@sarahurphy: hey thanks !!!. i am looking to sell these online is some ways and dont know much about it on  how to

We talked with an amazing lineup of guests about all angles of recording in the desert.

George Vlad, Thomas Rex Beverly, Bethan Kellough, Zach Goheen

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165 - Recording Deserts Roundtable

Bagley Wood Winter Morning

Here's an additional multi-capsule test. This time using a newly arrived battery module allowing me to run multiple stereo pairs into a single recorder.

All the clips were recorded a the same gain level with Primo EM172 or EM272 stereo pairs, a Sony PCM-A10 recorder and a Sound Professionals SPSB-1 9v battery module. I recorded a reference tone each time which I used in post to equalise the levels of the clips.

Clip 1: single stereo pair straight into the recorder
Clip 2: single stereo pair via the battery module. 8.1dB boost and a tiny reduction in noise compared to going straight into the recorder.
Clip 3: single stereo pair into a 4 way headphone splitter and into the battery module. 6.7dB boost and a tiny reduction in noise compared to going straight into the recorder.
Clip 4: two stereo pairs into a 4 way headphone splitter and into the battery module. 6.7dB boost and a further reduction in noise.
Clip 5: three stereo pairs into a 4 way headphone splitter and into the battery module. 5.7dB boost and a further reduction in noise.

End result with 3 stereo pairs via the battery pack = 5.7dB increase in volume and a pretty decent reduction in noise (compared to a single stereo pair going straight into the recorder).

Multiple Capsule Battery Pack Test

Magdalen College Chapel, Organ Practice

Magdalen College Chapel

Outside The Chapel

Preamp performance test of 3 popular recorders. I was in a very quiet room (background sound around 30dB SPL) with a metronome as the main sound source. The background sounds you hear were very faint in reality and almost not audible at all, so there is significant amplification going on with this test. 

The signals were level equalised in post to achieve equal loudness of the 'ticking' (normalisation followed by manual tweaking by ear as low frequency sounds always screw things up). Here's the running order:

1) Sony PCM-A10 with EM172 stereo pair
2) Sony PCM-M10 internal microphones
3) Sony PCM-M10 with EM172 stereo pair
4) Sony PCM-M10 with 8 x capsule EM272 stereo module
5) Sony PCM-M10 with 8 x capsule EM272 stereo module powered by external 9v battery
6) Olympus LS-10 with EM172 stereo pair
7) Olympus LS-10 with 8 x capsule EM272 stereo module
8) Olympus LS-10 with 8 x capsule EM272 stereo module powered by external 9v battery

Conclusion: 
Sony PCM-M10 internal microphones have more self-noise than the external microphones, even though they are some of the quietest portable recorder microphones that have ever been made. No surprise there and they are included in the test just as I was curious.

Performance with a standard EM172 stereo pair is the same across all three recorders. The self-noise of the microphones is clearly the limiting factor here so even the noisier preamps of the Sony PCM-A10 (rated at -116dB EIN) are not harming the signal.

Performance with the 8 capsule module is a different matter. The Sony PCM-M10 is disappointing. The signal has only slightly less noise than with a standard stereo pair and adding an external battery makes no difference. The Olympus LS-10 performs much better here despite having the same rated preamps as the Sony (-122dB EIN), although adding the external battery harms the performance which is very strange! 

I didn't test the 8 capsule module with the PCM-A10 as I get an extremely low volume signal and the preamps add to much noise, removing any benefit of having multiple capsules. I also get strange electromagnetic interference from the recorder (you can hear the internal clock) for some reason I can't explain.

Monster Portable Recorder Preamp Test

Farmoor Lapping Water

impro relaxing guitar playing with waves and birds fx for study and calm easy listening

freesound.org sound sound fx background by Innorecords

Zen Guitar Ocean

I wanted to test whether the Primo EM258s (same capsules used for the Lom mikroUsi) have low enough self-noise for recording in a quiet, natural environment. I recorded the following clips in the middle of winter in a relatively quiet local wood. I set the gain so that when played back at maximum volume on a computer or phone, the clips should be approximately the same volume as the sound was in reality. That meant setting the gain lower for the EM172s, which are a bit more sensitive than the EM258s.

The first section presents first the EM258s and then the EM172s without any gain added. This was a very quiet environment, so even at this very low playback volume, the noise of the EM258s (clip 1) is pretty noticeable, whereas the the EM172s sound pristine.

The next section presents the same two clips again with 12dB of gain added, which is probably a bit of a more 'typical' playback volume. The EM258s are very noisy now, with the EM172s still sounding great. There is a small amount of noise, but really very little.

The third section presents the same two clips again still with the 12dB of gain, but also with some noise reduction (Izotope RX8 spectral de-noise). Despite the noise reduction, the EM258 self-noise is still pretty noticeable. There has also been quite a loss of high frequency content meaning the birds are harder to hear now. The EM172s however fare much better. The self-noise is completely inaudible, and the high frequencies although attenuated, are still sufficiently present. In fact, you could say it makes them a bit more flat and natural sounding, in line with higher-end mics like the Audio Technica AT4022s, or Sennheiser MKH 8020s. 

Probably a bit of an obvious outcome based on the specs of the microphones, but it has confirmed for me that I should always have my EM172s with me for recording in quieter environments. They are more sensitive and have lower self-noise than the EM258s. In addition, they naturally have a boost in the high frequencies compared to other microphones, meaning you can apply significant noise reduction but without drastic loss of high frequency content. 

Apologies for my swallow, and the odd little crackling sounds throughout. I was wearing the microphones on the straps of my backpack and picking up some human self-noise!

Zen Guitar Ocean

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