July 15, 2024

The Sony Microphone Saga: High-Resolution Recording with Craig Field

The Sony Microphone Saga: High-Resolution Recording with Craig Field

In this weeks episode of The Pro Audio Suite, we delve into the world of high-resolution audio and the development of cutting-edge microphones with our special guest, Craig Field. Known for his work at the National Archives of Australia and his...

In this weeks episode of The Pro Audio Suite, we delve into the world of high-resolution audio and the development of cutting-edge microphones with our special guest, Craig Field. Known for his work at the National Archives of Australia and his intriguing collaboration with Sony, Craig shares the fascinating journey of co-developing a groundbreaking microphone that has revolutionized high-resolution audio recording.

Hosts:

  • Robert Marshall, Source Elements and Someone Audio Post, Chicago
  • Darren "Robbo" Robertson, Voodoo Radio Imaging, Sydney
  • George "The Tech" Whittam, LA
  • Andrew Peters, Voiceover Talent and Home Studio Guy

Special Guest:

  • Craig Field, National Archives of Australia and co-developer of the Sony microphone

Sponsors:

  • Tribooth: The best vocal booth for home or on-the-road voice recording. Use code TRIPAP200 for $200 off.
  • Austrian Audio: Making passion heard.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  1. The Story Behind the Sony Microphone:

    • Craig's journey from owning Elkwood Studio in Sydney to collaborating with Sony.
    • The development process and challenges of creating a high-resolution microphone.
  2. High-Resolution Audio:

    • The significance of high-resolution audio in different parts of the world, particularly in Japan and Europe.
    • How high-resolution audio formats like DSD and PCM are utilized and appreciated.
  3. Technical Innovations:

    • The importance of having high-quality microphones to complement advanced A/D converters, digital preamps, and cable technology.
    • Details about the Sony C-100 microphone and its unique capabilities, including its ability to capture frequencies up to 50kHz.
  4. Real-World Applications:

    • Recording a unique performance on the world's largest piano built by Wayne Stewart, using the Sony microphones.
    • How high-frequency recording is beneficial for sound effects and Foley work.
  5. Microphone Technology:

    • The significance of anti-vibrational technology in microphones to minimize reverberance within the capsule.
    • Comparisons with other high-end microphones and the innovative features of the Sony microphones.

A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth...

Tri-Booth

https://tribooth.com/

And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear.. 

https://austrian.audio/

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“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”

Hunter S Thompson

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?

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Let's get started.

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Welcome Hi Hi Hi Hello everyone!

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to the Pro Audio Suite.

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These guys are professional, they're motivated.

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Thanks to Tribooth, the best vocal booth for

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home or on the road voice recording, and

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Austrian Audio, making passion heard.

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Introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and Someone

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Audio Post, Chicago.

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Darren Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging, Sydney.

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Tech to the VO Stars.

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George the Tech Whittam from LA.

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And me, Andrew Peters, voiceover talent and home

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studio guy.

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Line up, man!

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Here we go!

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And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite, thanks

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to Tribooth.

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Don't forget the code TRIPAP200.

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That will get you $200 off your Tribooth

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and Austrian Audio, making passion heard.

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We have a guest today, Craig Field, who

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works for the National Archives of Australia, but

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also was a guy who co-developed with

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Sony a microphone.

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Intriguing.

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Now, Robbo, you've been chatting with Craig.

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What's the story?

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Well, Craig, you might as well tell the

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story.

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You used to own a studio here in

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Sydney called Elkwood before you moved on to

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the archives, but you got involved with Sony

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somehow along the way.

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Tell the story.

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Look, it's a great story.

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Sony were very interested in developing a new

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series of microphones.

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High resolution audio, particularly in Australia, is not

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really a big thing.

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But in Japan, it's quite a thing.

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People listen to DSD files and high res

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PCM files.

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And throughout Europe, it's always been quite a

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substantial part of the market over there, actually.

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And a lot of the larger classical labels

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have kept it going since pre-CD days.

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So those formats, although they're not very popular

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in America or in Australia, they're really quite

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substantial.

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So Sony still make high resolution players, like

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little Walkman players that they sell lots of.

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And they sound quite amazing.

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And I guess the main thing that they

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really discovered was the main thing missing from

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the whole high resolution market was the microphones.

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Because the A to D converters were there,

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the digital preamps were there, the cable technology

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and the ability to record in multiple stereo

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fields was available.

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But they didn't sort of have the technology

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for the microphones.

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And you guys would probably know the reasons

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like Neumann's original reasons to do with phase

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problems above 20k and the development as they

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develop their microphones.

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That's why those things were kept at that

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point in that period of time when microphone

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development happened.

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And so to cut a very long story

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short, I was pretty much just working in

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my smaller studio in the Blue Mountains in

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beautiful Australia, where I had a Steinway Model

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D concert piano at that time, although I

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think I may have moved on to the

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Yamaha.

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And I was very focused on doing specialist

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high resolution recordings.

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And obviously that found its way to Sony

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and they heard about me.

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And they sent a man called David Green,

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who was the product development manager for these

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microphones.

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And he went to a number of different

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studios in Australia, including some of the really

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big ones that I won't mention.

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And they sort of laughed at him saying,

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what do you need a microphone that goes

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up to 50k for?

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And how ludicrous is that?

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And anyway, he ended up, if I recall

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correctly, he actually just caught the train up

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to the Blue Mountains and knocked on my

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door.

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And as you guys would know, rarely do

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you get someone at your studio, just knock

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on the door with a bag of microphones

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saying, hey, hello, here I am from Sony.

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So that started and I was sent the

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first beta models.

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There are a few little problems with those

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models.

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I did a lot of recordings and a

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lot of analysis, which I sent through to

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the Sydney office and then went to Japan.

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And we worked together on ironing out a

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lot of the different issues that occurred in

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that development.

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And then we moved on from that to

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a performance, which I'll share a video link

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for, which is on the Sony website, which

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was in Australia, there's a piano manufacturer called

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Wayne Stewart.

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And he's world renowned.

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He makes pretty much the finest pianos in

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the world.

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Steinway will send someone out to take me

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down for saying that.

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But Wayne has made some pretty big advancements

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in the development of the piano.

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And one of the pianos that he designed

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is called the Ballura and it's the largest

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piano in the world.

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It's got an additional two octaves on it.

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And it also is three meters in length.

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Three meters!

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Have you seen the one that the guy

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builds from Latvia or something?

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He builds it against a wall.

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It's got to be like, I mean, the

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low string is a couple of stories tall.

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It's insane.

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The Stewart's piano, it's not a kind of

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an experimental art piece.

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It's an actual product.

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Yeah, it's an incredible thing.

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And he built it using 1800-year-old

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Tasmanian sassafras wood that he pulled out of

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a river in Tasmania.

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And it's spectacular.

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And it's down in Ballura.

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So the whole event, I put together this

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big production because I'm a bit of a

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Bach nut and Bach had made a few

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adventures.

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We're talking Timber and you're talking Bach.

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Hey P, I could see where you were

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going.

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There was no Bach on the piano though,

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right?

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No, but Bach had made a few organs

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in his time and he was very much

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a man ahead of his time.

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And he had written on a couple of

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different pieces, suggested ideas, should anyone be able

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to extend the range of the piano or

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the organ in that time.

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And so I knew about that particular piece

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and I work with a lot of concert

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pianists.

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So we went down to Ballura to the

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inauguration of this giant piano.

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And with Sony, we recorded with their new

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microphones, the first recording of this extended piece

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of Bach music on the largest piano in

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the world.

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So the whole thing took a few years,

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obviously, and there's a great documentary on the

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Sony website.

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It was one of their most popular videos

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that they did for a thing they called

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Sony Stories.

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So we documented the whole thing over a

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period of years.

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And yeah, it was a very exciting thing

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to do as an engineer.

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So what's the model of the Sony, that

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microphone?

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Did you say it was C-100?

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Yeah, this is a C-100.

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And they also brought out a range of

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pencil microphones that just use the smaller capsule,

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but they're still linear from sort of 20

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to 50k.

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Who is listening up to 50k?

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It's not so much the listening, it's a

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culmination of different perspectives.

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Firstly, obviously, it's pretty easy to record at

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192 these days or at 96k.

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And therefore, you can remove some of the

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Nyquist filtering that's happening in all of our

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digital recordings.

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And by extending that Nyquist filter, that filter

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changes quite drastically as you change it.

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So for me, working at 32 bit 384

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PCM or in DXD, there is no Nyquist

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filtering.

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So there's no truncation at any level across

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any of the frequencies.

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You just let it alias way up there

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in the Netherlands of...

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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But the other use for these high frequencies

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is you can do Foley and you can

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record ice breaking and then slow it down

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and still have meaningful information that drops down

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into the recording, which is just amazing for

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sound effects, for example.

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Sure, I see that.

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That's one of the reasons why people have

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recorded at 192, for example, was the Foley

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market.

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But in the high resolution market of recording

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at DSD, for example, the fact that the

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first DSD recordings and for many, many years,

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you can't edit a DSD file because it's

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a one bit file or it used to

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be.

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And so you can't cut a bit.

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And so for the audio file market and

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the audio purists and for a lot of

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the musicians as well, the idea that no

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one could tamper with that recording, no one

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can edit that moment in time and that

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it was captured in full range and full

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frequency without any intervention has been a really

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interesting part of the audio world that never

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really made it to America or Australia or

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England for that, who developed recording techniques and

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developed post-production techniques.

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So the Europeans went sort of the other

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way and said, how about we get engineers

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out of the way?

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How about we just record and make sure

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no one can ever tamper with that?

238
00:09:48,690 --> 00:09:50,390
So that's a very...

239
00:09:50,390 --> 00:09:51,310
What was the distribution method for that?

240
00:09:51,490 --> 00:09:54,010
It was discs, like Sony had the dual

241
00:09:54,010 --> 00:09:58,130
discs that were CD and DSD smashed together

242
00:09:58,130 --> 00:09:58,770
in one.

243
00:09:59,730 --> 00:10:00,810
SACD, yeah, SACD, gotcha.

244
00:10:01,350 --> 00:10:04,050
And also I have a record label with

245
00:10:04,050 --> 00:10:08,190
native DSD and had a label in partnership

246
00:10:08,190 --> 00:10:11,030
with Sony during that time to release some

247
00:10:11,030 --> 00:10:11,710
of those files.

248
00:10:11,850 --> 00:10:15,410
That Bach recording is available on native DSD.

249
00:10:16,310 --> 00:10:17,630
Was it Pyramix?

250
00:10:17,710 --> 00:10:19,030
It was the only ones that did a

251
00:10:19,030 --> 00:10:20,610
DSD editor, I believe, right?

252
00:10:21,250 --> 00:10:22,850
Did anybody else do DSD editing?

253
00:10:24,070 --> 00:10:26,630
There were a few different people like Sequoia

254
00:10:26,630 --> 00:10:28,410
used to be able to do DSD when

255
00:10:28,410 --> 00:10:30,090
it first came out and things like that.

256
00:10:30,090 --> 00:10:32,810
So there were a few, but most of

257
00:10:32,810 --> 00:10:34,690
them have fallen away and dropped it as

258
00:10:34,690 --> 00:10:35,170
a format.

259
00:10:35,570 --> 00:10:37,750
And Pyramix still offers DSD, but there is

260
00:10:37,750 --> 00:10:40,650
no real native one-bit recording now because

261
00:10:41,750 --> 00:10:44,550
the chips are advanced enough to be able

262
00:10:44,550 --> 00:10:47,710
to offer four bits or five bits without

263
00:10:47,710 --> 00:10:48,950
any major errors.

264
00:10:49,410 --> 00:10:52,910
So there's not really that pure one-bit

265
00:10:52,910 --> 00:10:55,230
recording that used to be.

266
00:10:55,230 --> 00:10:59,690
So there are some editing options in Pyramix.

267
00:10:59,770 --> 00:11:01,890
You can do some editings in DSD and

268
00:11:01,890 --> 00:11:04,830
that makes the file a PCM file for

269
00:11:04,830 --> 00:11:07,010
that edit and then joins it back together.

270
00:11:08,350 --> 00:11:10,130
Just to bring you guys up to speed,

271
00:11:10,230 --> 00:11:11,950
the way one-bit recording works is it's

272
00:11:11,950 --> 00:11:13,370
always looking at the next bit and it

273
00:11:13,370 --> 00:11:15,710
just says, is the next bit above or

274
00:11:15,710 --> 00:11:16,950
below where I was before?

275
00:11:17,010 --> 00:11:21,390
It's almost like a delta-sigma converter taken

276
00:11:21,390 --> 00:11:22,350
to the extreme.

277
00:11:22,910 --> 00:11:25,330
And so it's just floating there.

278
00:11:25,430 --> 00:11:26,790
Am I higher or lower than I was

279
00:11:26,790 --> 00:11:28,150
before in the sample rate?

280
00:11:28,510 --> 00:11:29,550
What's the sample rate of DSD?

281
00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:31,230
Like 2.8 megahertz or something?

282
00:11:31,610 --> 00:11:32,410
Yeah, 2.8 megahertz.

283
00:11:32,990 --> 00:11:35,410
It's so up there that the rise time

284
00:11:35,410 --> 00:11:38,010
is instantaneous practically anyway.

285
00:11:38,230 --> 00:11:39,990
So higher, higher, higher, higher.

286
00:11:40,110 --> 00:11:42,990
It just, you get practically a straight wall

287
00:11:42,990 --> 00:11:43,670
going up.

288
00:11:43,850 --> 00:11:44,170
Wow.

289
00:11:44,390 --> 00:11:48,250
You also get a digitized pure sine wave.

290
00:11:48,250 --> 00:11:50,410
And the way that they first developed it

291
00:11:50,410 --> 00:11:52,670
was to sort of trick the computer into

292
00:11:52,670 --> 00:11:56,510
thinking it was actually thinking it was recording

293
00:11:56,510 --> 00:11:58,890
a time code, but it wasn't.

294
00:11:59,030 --> 00:12:01,450
It was recording a pure sine wave because

295
00:12:01,450 --> 00:12:03,330
you've got a positive and a negative and

296
00:12:03,330 --> 00:12:04,010
that's all you got.

297
00:12:04,090 --> 00:12:04,690
You got one bit.

298
00:12:04,990 --> 00:12:06,450
You either got a one or a zero.

299
00:12:06,830 --> 00:12:10,150
So ultimately, you're as close to pure analog

300
00:12:10,150 --> 00:12:11,590
as you can possibly get.

301
00:12:12,270 --> 00:12:14,610
So it's a wonderful format.

302
00:12:14,750 --> 00:12:15,870
And it sounds great, guys.

303
00:12:15,870 --> 00:12:18,070
If you've never tried it, go and buy

304
00:12:18,070 --> 00:12:18,430
an old...

305
00:12:18,430 --> 00:12:20,010
Overkill for voiceover probably.

306
00:12:20,270 --> 00:12:20,570
But yeah.

307
00:12:21,070 --> 00:12:23,690
The only ones I remember were GenX made.

308
00:12:23,970 --> 00:12:25,690
I did do a recording and it was

309
00:12:25,690 --> 00:12:29,450
a GenX that had some DSD recorders, I

310
00:12:29,450 --> 00:12:29,630
believe.

311
00:12:29,870 --> 00:12:32,450
Those big boxes that they used to have.

312
00:12:32,670 --> 00:12:32,770
Yeah.

313
00:12:32,790 --> 00:12:34,470
They did a big hardware recorder.

314
00:12:35,110 --> 00:12:38,630
And Tascam made a DSD hardware recorder that's

315
00:12:38,630 --> 00:12:40,090
still out there called a DA3000.

316
00:12:40,790 --> 00:12:43,370
And that's how I started in DSD.

317
00:12:43,370 --> 00:12:45,450
Just as a proof of purchase, I wanted

318
00:12:45,450 --> 00:12:47,150
to hear if it actually had any significance.

319
00:12:47,930 --> 00:12:50,090
And it sounded unbelievable.

320
00:12:51,170 --> 00:12:53,930
And I had great equipment and was recording

321
00:12:53,930 --> 00:12:55,870
at 96 and all of this sort of

322
00:12:55,870 --> 00:12:58,090
stuff and doing a lot.

323
00:12:58,150 --> 00:13:00,710
And this is going back 12 years and

324
00:13:00,710 --> 00:13:01,790
14 years.

325
00:13:02,130 --> 00:13:06,450
And I think it's even 16 years now.

326
00:13:06,530 --> 00:13:09,130
But really, it sounded remarkably good.

327
00:13:09,270 --> 00:13:09,650
Yeah, right.

328
00:13:09,650 --> 00:13:10,990
Going back to the mic.

329
00:13:11,950 --> 00:13:14,290
The C100, looking at US prices, is $1

330
00:13:14,290 --> 00:13:14,530
,200.

331
00:13:15,090 --> 00:13:15,210
Okay.

332
00:13:15,650 --> 00:13:17,810
And this is a microphone that, from what

333
00:13:17,810 --> 00:13:20,690
I'm understanding, is like, what would you call

334
00:13:20,690 --> 00:13:21,830
theoretically perfect?

335
00:13:22,870 --> 00:13:23,670
Isn't it $800?

336
00:13:24,050 --> 00:13:25,610
Or was I looking at something wrong over

337
00:13:25,610 --> 00:13:25,830
here?

338
00:13:25,870 --> 00:13:27,110
That was a used price, I found.

339
00:13:27,570 --> 00:13:28,510
No, I thought it was that one for...

340
00:13:28,510 --> 00:13:30,790
It's a mic that's like theoretically perfect.

341
00:13:31,150 --> 00:13:32,590
Is that a kind of a way to

342
00:13:32,590 --> 00:13:33,550
describe it to an idiot?

343
00:13:33,550 --> 00:13:34,150
No, no.

344
00:13:34,210 --> 00:13:36,030
I don't think there is such a microphone.

345
00:13:36,490 --> 00:13:38,370
I think what it offers is something...

346
00:13:38,370 --> 00:13:38,990
I mean, is this close?

347
00:13:39,650 --> 00:13:40,370
No, no.

348
00:13:41,870 --> 00:13:43,510
You wouldn't want to stick this inside a

349
00:13:43,510 --> 00:13:44,030
kick drum.

350
00:13:45,190 --> 00:13:47,470
No, I don't mean perfect for anything.

351
00:13:47,870 --> 00:13:50,970
But I mean accurately accurate from 5 hertz

352
00:13:50,970 --> 00:13:51,790
to 50k.

353
00:13:51,790 --> 00:13:53,810
Like from the way the DPA would say,

354
00:13:53,990 --> 00:13:55,390
here's your measurement microphone.

355
00:13:56,110 --> 00:13:58,430
And it's just like flat from here to

356
00:13:58,430 --> 00:13:58,870
infinity.

357
00:13:59,830 --> 00:14:00,490
Whatever flat is.

358
00:14:00,490 --> 00:14:02,610
I'm just trying to conceptualize, understand this mic.

359
00:14:02,870 --> 00:14:06,290
Because we're supported by and we use Austrian

360
00:14:06,290 --> 00:14:09,190
Audio and they have one called the 818.

361
00:14:09,190 --> 00:14:11,650
It's a twin capsule mic where there's two

362
00:14:11,650 --> 00:14:12,610
capsules out of phase.

363
00:14:12,890 --> 00:14:13,950
You know, it's front and rear, blah, blah,

364
00:14:14,390 --> 00:14:14,490
blah.

365
00:14:14,570 --> 00:14:17,090
Yeah, but that's a standard sort of cardioid

366
00:14:17,090 --> 00:14:17,430
thing.

367
00:14:18,550 --> 00:14:19,750
Yeah, same exact price, right?

368
00:14:20,110 --> 00:14:21,470
So I'm looking at this mic and going,

369
00:14:21,790 --> 00:14:24,370
in a world of microphones that range from

370
00:14:24,370 --> 00:14:28,030
$80 to $8,000 to, you know, whatever.

371
00:14:28,630 --> 00:14:30,570
The $1,200 price point for what the

372
00:14:30,570 --> 00:14:34,030
performance of this microphone is, it seems like

373
00:14:34,030 --> 00:14:34,970
it has no peer.

374
00:14:35,170 --> 00:14:35,970
I mean, am I right?

375
00:14:36,790 --> 00:14:40,030
Uh, well, there are sunken microphones.

376
00:14:40,210 --> 00:14:41,110
There's a couple of others.

377
00:14:41,610 --> 00:14:46,390
But yeah, it's a really, really good microphone.

378
00:14:46,590 --> 00:14:48,630
One of the things that Sony developed with

379
00:14:48,630 --> 00:14:52,390
their Valve microphone, and they recognized this through

380
00:14:52,390 --> 00:14:56,370
older microphone development, was they built an anti

381
00:14:56,370 --> 00:14:59,030
-vibrational technology within the microphones.

382
00:14:59,590 --> 00:15:04,070
And that means that the reverberance in the

383
00:15:04,070 --> 00:15:06,850
capsule is very minimized.

384
00:15:06,950 --> 00:15:08,970
And that sort of reverberant sound that does

385
00:15:08,970 --> 00:15:11,010
happen in large format capsules.

386
00:15:11,250 --> 00:15:12,850
And it may be one of the reasons

387
00:15:12,850 --> 00:15:15,510
why Austrian Audio have gone with the shape

388
00:15:15,510 --> 00:15:16,930
of their microphone as well.

389
00:15:17,730 --> 00:15:22,470
You know, you've got a large drum, you

390
00:15:22,470 --> 00:15:24,750
know, and if you're putting it near, you

391
00:15:24,750 --> 00:15:28,430
know, noisy sound sources, there's sound and reverberance

392
00:15:28,430 --> 00:15:29,130
within that.

393
00:15:29,650 --> 00:15:30,890
And it has caused problems.

394
00:15:31,290 --> 00:15:33,570
They found that in the initial development of

395
00:15:33,570 --> 00:15:37,930
their big Valve microphone, and they developed a

396
00:15:37,930 --> 00:15:43,710
really, really substantial means of sort of decoupling

397
00:15:43,710 --> 00:15:49,050
and isolating any reverberant sound within the capsule.

398
00:15:49,050 --> 00:15:53,370
And so the Sony to really function well

399
00:15:53,370 --> 00:15:57,430
in recording those high resolution sounds, they had

400
00:15:57,430 --> 00:16:02,950
to sort of invest and really redeveloped that

401
00:16:02,950 --> 00:16:05,950
decoupling and that soundproofing within the microphone.

402
00:16:06,710 --> 00:16:09,710
So it's a great, it's a really, really

403
00:16:09,710 --> 00:16:10,850
wonderful mic.

404
00:16:10,890 --> 00:16:14,970
And the pencil microphones are just, you know,

405
00:16:15,230 --> 00:16:15,810
amazing.

406
00:16:16,090 --> 00:16:17,850
Like second to none, they're really, really good.

407
00:16:17,850 --> 00:16:18,790
So, yeah.

408
00:16:18,970 --> 00:16:20,530
Sounds like in terms of decoupling, like there's

409
00:16:20,530 --> 00:16:22,430
only one mic stand company I've seen try

410
00:16:22,430 --> 00:16:24,450
to like maximize that whole design.

411
00:16:24,570 --> 00:16:26,250
That was the Enhanced Audio Stands.

412
00:16:26,850 --> 00:16:28,030
You ever heard of them out of Ireland?

413
00:16:28,550 --> 00:16:30,410
Look, I use these guys, try at all.

414
00:16:30,610 --> 00:16:31,510
But have you ever seen these?

415
00:16:32,330 --> 00:16:33,410
Yeah, that's great.

416
00:16:34,090 --> 00:16:35,150
Yeah, I love those.

417
00:16:35,150 --> 00:16:37,410
What's the model of the Sony pencil mic?

418
00:16:38,330 --> 00:16:42,850
I think it's ECM 100 or ECU 100.

419
00:16:43,030 --> 00:16:44,510
They do a cardioid and an omni.

420
00:16:45,070 --> 00:16:46,310
Yeah, ECM.

421
00:16:46,450 --> 00:16:48,050
Because God, I remember back in the day,

422
00:16:48,110 --> 00:16:50,050
I had a pair of ECM 33Ps.

423
00:16:50,910 --> 00:16:51,930
There's, what's that?

424
00:16:52,170 --> 00:16:54,990
ECM 100U, is that the same?

425
00:16:55,230 --> 00:16:55,370
Yeah.

426
00:16:55,370 --> 00:16:55,690
Is that it?

427
00:16:55,830 --> 00:16:56,890
That's unidirectional.

428
00:16:57,350 --> 00:16:58,490
So that'd be the, yep.

429
00:16:58,610 --> 00:17:01,570
And then there's an ECM N, non-directional.

430
00:17:02,270 --> 00:17:02,750
Omni.

431
00:17:03,010 --> 00:17:03,690
They're tiny.

432
00:17:05,849 --> 00:17:09,290
So if I'm looking at the 100, to

433
00:17:09,290 --> 00:17:11,130
me, I'm having trouble with scale.

434
00:17:11,130 --> 00:17:14,369
But the 100, that smaller diaphragm up there

435
00:17:14,369 --> 00:17:18,310
still looks pretty, it's a big, small diaphragm.

436
00:17:18,430 --> 00:17:20,390
It's not like, certainly not anything like Earthworks

437
00:17:20,390 --> 00:17:21,270
is trying to put out.

438
00:17:21,910 --> 00:17:23,890
But that's the same diaphragm that's on those

439
00:17:23,890 --> 00:17:25,950
ECM 100s?

440
00:17:26,310 --> 00:17:26,990
Yeah, it is.

441
00:17:27,710 --> 00:17:31,370
And look, Earthworks is slightly different because they're

442
00:17:31,370 --> 00:17:35,630
trying to elongate the capsule and get the

443
00:17:35,630 --> 00:17:39,250
distance between the diaphragm and the preamp within

444
00:17:39,250 --> 00:17:39,890
the microphone.

445
00:17:39,890 --> 00:17:42,030
And that's a different concept altogether.

446
00:17:42,410 --> 00:17:46,250
You know, the extended diaphragm, like a number

447
00:17:46,250 --> 00:17:49,370
of different microphone manufacturers have gone with that

448
00:17:49,370 --> 00:17:52,390
idea of, you know, and B&K, I

449
00:17:52,390 --> 00:17:53,730
think, went that way as well.

450
00:17:53,850 --> 00:17:57,970
They wanted that extended microphone, like the diaphragm

451
00:17:57,970 --> 00:17:59,870
removed from the preamplifier.

452
00:18:00,150 --> 00:18:01,790
There's a whole lot of reasons why they

453
00:18:01,790 --> 00:18:02,590
do that sort of thing.

454
00:18:02,610 --> 00:18:04,610
Yeah, I mean, they do that for stage

455
00:18:04,610 --> 00:18:06,250
reasons so they can put the nice little

456
00:18:06,250 --> 00:18:07,590
gooseneck on it too.

457
00:18:07,590 --> 00:18:10,630
But I think also Earthworks' idea is that,

458
00:18:11,250 --> 00:18:13,070
and they take it more to the nines

459
00:18:13,070 --> 00:18:15,490
than even maybe B&K do, but as

460
00:18:15,490 --> 00:18:19,950
the diaphragm gets smaller, its weight is smaller,

461
00:18:20,050 --> 00:18:22,050
it becomes more accurate, but then the problem

462
00:18:22,050 --> 00:18:25,210
is it becomes noisy because it's so small

463
00:18:25,210 --> 00:18:29,010
because you're trying to amplify like nothing, essentially.

464
00:18:29,190 --> 00:18:30,030
Yeah, that's good there.

465
00:18:30,290 --> 00:18:33,550
I will send you a link, Robbo, so

466
00:18:33,550 --> 00:18:35,610
that people can watch the doco that Sony

467
00:18:35,610 --> 00:18:38,730
did on the world premiere recording of this

468
00:18:38,730 --> 00:18:40,430
giant piano, and we used the mics.

469
00:18:41,530 --> 00:18:45,330
I obviously hadn't necessarily recorded with the microphones

470
00:18:45,330 --> 00:18:48,490
in a different environment, and I'd never recorded

471
00:18:48,490 --> 00:18:51,510
a piano with that much sound and volume

472
00:18:51,510 --> 00:18:54,310
and sound range.

473
00:18:54,510 --> 00:18:57,390
And my goodness, it was so stressful, guys.

474
00:18:57,450 --> 00:19:01,050
As engineers, can you imagine having six Sony

475
00:19:01,050 --> 00:19:04,210
executives fly over with translators and stand behind

476
00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:06,150
you while you're setting up and doing your

477
00:19:06,150 --> 00:19:06,730
first recording?

478
00:19:06,750 --> 00:19:08,330
I'm interested what type of...

479
00:19:08,330 --> 00:19:09,670
Like, it must have been in a concert

480
00:19:09,670 --> 00:19:11,410
hall or something to have a three-meter

481
00:19:11,410 --> 00:19:12,350
piano, surely.

482
00:19:12,370 --> 00:19:14,370
Well, I think it's actually...

483
00:19:14,370 --> 00:19:16,830
I'll send you the doco and then maybe

484
00:19:16,830 --> 00:19:18,690
we can have another podcast about it because

485
00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:19,790
you've got to see where it is.

486
00:19:20,030 --> 00:19:21,450
It's in a private...

487
00:19:21,450 --> 00:19:25,610
It was in a reclusive billionaire's house who

488
00:19:25,610 --> 00:19:29,770
became a composer in his 40s and tucked

489
00:19:29,770 --> 00:19:31,610
himself away and was barely seen for the

490
00:19:31,610 --> 00:19:33,970
rest of his life and built this enormous

491
00:19:33,970 --> 00:19:37,150
pavilion and has sort of left his fortune

492
00:19:37,150 --> 00:19:38,290
to fund the arts.

493
00:19:39,210 --> 00:19:42,550
And yeah, the Ballora piano is down there

494
00:19:42,550 --> 00:19:44,090
in his pavilion, and it's amazing.

495
00:19:44,330 --> 00:19:46,630
It's not the piano that's actually shown in

496
00:19:46,630 --> 00:19:50,850
the Sony website, sony.net, for the microphone,

497
00:19:51,090 --> 00:19:51,330
is it?

498
00:19:51,710 --> 00:19:52,470
That is, yeah.

499
00:19:52,770 --> 00:19:53,910
Okay, I'm looking at it now.

500
00:19:54,390 --> 00:19:56,050
Do you know someone named Hudson Fair?

501
00:19:56,570 --> 00:19:57,530
I know Hudson Fair.

502
00:19:57,530 --> 00:19:59,490
Only through social media.

503
00:19:59,630 --> 00:20:00,510
We've chatted a fair bit.

504
00:20:00,590 --> 00:20:01,670
We use a lot of the same stuff.

505
00:20:01,910 --> 00:20:03,110
He's a fair sort of a guy, actually.

506
00:20:03,630 --> 00:20:05,450
No, he's the local in Chicago.

507
00:20:05,590 --> 00:20:06,450
I shouldn't say local.

508
00:20:06,530 --> 00:20:09,810
He's international, but I've worked for him and

509
00:20:09,810 --> 00:20:11,030
done a lot of recording.

510
00:20:11,450 --> 00:20:15,130
When he needs somebody, he can just go

511
00:20:15,130 --> 00:20:16,830
into microphones to no end as well.

512
00:20:17,090 --> 00:20:19,010
He's got quite the collection.

513
00:20:19,650 --> 00:20:21,210
He has used the Sonys.

514
00:20:21,470 --> 00:20:22,210
He likes them.

515
00:20:22,650 --> 00:20:24,990
I'm just thinking Robert and Craig locked in

516
00:20:24,990 --> 00:20:26,490
a room for a weekend.

517
00:20:26,490 --> 00:20:28,130
Wait, yeah.

518
00:20:28,390 --> 00:20:29,450
We should record that.

519
00:20:29,910 --> 00:20:30,930
Let's do it.

520
00:20:31,810 --> 00:20:34,030
Frequency modulator springs to mind.

521
00:20:34,250 --> 00:20:35,250
Oh, come on.

522
00:20:35,330 --> 00:20:36,250
We could get exciting.

523
00:20:37,910 --> 00:20:38,730
Well, that was fun.

524
00:20:38,830 --> 00:20:39,230
Is it over?

525
00:20:40,370 --> 00:20:42,030
The Pro Audio Suite.

526
00:20:42,110 --> 00:20:43,270
With thanks to Tribus.

527
00:20:43,450 --> 00:20:44,730
And Austrian Audio.

528
00:20:45,070 --> 00:20:46,370
Recorded using Source Connect.

529
00:20:46,790 --> 00:20:48,330
Edited by Andrew Peters.

530
00:20:48,590 --> 00:20:50,550
And mixed by Voodoo Radio Imaging.

531
00:20:50,630 --> 00:20:52,770
With tech support from George the Tech Whittam.

532
00:20:52,850 --> 00:20:54,870
Don't forget to subscribe to the show and

533
00:20:54,870 --> 00:20:57,090
join in the conversation on our Facebook group.

534
00:20:57,150 --> 00:20:59,210
So leave a comment, suggest a topic or

535
00:20:59,210 --> 00:21:00,150
just say g'day.

536
00:21:00,230 --> 00:21:02,810
Drop us a note at our website theproaudiosuite

537
00:21:02,810 --> 00:21:03,630
.com.