When recording live audio with a dynamic microphone, a good recordist may want to know what is the maximum sound pressure level that mic can handle without distorting. As with many such seemingly basic questions in audio, the answer is not so simple.
CES 2017 has come and gone with most press reporting Virtual Reality landed with a virtual thud. My view of CES is different because I see two very different types of VR.
One of the most popular microphone specs is frequency response. However, is the frequency response spec really an accurate description of a microphone’s sound characteristics?
Self-noise in a microphone is important if the recordist is seeking to come as close as possible to making a clean, noise-free recording. But how does one read self-noise specs and what numbers are good and bad when making a decision on which microphone to use?
The glamor of TV sports journalists swarming and reporting from big pre-game venues is nearly impossible for visiting fans to ignore, but the real TV action on and off the field is invisible without a spectrum analyzer.
This year’s NFL Super Bowl telecast, to be broadcast live on the Fox Sports Network, will once again provide a proving ground for the latest remote audio and video technology, with a few new twists thrown in for an added “wow” factor. Interestingly, much of the big game will be shot in 4K and HD simultaneously, although Fox Sports will be broadcasting the main action live in 1080i HD resolution.
Over the past decade, video cameras have shrunk. As cameras have gotten smaller, so have the camera support systems used in professional production. Now, there are many substitutes for using a traditional tripod and head on location.
When using different microphones, some models require less gain than others. In layman’s terms, that means some mics are “hot” or especially “loud” while others are not. In technical terms, this is “sensitivity.” But what does it mean and why does it matter to the sound recordist?
