World: r3wp

<slam!>

slam?

just relaying the sound of the door...

Ah.........yes.

The mic in there can get hot.

temperature-wise ? you mean it becomes more sensitive with heat ?

Sorry, no, a "hot mic" is a mic that swings with volume level...so 
when there are sharp increases in sound, it clips.

ahh

A good trick is to put foam over the mic.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=93171

first post is one on a hot mic.

obviously there must be a solution to this problem already, but I'm 
just thinking two mics, one soft, one loud, and a "compressor" box 
that selects the loudest signal which does not clip.

How would foam help ? Are "loud" sounds typically biased towards 
the parts of the spectrum foam blocks effectively ?

YEs.  Foam knocks of the high freqs

I thought foam would only help against wind, popping sounds, etc.

Also cuts down on pink noise and static.

http://www.dvuser.co.uk/images/img/articles/diy-boom-pole/mic.jpg

oh, that wouldn't work on my headset. would get hair in my mouth.

Actually, up until a few years ago (when mics got a lot better) they 
used to have foam covers.

So you still get a good effect with a new mic ? Do you think the 
devcon mic is a new one or old one ?

http://hpbimg.cambrianflyingschool.co.uk/HeadsetTELEXEchelon20sm.jpg

New mic in France

It is pretty good given teh room (which is all walls and windows, 
not much to absorb sound)

So the mic is hot, and the room is hot TOO!

ok, so even a newer mic can be helped with foam in this situation.

A big glass room is a nightmare for sound.

Yes, putting foam over the mic would help a little, but it would 
also mean that it would not work as well iat a distance.  What you 
really want is a mic wired on the person (which has foam built in), 
 and no mic on the room.

So you localize the sound and the source.

I think there is often a problem with the sound being too strained, 
as if you're holding your nose while talking or it sounds like you 
have a cold. Mine suffers from that, as well as not handling the 
pronounciation of P sounds properly.

A directional mic on the person.

It is actually a omni directional I think, but has a peak range of 
1 meter.

It is called a Lanier Mic

Henrik, that sounds like it doesn't have a good response. Have you 
checked a frequency response.

R. ok, so there's not the problem of pointing the mic to the mouth 
all the time.

anton, no I haven't. I'm unsure if some of these problems are solvable 
in software

I bought a really cheap mic recently - I think it was $3 - and the 
frequency range is abysmal.

Right, sound is pressure, it falls of with distance,  although th 
edesign itself makes it somewhat directional, it is really not.

Mics have dropped in price, just like optics for cameras...but $3 
is still TOO CHEAP.  Pay $50+ and you will get a good mic.  I always 
trust Plantronics for headsets.

the Lanier mic obviously has a tight dynamic range.

I have bougfht maybe several hundred mics and headsets over teh yers.

Plantronics - noted.

My headset (earbuds) are Etymontics (about $400+)

I also have Shures (about $500+) I use them for slightly diff purposes.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx

The ER 4 are pretty good.  And I like traveling with them.

those are out of my price range for the moment, but noted for future 
reference. :)

They dropped in price ($299) so you can get them now for probably 
$200+, which is a great deal.

I can go up to around $150 for that sort of thing.

I know it is tough to make that jump, but if you care about sound, 
you can never go back to normal Sony or Panasonic type earburs.

They also have a -35 dB drop, so they REALLY work well on Planes.