The Immoral Mr Teas

Someone needs advice on THAT? Cripes, the rare recent times I've seen the (older) R4 for sale in UK it's been asking around two and a half grand UK. I would jump hoops for an R4 the price of a F8. I stick with my advice to buy non-uber grade (but decent stuff that won't be regretted). But IF an R4 came up for a grand or less, yes JUMP at the chance to buy the ultimate 'traveller's recorder' ... So when are all you R4+ owners going to have a clearout of your old R4 units? If you're offering at this price please call me first! Jez

I agree with Wandering Ear in that the sound itself is more important than the noise floor of equipment. My first 'tour' was with my then quite new Sony Pro, a bag of That's cassettes and a borrowed Sony ECM 50 tie mic. Those recordings are still as fascinating to me at least as much as the professional recordings I've done since with Bruel & Kjaer, Schoeps and Sennheiser mics into Sound Devices and Cantar recorders. The 7 series recorders are a pleasure to use and if you got one you'd no doubt be very happy with it (and like my Walkman maybe never want to part with it even when eventually managing to 'upgrade') - however, an F4 or even a DR 70 would quite probably serve you well (and I've found I can usually pick up AA batteries even in Tibetan village stores whilst recharging other battery types can often prove impossible ... meaning you can't record anything and HAVE to just sit down and listen to the world). Secondly, out of my 30+ mic collection my most often used are a pair of DPA 4060 omni lavs and a pair of Senn 8040s. The 4060s go on every trip now, even if I only take a little pocket recorder (with 'OK' preamps rather than 'good' ones). They can be set up as binaurals, widened out into spaced omnis and hung in the most ridiculous setups (from trees, over cliff tops, whatever). They would be my first choice, and 'upgrade' (or rather sideways-grade since you'll never stop using the 4060s) to quieter mics (MKH 20s for instance) when you have more money. Also you'll learn by doing, so a year of recording MS will teach you good MS technique, a year of recording with paired cardioids (various angles like eg ORTF) will make you eventually know what you're doing and why. But I'd maybe be happy with a pair of Line Audios (and softies/rycote of some sort) as well. You'll eventually learn the recording side of things whilst (back to the start) hopefully get some interesting recordings of the world's noise. best, Jez

Thanks Aff, currently out of stock at my local Canford but I'm now looking to pick one of these up along with a couple of the other K&M table stands. Cheers, J

Cheers to both of you! Thanks, Jez

Do you have the model number for that K&M stand? Can't yet find it in their catalogue and looks to be a really nice compact (and hopefully reasonably light?) stand for travelling. Cheers, Jez

Cheers Karsten, interesting to know. It'll be good to see it when you get the chance. Jez

Well, I can see the aerial there, and when the mic's plugged in I envisage even more problems. Could you perhaps get a plant pot from props Jack and try that? Jez x

For those of us in the UK the inaugural concert is getting a broadcast on Radio 3 in a few minutes (and I presume it's available on BBC iplayer for a few weeks). Looks like a terrific programme for those who like modern noisy stuff, with Wolfgang Rihm etc. Jez

Rado, you must have missed my reply about John Willett and the Sennheiser dig module a few weeks ago. As far as I know, John made up his own cable: working at the time for Sennheiser he was aware that the module was 'stereo ready' even though the cables available were only mono. I agree that Sennheiser really should release a stereo y-cable commercially into the accessory range. i've bumped the thread where John talked about this (in links to two aes papers) - Daniel's 'Sennheiser vs Neumann' thread which should be close again. John's post is near the end of the thread. best, Jez

Bounced again for Rado (equipment wishes 2017 thread). Jez

Thirty more summers ... I love mumbling - just needs a great mixer to bring it out?

All I'll say at this point is - THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I'm going to download this tomorrow, print it out, and read it at leisure in a suitable environment - pub or crapper I expect, both ideal. I actually picked up an Edwardian era (prob?) schoolbook a while back describing sound first as physics then in several environments, including eg underwater and war (being WWI in this case). Thanks! I expect to enjoy this. Jez

You know what I want in POST? A great story ... A great performance .... beautifully recorded. Then I can get on with my REAL job ... which is? Yeah, I've forgotten ... j x (cheers, afmy!)

Not radios, but every single one of my microphones (40+?) is analogue out. I don't record production sound, but I do record stereo, multichannel stereo etc and positional multichannel. So, yes, please, long live analogue in too! Jez

Anything is indestructible if you try harder?

Great idea! Try it with a Cinela too while you're at it and let us know how they compare in pure strength! J

Plenty of room for other gadgets/features ... 10 linear faders and a huge screen. I think they perhaps looked hard at the F8 ergonomics in the design stage (TA3M outputs etc) ... ! No, a doggy bag of cable adapters just to plug a mic that isn't an Audix into it is a huge price to pay, and I never thought I'd say it of the Cantar family (my favourite machines after the IV-S) but I reckon a serious design failure, and one I hope they manage to change before the assembly line. Jez

Well there's 'mini' and then there's 'mini, nb requires a bag of accessories for the simplest connection'. TA3M? How big exactly are 6 or 8 XLRs that meant this had to be a cable-monster to use? Jez Adamson

Personally I was upset when B&K then DPA decided to branch out beyond omni ... after all, who else has given us such a fine and varied range of omni response? Pressure gradient? Screw up the phase response? Bah! Jez x

Hi Rado, have a look at the 'Sennheiser vs Neumann' thread I've just resurrected and read John Willett's post about using a single MZD8000 with two microphones. That is what you meant isn't it? Jez

Rado, have a look at John Willett's thread (three above) and download and read his AES 130 'what's it all about' paper. On page six he mentions having made a custom y cable to clock and output two 8020s into one MZD8000 - and there's a photo - figure 10. Jez

Well I guess the former already exists but what we need manufactured is either an assembly mount to attach the two capsules to the preamp (maybe this can wait for the 'upcoming' 8030) or a cable assembly for the same purpose. Or both? Jez

SENNHEISER AGAIN! A 'production recordist's' (or - 'useful') bass cut for the MKH 80-series. Fixed roll off as per the existing bass cut, and some kind of additional roll off, whether switched or variable like the schoeps cut 1/2.

Not this case Tom. The 2810 power supply supplies 28V to the 4125 mic (and 36V to the 2642 preamplifier - at least in the successor 2810/4130 mic set). Other B&K equipment however does work on 200V, 130V and numerous other combinations, and the pre DPA (and current?) non-measurement (music) omnis which you're most probably thinking about had 130V versions, the 4003 and 4004. Yes that's right. A basic flat head screwdriver (the screw itself is fixed with a washer so you shouldn't lose it) will loosen the top which is then lifted off. Half the space inside fits the four batteries. The other half houses all the guts of the 2810, including two little holes to adjust microphone gain from 0-40dB. Dave, you have the full set of equipment there for one of the two possible channels of the 2810. First thing to do is open the 2810, check there's no dead batteries or battery damage inside. If not, fit four new 9v batteries (with switch in off position) then turn the switch to the Batt test middle position. If it lights, the 2810 is probably OK. Turn it back off, plug in the mic, turn back on (this is perfectly ok with cover still off) and hope that the mic and its preamplifier also still work. The output is unbalanced on the BNC - I use BNC-phono converters to connect to unbalanced XLR, phono, jack and minijack line-ins etc. You have the older model. It was replaced by the 4130 mic (also found on noise dose meters) and the later 2810 mic lemo connection to the 2642 preamplifier became a different 5 pin arrangement. Hope that helps. Let us know if it's clean inside and works. Jez Adamson

Well my 2017 is already set to be more prosperous than 2016 was, touch wood, ha ha - and I'm still four and a half hours away. So unless things go DREADFULLY wrong ... Happy New Year to you all MEANS Happy New Year to you all (whatever that means) so let's sit back and enjoy the new ride! Jez