YoYo Ma and why the audience sounds washed out

[studer58]

Interesting article on lots of levels....using Neumann digital mics, and the capacitance effect of long cable runs: Yo-Yo Ma Tour | Mix Profiles Yo-Yo Ma Tour Date With Colorado Symphony Orchestra

[jnorman]

fun -thanks for posting this.

[huub]

It's kind of funny that they're so concerned about subtle things like jitter and microphone cable, and then the final link is an isdn codec

[Plush]

All written about is nonsense. Strictly a press release.

Treble roll off in good analog cable is less than 1/2dB at 20k after 1000 feet of cable.

YOu're reading a press release.

[rumleymusic]

The digital microphones have an NMC DMI-8 8-channel control box that feeds into a Macintosh computer running RCS software.

This doesn't even make any sense. Not to mention that RCS is PC only.

[johnsound]

RCS is Neumann's Remote Control Software that works with their digital microphone interface (DMI-2 and DMI-8) system: it's cross platform.

As regards the mic cables, the quote is this: “We came to the conclusion that it's not a frequency-response problem or a filtering issue; the microphones run out of current to drive a load so you get this insidious slew-rate limiting distortion,”

And as regards the final link, it's not only an ISDN codec, but "Pappas and his team recorded the concert in PCM, via Logic 9 on a Macintosh, and in DSD. The DS-00 sent one stream to an EMM Labs up-sampler, then to a Genex 9048 for DSD recording."

I have no knowledge of this person and hold no particular brief for Neumann, but I think that the article needs slightly more attention before the sneering begins.

Regards,

John

[huub]

For the record: I wasn't sneering..

[johnsound]

Well, good for you. Personally, I don't see what's particularly funny or odd about wanting to have the best possible signal path, even if the signal is degraded down the line. It's a bit like saying "funny how x is using all this really expensive recording equipment in his/her studio when the end result is coming through a pair of $10 ear-buds."

I counted four Neumann name-checks in an article largely about Neumann digital microphones; is this considered excessive? Obviously, I'm missing something here and the person who is the focus of the article is regarded as some sort of shill for Neumann. Well you know, I can think of plenty of others not a million miles away from here who name-check equipment that they sell or distribute, at the drop of a hat. Do we regard them with suspicion as well?

Regards,

John

[rumleymusic]

RCS is Neumann's Remote Control Software that works with their digital microphone interface (DMI-2 and DMI-8) system: it's cross platform.

Oh, I assumed since it was for broadcast they were talking about the radio automation software. Thank you for pointing that out.

[Petrus]

Originally Posted by johnsound

and in DSD. The DS-00 sent one stream to an EMM Labs up-sampler, then to a Genex 9048 for DSD recording."

What is the point of recording (after upsampling?) to DSD, if PCM digital microphones were used to begin with? To be able to sell the recording a "pure DSD" if the need arises?

[rumleymusic]

What is the point of recording (after upsampling?) to DSD, if PCM digital microphones were used to begin with? To be able to sell the recording a "pure DSD" if the need arises?

The EMM was probably just used for format conversion to DSD, "upsampling" was probably the wrong word.
Most likely pointless. I seriously doubt they will make an SACD of a Colorado Symphony concert with Yo-Yo-Ma. He has a pretty exclusive contract with Sony I believe.

[Petrus]

Originally Posted by rumleymusic

Most likely pointless. I seriously doubt they will make an SACD of a Colorado Symphony concert with Yo-Yo-Ma. He has a pretty exclusive contract with Sony I believe.

Even if they do make a SACD it would make no sense to go PCM (mics) -> DSD -> PCM (editing and mixing) -> DSD (SACD mastering) when they could go PCM -> edit -> DSD SACD master with just one conversion.

Wonder if anybody is planning to make DSD digital microphones?

[johnsound]

I would imagine that the DSD is an archive-only recording. Why DSD? No idea, maybe that's what they have in-house.

Regards,

John