Direct mp3 download or play: Springtime Ambience 2010
Here is a new recording I made using microphones installed on the outside of my house. You can go here to see pictures of the microphones I’m using, and by the way, these still the original mikes. They have endured cold, moisture, squirrels, and birds pecking at them and they still work quite well.
Shown here are Countryman Type 85 direct boxes, an electret condenser microphone phantom power inserter box (middle and behind direct boxes), and a Mackie 1202VLZ mixer. The two brown cables are the balanced audio coming from the direct boxes connected to channels 1 and 2 on the mixer. The mixer provides 48 volts of regular phantom power to the direct boxes.
Below the direct boxes, electret phantom power inserter and mixer is a DBX 166A compressor and a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro DSP1100P. I explain how all of this works here. This is how I can make really inexpensive microphones sound reasonably good. Imagine putting Neumann U87’s out in the rain, just to get an ambient recording. As far as I know they are the finest microphones made (over $2,000 each) and they would be ruined. With my arrangement, I get good results (I understand that is a matter of opinion and there is really no comparison between good studio microphones and the mikes I am using) and if a microphone fails I can just get another one for less than three dollars from Radio Shack.
This is another post that was deleted by mistake. Sorry, I lost the comments.
2 users commented on " Springtime Ambience 2010 (updated) "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackDid you use the dbx compressor as sort of a limiter? Or to bring the levels up (or both)?
And how is your Behringer holding up? I’ve had two of their units, and had issues with both (one of them died, and the other has knob wobble).
A DBX 166A compressor and a Behringer Feedback Destroyer are connected in series on the channel insert jacks on channels 1 and 2 on the Mackie mixer. I’ve had no problems with either of the units up to now. The DBX is absolutely essential for controlling the levels from noise outsde my window, like The Blue Angels jets directly overhead during Seafair. The Behringer is set to parametric equalizer operation for affecting the sound quality, not feedback reduction. Go to http://www.negativland.com/dumb/blog/?p=62 for more information.