I have found shotguns to be effective at both making dogs quiet and
stopping airconditioners. I do note that often shortly after this
approach, you will find new noise of sirens and yelling men, so you
must make your recording very quickly.
oh also, a double barrel shotgun would be considered overkill in this
situation.
--- In Walter Knapp <> wrote:
> 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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