gernothuber2 wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am planning on recording bird song for scientific/conservation
> purposes.
What will be the purpose of these recordings? If it's documentation of
range and such like you will do fine with your proposed setup. If it's
for detailed bioacoustic analysis you need calibrated mics, pres,
recorders and so on, very costly. Most of the bioacoustic work could
actually be done with your setup, but publishing would probably get shot
down over equipment selection.
> I am planning on purchasing a simple MD recorder (Sharp MD-MT15/20?),
> and am thinking of buying a Telinga parabolic dish ($70). I'd like to
> get some recommendations for mics I can jerry rig with the dish that
> will work for the purpose, and don't cost more than $300 or so. (I am
> trying to keep my total hardware costs to under $500). I am intrigued
> by Telinga's stereo-in-the-dish set up, though it's not really
> necessary for scientific purposes. However, I will probably want to do
> some recording for my own purposes, where stereo would be nice.
I use the standard Telinga with DATStereo mic. I've been surveying frogs
by call. For that work the stereo is of value as it's easier to
distinguish different species in the mix calling if you have directional
cues. For birds it's probably less of a problem as you tend to record
them one at a time. Though the stereo field does help in separating the
call from the background sounds. There are some white papers on some of
this at the Telinga site.
The design of the stereo mic for the Telinga would not be easy to
duplicate. Not only is it a PZM design, but it uses a total of 8 capsules.
I would suggest something like a Sony tie tac mic for your homemade
parabola. They are surprisingly good for the price, and designed for the
plug in power of walkman MD's. I used a homemade like that before going
for the Telinga. BTW, there are some cheaper dishes available, the 20"
one I used for my homemade is here:
http://www.amazing1.com/accoustics.htm
> I will want to create sonograms for the sounds and will probably want
> to edit them (in simple ways) on a PC, and could use software
> recommendations as well. If you have recommendations for MD players
> with digital outputs that would improve the quality of the computer
> files that would be great as well.
Cooledit seems to be standard for PC's.
A MD with digital out is beyond your budget. None of the walkman MD
recorders have digital out, so you would be into buying a deck that had
it, and the deck alone would cost close to your entire budget. And the
HHb Portadisc I use that has built in digital out is even more
expensive. Analog transfer, if done right works well. I used it from
Sony MZ-R30's for years.
> I'd love to get some feedback on this set-up as well as mic
> recommedations. I assume I will initially be able to do without a
> preamp due to the gain achieved by the dish.
The preamps in walkman MD's are not exciting, but they are workable,
certainly as good as inexpensive mics. In all recording you will have to
learn to stalk. You can pick up from way off, but generally not well.
You would only need to worry about a low noise pre if you also got a low
noise mic to match. That combo is very expensive, generally more
expensive than a complete Telinga setup. Record with a inexpensive setup
for a while and you will learn what you like and make better choices
when you start laying out the big bucks.
Walt
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