3 audio shootouts planed

Philip Goetz

Philip Goetz

Well-known member
We are planning 3 shootouts at my office:


1. Portable recorders in a "black cab / take away show" style. It's when you get a musician with an acoustic guitar and drive around while they play a song. Recorders will be the Sony PCM-D50, Zoom H4N and the Olympus LS-M20. This may seem like a hodgepodge because they were released in 2006, 2009 and 2011 respectively, but I have access to all of them and want to see the results. Interesting enough the LS-M20 records full 1080 video as well. We will videotape the sessions over all. The video will indicate which audio you are hearing at any given time.


2. Mono-shotgun mics are next. We have 10 of them from $75 al the way up to the $1300 MHK8060 from Sennheiser. We are focusing on mics used in a filmmaking application so this wold be useful for location sound folks in video production. I am torn as to the content that would work best. I am leaning towards a ukulele player singing and playing in a field and then on a crowded street corner. Again, we will video tape the occasion over all.


3. Stereo shotgun mics are the last one. We have the Sony ECM678, Audio Technica BP4029 and 815. Three of them. Not sure the subject material of this test but wanted to see what everyone thought.


We also have the Audio Technica AT-8022, AT-2022 and various 1/8 on camera mics from AT, Sennheiser and Rode. I will work these into the mix somewhere.


Do you all want to see raw / unprocessed audio or would you stand a little mastering on it?


www.vimeo.com/txmedia

I have reached out to brethren over at the Recording Review form to see what they think.

http://forum.recordingreview.com/f43/3-shootouts-coming-soon-41182/#post296217
 
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This is going to be awesome. I know it would be hard for me to not process at all, even if I said it was completely raw. As long as the recordings are clean a little processing never hurt anyone. Looking forward to this!
 
OMG this will be ridiculously awesome. Thanks so much for doing this! I think raw would be better. But that is just my little opinion. Thanks.

Could you also include the Sony PCM M10, if possible?

Many thanks.
 
If possible, I'd also like to see recorders under $300 included too: perhaps pick 1 or 2 from $100-199 and another 1 or 2 from $200-299? Thanks.
 
My friend, if you do these tests, you are going to be my personal Jesus. Incredibly awesome! Looking forward to it!
 
I'm interested in hearing the results, and I ask that you not process any audio beyond level matching. Level matching alone will give a clear picture of the character of the mics/recorders, and also expose differences in signal to noise ratio. When one mic is louder than another in a "head to head" comparison, the louder mic reads as "better", so please work to keep the levels as equal as possible while recording, then fine tune in post. Any processing beyond that will skew the results, as EQ will change the character of the sound and hide the character of the mics and compression will raise the noise level. If you EQ a mic, that may for example make it brighter, and then we think the mic sounds brighter than it really does.

As a side note, what is a stereo shotgun even for? I can't really think of a practical application in the work I do, which is about everything.
 
I've used a stereo shotgun for nature recording, car bys, airplanes and helicopters flying overhead. They are a great addition to any sound effects recordists kit.

For the mono shotguns, I'd do tests in the way people actually use them, meaning in a dramatic scene. Get a script with two actors, do the scene inside, and then the same scene outside. It'll be tough since you'd have to shoot the scene for each mic, so if you have 10 microphones, that means shooting it 10 times, and there can be variations such as mic placement, if you are using a boom op. If you do this, use a good boom op.
 
OK I get it. Nature and SFX makes sense when you want to reduce side noise. I guess I just used my stereo cardioid pair for stuff like that, but I can totally see the value of it being in a shotgun form. I've just never seen a stereo shotgun.
 
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I don't have a PCM M10. I do understand about the pricing categories. If someone is listening to one mic and then one that costs 10 times as much it would be good to know. This will definitely apply to the regular shotgun portion but not to the stereo recorder or stereo mic section. I only have 3 recorders and 3 stereo mics.
@chadfish, thanks for the comments. It is usually the case that something louder sounds better. We will level match as best we can.
@davefisk, you are right. I talked to one guy who used a stereo shotgun regularly. He video taped airplanes. He would run one channel right on and then the other a little low. This would save some headroom in case there was audio louder than expected. Kind of a sort of limiter, though not technically, just a limiting technique it could be called.

Send more feedback as it occurs. I'll post the lit of mics soon. I hope to wrap this all by the middle of September.

Thx.
 
http://vimeo.com/33237050

Texas Media Systems decide to try and compare 4 different stereo microphones while we drove around Austin.

The Stereo Mics in use:

Audio Technica AT2022 (Recorded into a Canon XA10)
Audio Technica AT8022 (Recorded into a Zoom H4N)
Zoom H4N
Sony PCM D50

All audio recorded in 24bit/48kHz with 80 Hz low cut.

Video shot on a Canon XA10 in 1080p/29.97fps, AVCHD 4:2:0

Export in H.264 limited to 5000kbps with audio reduced to 16bit/48kHz PCM uncompressed.
 
Chadfish said:
OK I get it. Nature and SFX makes sense when you want to reduce side noise. I guess I just used my stereo cardioid pair for stuff like that, but I can totally see the value of it being in a shotgun form. I've just never seen a stereo shotgun.
Click to expand...

I had the same question since it's really not possible to have a stereo shotgun. What I heard from manufacturers is that what you really have is a shotgun and a stereo capsule and you can switch between the two. FX folks use them because it's a good alternative to carrying two rigs. But it's more correctly a stereo/shotgun not a stereo shotgun. If that makes sense.
 
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