Topic: Please Critique the Sound of my New Stealth Rig (ambience)

[glennjr]

I would love to hear any comments you have on the sound of my new stealth rig. It's designed for recording ambience in places where people might stop acting "normal" if they know they're being recorded. (markets, shops, etc)

In particular, I'm hoping to get feedback on the stereo image. Does it sound great, ok, bad, etc...? The mics, recorder and other hardware are what they are--and won't likely be changed--so I'm mainly trying to focus on mic placement and where I've chosen to conceal them.

If you don't mind, I'd like to hold back on telling you how I have them positioned and where they are located until a few people have commented.

This recording was done on the street near my house. Basically a lot of car/scooter(and one bus at the end) pass-bys. A major street is off on the left side with a lot of traffic. Some fireworks can be heard early on in the distance. The height is about 125cm off the ground.

It doesn't represent what I intend to record, but I thought the pass-bys would do a good job of highlighting the stereo field and any problems it may have.

Any comments at all, good/bad/ugly are appreciated about any aspect of the recording. (except some occasional wind noise...I'm using homemade furrys at the moment)

Thanks!!!

https://soundcloud.com/buddhafx/stealth-rig-test-on-the-street

[F.O.Bean]

I'll go first. I think the 3-d realism is fine and for recording a street, sounds fine on my playback. Not too much highend/lowend/midrange/etc......Its really hard to tell ANYTHING from a street recording tho. Take it to a guy playing guitar on the street or something to get a better idea of how your rig sounds

[glennjr]

Thanks!

Yeah, I figured that could be one problem. Not much going on in a street recording. Also a lot of professionalism here for critiquing music recordings - but figured I'd give it a try.

I'll be on the lookout for any "starving street musicians". Not too many of them in this country for whatever reason. Maybe I can find some "starving math studiers" looking for a handout.   Ok, bad joke!

I know of an outdoor place that usually has a live singer on a PA, sometimes with a guitar. Will see if I can capture something there. Might be better to post that as an example

BTW Bean, the mics I'm using for this rig might not be what you're thinking.