|
|
Project #2 - Ambisonic Demo - Experimental 2 |
Ambisonic Microphone Experimental 2 in the upper Llano River with original windscreen. (1:00) |
Few projects stand on their own without finding a few
revisions that would make them even better. Except for
the phantom powering capabilities, I achieved the
"wish list" redesign plans from my original experimental
ambisonic microphone: smaller size, pc boards, repeatable
gain settings, a-format outputs, and higher sound pressure
level acceptance without clipping.
It is a treat to plug in a new project and make its first field recordings, especially when it works well. |
An outing to Kingsland, Texas, gave me the opportunity
to record sounds of the upper Llano River flowing over
granite bedrock. I used the windscreen (foam and furry)
from the first version of the mic for this exercise, but
the wind was nonexistant and the water flowing fast.
That is, until a cold front blew through later in the
afternoon. I made recordings from 4 different locations
in the river, one was unusable due to the strong wind.
The second field recording was made by setting the microphone on my front porch and feeding dry cat food to the dozen feral cats that hang out around the house. A picture on the next page shows the groupies around the microphone which now has a new foam and furry windscreen from TheWindCutter.com. My ACTLab presentation consisted of showing the new microphone and playing the surround playback of the second river recording and the cats eating. Each sound segment was preceeded with a projected picture of the object of each recording session. I was pleased to hear Experimental 2 sound at least as well as the first tetrahedral ambisonic microphone I built in the spring of 2008 (Soundscapes), especially with a new set of electronics. I plan to continue to make recordings in various environments and to present these as opportunities arise. |