Hi Calvin
What sort of "audio module" are you using? You should be able to get hold of
a low noise pre-amp which could boost the mic signal to line level for a
reasonable price (well, depending one what you call reasonable). Also, what
is the self-noise of the "better" microphone, compared to the sound level
you're recording? If it's say 15dB, and your source is 50dB, then 20dB of
completely noise free amplification will lift the microphone's self-noise to
an apparent level of 35dB, which will sound relatively loud. You probably
need to select the location, microphone, and amplification VERY carefully to
get good results!
I found this table, which may help you judge how difficult your task is:
Ballpark figures for the dB-SPL level of common sounds.
Sound dB-SPL
Jet engine at 3m 140
Threshold of pain 130
Rock concert 120
Accelerating motorcycle at 5m 110
Pneumatic hammer at 2m 100
Noisy factory 90
Vacuum cleaner 80
Busy traffic 70
Quiet restaurant 50
Residential area at night 40
Empty movie house 30
Rustling of leaves 20
Human breathing (at 3m) 10
Threshold of hearing (good ears) 0
Cheers
Jonathan Oakley
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Calvin Walker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 30 January 2001 10:18
> I use my Sony MD MZ-55 to record voices softly speaking
> (poems etc.). No
> background noises. I find the noise of the pre-amp to be a
> real problem.
> At first, I thought it was the mic, but I changed it for a much better
> one and I still have the same problem. I have tried plugging the mic
> into the line-in/optical input. It's less noisey, but the level is too
> low (even using an audio module from Sound Professionals). Any ideas
> would be most welcome?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word
"unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
