Direct mp3 download or play:  4th of July Ambience 2011

This time around, I kept it simple by using my Oktava MK-319 condenser microphones.  One was placed outside my front living room window facing west, and the other on my back deck facing east. The microphones were connected through my Yamaha model MG10/2 mixer and then to the computer. I recorded using VST Host and I used  one VST plugin called Barricade (a brick wall limiter). I kept the microphone gain controls on the mixer on the low side which preserved dynamics, and the limiter did not need to reduce the gain that often.  After that, I checked the recording waveform in Adobe Audition and I boosted the lows (below 100 hertz) by about 6db. I felt that was necessary because I had the low cut filter switched on at the microphones and on the mixer. The low cut was on because these mikes are very sensitive to wind noise. I think I overdid it though, because the the very low frequencies of the exploding fireworks put on by the city of  Seattle really weren’t audible on the recording. Finally, I converted the file to MP3 using Razorlame and the lame encoder. The file is 192 KBPS stereo and48 KHZ sampling rate. I’m not sure if 48 KHZ is a problem , but it is supposed to be better than 44.1 KHZ. Most MP3s are at 44.1. Let me know if it’s a problem and I’ll change this to 44.1. Enjoy!

Oktava MK-319 Condeser Microphones