Signal-to-noise ratio (often abbreviated SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering to quantify how much a signal has been corrupted by noise.

So, its the weirdest thing, sometimes when I record bass I get a really clean signal, good sound, all sunny and clear...

...and then other times its like some evil beast inside my setup is hissing at me for not feeding it or something. Ok, its not THAT bad, but its still noticeably worse at some times than at others.

Hello!
I would like to know which shotgun mic is more noisy (self noise) in practise?

Here are some specs:

1.AUDIO TECHNICA AT 875 R
with signal noise ratio 74 db
sensivity 30mv/pa

2. RODE NTG2
with signal noise ratio 76 db
sensivity 15mv/pa

the sd302 + Korg mr-1 (+3x milab dc196) looks like a fab option for what i want to do. I am doing my research at this point, am not going to buy anything just yet.

i get easily confounded by tech speak, help me here please. Whats particularly confusing is that everybody uses different standards and terminology to spec their products.

Just wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom on this topic. I know it's not a simple question to answer, but I don't have any mics that have a worse signal to noise ratio below the mid 70s A-weighted. In practice, is a mic with an S/Nr in the low 70s going appear very noisey?