Thanks to Dave Hunt for that head's up,
I got a Zoom H2 - and it's perfect for my needs. I don't need a
Soundfield recorder (right now) but the Zoom is perfect for field
recording my foley and atmos effects for mixing back in the "studio" -
which is another word for the Mac in my bedroom. As you noted, it's
considerably quieter than the other gear in this area - and many dB
lower in noise.
Long term, I'll probably try and source another H2 for live Soundfield
work (using four Panasonic WM-61a mics with linearising current
sources). This is slightly different to the more well-known "Linkwitz"
mod in that it doesn't involved chopping wires on the capsule, but it
gives excellent results by linearising the current into the capsule's
JFet. I hasten to add, this wasn't my idea - someone far better at
semiconductor theory than I am came up with it, but the results are
measurable and the theory appears sound.
This technique also allows you to increase the source voltage up to the
max Vds (for the WM61a its 10v) which is claimed to reduce the noise
floor further. My gear simply isn't good enough to detect this sort of
change, but it may be worthy of experiment for those who do. A DC
blocking capacitor would be needed, naturally, but I'd assume it could
be quite small - probably (a lot) less than 1uf - but since I don't know
the actual input impedance, I can't say for sure.
Rod Elliot (http://sound.westhost.com) has an interesting suggestion of
using a Zobel network here too - to filter out the VHF component that
these mics are capable of responding to. Again, I can't claim any
experience with this, I just mention it as I came across it in passing
while researching the modifications to the Panasonic capsules.
M
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