I’ve read the microphones on a Sony PCM-D50 Portable recorder are not great and I was wondering exactly how “not great” they might be? Sound Designer Gordon McGladdery [aka A Shell In The Pit] mentioned something about binaural microphone recordings and I jumped at the chance to do a comparison recording. Plus I thought it would be a good excuse to hang out with Gordon.
1. River Ambience Recordings in North VancouverWe drove around until we found a location near Deep Cove with a large stream, away from busy car traffic. This was a good opportunity to record ambience with a lot of detailed information to highlight transient response in the test microphones.
2.Traffic Drive-Bys in East VancouverFor this test we used two different recorders so we can compare the exact recording. Because we used 2 different recording devices simultaneously (Tascam DR-05 and Sony PCM-D50) we expected some difference in the mic preamps and D/A converters. It’s not 100% scientific but it’s a useful test.
I've posted the comparisons files, audio frequency curves and pictures on by blog. The raw files are available for download (about 200Mg) there as well.
http://hybridsoundworks.com/?p=1977Let me know if you find this comparison useful, of if you have any questions.
YannEA