Microphones – Part II

Last week, I conducted several one-on-one interviews using the Audio-Technica Pro24 microphone.  All the interviews were done around a kitchen table (or smaller table). 

I positioned the microphone between us, placing the mike a few inches off center, so that we were speaking at about a 70 degree angle to the front of the mike.  Centering the mike between the two of us would have meant we were speaking at about a 90% angle and thus into the side of the mike.  I don’t know if that makes any difference or not.  We sat about 18 inches from the mike, but I’m sure we moved around a bit.  (Will load a picture of the setup later.)

 Results (in terms of how the raw audio files sound):

• Listening through the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 recorder, the audio files sound good – crisp and clean.   The voices are way out front of any background noises.  Because the Audio-Technica Pro24 is a stereo mike, you can hear both voices in both speakers.  However, one voice is dominant on the left speaker; the other voice is dominant on the right.    
• Listening in Windows Media Player after uploading the files to the laptop, the audio sounds good as well, although I had to turn the volume up more than normal.  That concerns me a little.
• Burning to a CD and listening to the CD, the audio sounds very good.  (Which is good news.  I can easily burn the files onto a CD and give them to the interviewees.)

• Opening the files in Audacity, they sound good, but the waveform is much smaller (i.e. less amplitude) than previous audio files created using the Sennheiser MD 46 mike.  That concerns me.  

My next focus will be editing.  I am not sure how the audio will sound after being edited and exported as a MP3 file again.   It will also be interesting to see how the stereo effect impacts the editing process.