SanJacobs

I got a friend of mine to try some loud WOOOs with one of his 6060s at his chest, transmitted through an MTP40S, in a quiet environment. Here it is on a spectogram. Each yell is slightly louder than the last, and it is as clear to the ear as it is to the eye, that it has this fuzzy noisy distortion coming in. It doesn't sound like harmonic distortion, but rather like the overloading of an old webcam microphone. I'm not 100% certain that this is coming from the 6060, but I would think the MTP40s preamp would distort by adding harmonics, not this noise stuff. It certainly didn't clip digitally, though, so it must be one of them. His yell seemed extreme in that quiet environment, but if he was next to a busy highway or something, it might just seem like a slightly above average yell. And I think any level of raspiness in a yell like this would mask the distortion. Put that in a less silent environment, and maybe it won't grab your attention. Maybe. Considering this test, I'm now happy to report that it seems both my fears are true. There is a reason these two are separate microphones, made for different circumstances. Great. Personally, I'm more scared of the noise floor, than I am of the noisy type of distortion I hear in this test. So I'm starting to lean in the 6060's direction again.

So many things that I'd like to see on the F8 that don't seem to be coming. Disable recording on individual channels, while they're still active. That would allow for running a comms setup through it. AES input. Or alternatively, it does have a USB port that already can take 4 inputs. They can even be selected from the channel options. Theoretically, this means an SL-2 for the F8 should be possible. At least they're making the Android app. That's nice.

Ah, ok. I now see your EDIT section about their free field sensitivity specs. I can't believe I never realized how crazy the 20 mV/Pa spec is. That's both scary and tempting. Both the COS-11D and the 6060 have a 1% THD max SPL of 123 dB, and I have yet to have trouble with the Sanken distorting, so that's something. Nice. Well, I'd expect them to cope well with loud shouts, because that's what they're made for. However, the question is if you start dipping into the noise floor when people get quiet? I think this trend is happening globally too, but especially in Norwegian cinema, actors have been getting quieter and quieter for the quiet scenes, but the yelling hasn't gotten any less loud. If 0 or 1 got you a good range, then that sounds absolutely ideal, but if you had issues with clipping when they got loud and you were at gain level 0, then that would be bad. Do you recall clipping being a problem?

I see this opinion pretty often, but I just can't agree. You use 32-bit float for the same reason that I assume you don't go out of your way to disable the analog limiters on your mixers and recorders, or say that pro gear shouldn't have limiters. In case it's about to clip. However, with the limiter, you lose the dynamics of the sudden yell, but with 32-bit float, you don't. It's just a better alternative to a limiter. If you can do 32-bit float, you have no reason to be using a limiter anymore. (Unless you're for some reason concerned about the extra 8 bits of storage usage pr sample, or the device has to disable other features to give you 32-bit float.)

Thanks, @Sebi. Luckily, I'm not expecting my lavs to do anything other than dialogue. I suppose those 40-series were bought prior to them introducing their CORE tech?

I'm looking to make the switch from Sanken's COS11d to DPA's 606X lavaliers. However, it's not cost effective for me to buy a full set of 6060s and 6061s. And I've seen a good few location sound mixers such as Tom Williams' lavalier collection being made up of 90% 6061 mics, which are the high SPL, low sensitivity variant of the 6060. My instinct would be to think that this isn't good, because it requires more gain out of the tiny transmitter preamps, leading to more noise, but if the top dogs are doing it, it can't be that bad, right? However, with DPA's CORE tech, is the advantage of higher SPL tolerance worth the risk of noise? What are your thoughts on this? My current transmitters are MTP40s Wisycoms, though I do use Audio Ltd. A10s sometimes, if that is relevant.