Klas Strandberg wrote:
>
> Thanks for helping to describe a parabola!
>
> Lots of people think a shotgun does the same job as a parabola. Here, many
> birders spend 100 USD on a video-camera shotgun, mostly with a 5 mm
> electret, and get disappointed.
> To inform that a shotgun is not a parabola seems to be an everlasting
> project. Yes, it gets boring, and probably also un-necessary disqualifying
> the shot-gun users.
They are really for different purposes. My usage was way off the scale,
and in a area where a shotgun would seem more appropriate. For some
reason the MKH-816's simply could not reject the unwanted sound, even
though it was coming from the side. I suspect that the shotguns were
picking up some reflections as next to the bushes on one side was a
concrete driveway. Though why the Telinga did not also have that problem
I don't know. I listened to both setups and took the one that worked best.
On examining the recording, nearly all the sound of the air conditioners
was in the 500 - 2000 Hz range. The low end of the frogcalls is about
2000 Hz, so most of the air conditioner sound can be filtered out. The
dog barking in one part of the record period is a different story as he
overlaps the frequencies of the frogs.
It was simply a case of trying what I had and taking the best I could
get. It just happened to be a Parabola, which was being used in a manner
that undoubtedly negated most of it's gain. Though it's worth noting I
was still getting very precise directionality in that I could
discriminate frogs only a few inches apart my moving the parabola. And I
was still getting the stereo field, full of frogs.
I'm not anti to a shotgun, particularly for closer work. But do get
caught often having to point out that a shotgun is a directional filter,
not extra gain. To get good reach out of a shotgun requires
amplification, which makes a good shotgun expensive as both it and the
pre must be expensive low noise models unless they are only to be used
very close. There are plenty of folk that attribute more to a shotgun
than it can do.
Probably my biggest problem with a shotgun is that they are mono, or at
least all the designs of suspensions and windscreens are mono. When I
manage the time, I'm going to set up the two MKH-816's as a stereo pair
with appropriate suspensions and windscreens. I've pretty much become a
stereo recordist as this gives so much better recordings for picking out
individual frogs. I'm wondering if I need to go to a foam barrier
between them, or if that's even practical. Any way I do it is going to
be a big package to cart around.
I've got a Sony telemike, that's got a interference tube nearly 4' long,
and is more directional than the shotguns. Unfortunately I did not have
it along or I'd have tried it too. I've been thinking of modernizing
that antique with a newer mic capsule. I think it was originally
designed for things like spying on the football huddles at games.
Walt
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