quality method, but it is not always possible as eg it would take a massive PA to excite a forest, whereas a starter pistol works ok. But still have to deconvolve to remove the clean starter pistol from the verb.

Altiverb also allows deconvolving from a clapper board, which is useful for extracting an IR from production sound and then using it to match ADR to DX.

Explained clearly and download sweeps etc here:

9 Likes
2000

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for clarifying. I didn’t know that kind of deconvolution was an option, so very handy to know. You have to admire their dedication to all things IR over at Audioease… expensive, but thorough!

1 Like
2001

They are great & much used in film mixes, but not the only option. Apple Logic (& MainStage) comes with an app Impulse Response Utility for doing the same process

2 Likes
2002

I just grabbed a pair of Ucho mics in the round put up today. I didn’t get any suspension or wind protection yet though and I’m wondering if anyone has tried a few different options. I was leaning towards a small Bubblebee windkiller or Rycote softie over the baby ball because they are more compact and less breakable, plus a set of either comes up much cheaper than the baby balls plus wind shields. But being designed for shotguns where you are rejecting most of your side signal anyway I’m wondering if the softie style covers would have a more drastic effect on the pickup of the small omni capsule. Anyone tried them or the bubblebee spacer kit with the Ucho or similar sdc mics?

1 Like
2003

For an interference-tube microphone to reject the off-axis signal, all of the sound has to arrive at the microphone. So the softies shouldn’t block lateral sounds. The omni directivity is an approximation: the higher the frequency, the less omni a microphone is.

Also the shorter “softies” from rycote are listed for use on omnis amongst other directivities (probably these lists of compatible microphones are more related to whether the diameter will fit, but well).
For practical purposes I would guess the effect of softies on directivity/frequency response is about the same as other “slip-on-mic” wind protection systems. I couldn’t find an online methodic comparison.

4 Likes
2004

Good points - thanks!

I did a lot of scrounging around for anyone else up against a similar question… I couldn’t find direct comparisons of everything but some tests I heard of the Rycote softies made them sound… not all that great. Granted you don’t know if the tester places them properly pulling them back a bit to create some dead air or not, but they seemed pretty disappointing given the price point and Rycote’s reputation. The long hair Bubblebee in comparison seemed much better. So for the money it seems best to either shell out and go for the Bubblebee softies or the Rycote ball. They seemed to sound/bleed a bit differently but the Movo actually seemed not all that bad given its price in comparison against the Softie, though of course there was still some wind distortion and they can’t really hold a candle next to the 'bee long hair. The baby ball if one has the budget and doesn’t mind carrying them around seems the best option though - all that extra dead air inside the ball seems to really help and probably allows for using a thinner and therefore maybe more acoustically transparent fur for the cover.

2005

I went through the same decision making process a few months back and ended up getting the rycote mount, baby ball, & wind shield (which I definitely felt as that’s more than the mics). I’m not that helpful because I can’t compare to the bumblebee or rycote shotgun softie. But I can say I’m very happy working in rather windy conditions with this setup. I could easily drop the wind shields as the day permits and be confident in my recordings.

1 Like
2006

anyone has/uses
Sony PCM-A10
?
any good…!?

2008

had the A10 for a couple years; loved it but ended up selling it recently.

had really excellent battery life, quick start up and easy navigation; very intuitive to use. loved the tiny form factor aswell.

its internal preamp is decent for field recordings, but not so great for line level recordings which is why i decided to let it go. I also disliked the digital gain settings which i had to continuously tweak to avoid clipping for every recording.

had a zoom h4n pro before that and it was just too chunky and clunky for my taste. I very much preferred the sony.

2 Likes
2009

I recently bought one again. I had one before and I really liked it. Mainly because of it’s size and that it plugs directly in the computer for transfer and charging.The mics are a bit noisy for quiet field recordings. But the pre amps are pretty good when you use it with external mics like clippy’s.
I also used it for line recordings liked it for that too…
I losted the one I had before. That’s a serious risk with a device this small.