Hello all,
I have been a silent member of this group for a month or two now. In respon=
se
to the invitational message, and to gather information that might benefit m=
e
personally, this is my introduction:
I began recording birds in the late 60's with a PX purchased Uher, and
continued with it until the early 80s, when I changed to cassette. I contin=
ue
to use cassette a lot for reasons that I will explain below. I have travele=
d
widely throughout Latin America (mostly) from the 60s through the present a=
nd
the majority of my recording has been done there.
I have read with interest the various threads of discussion that have ensue=
d
over the past couple of months, often becoming mired in the esoterica of th=
e
physics, but learning quite a bit as well. A great deal of the traffic has=
dealt with the fine points of this or that equipment. Relatively little has=
dealt with what I consider the practical considerations for a recordist in=
the field, and it is to this end that I would appeal.
A good deal of my "serious" recording over the past 5-6 years has been done=
at very remote locations in Peru during 4-6 month stays, where discussions =
of
rechargeable batteries, the fine points of frequency response of this or th=
at
microphone, and similar topics are moot. The reality there is that the best=
equipment is that which can survive two days on dusty and/or rainy roads in=
the back of a flatbed truck, and then two more days in a leaky boat on
Amazonian rivers (with daily thunderstorms to add to the mix), and THEN, up=
to six months in the rainforest where your own sweat may be the biggest ene=
my
of your equipment, whatever it might consist of. I have solved most of thes=
e
problems independently, or with advice from knowledgeable friends, but you=
can never know it all, and it to this end that I am writing.
I have gathered about 90 hours of recordings (cassette and DAT) of birds an=
d
mammals (the latter mostly primates) and about 35 (mostly unidentified)
species of anurans from the Manu Biosphere Reserve. I have spent 4 seasons =
in
the Amazonian lowlands and two at 1500 m. (though working both up and down=
from there) on the eastern slope of the Andes. The practical problems have=
included entering the country with a small mountain of gear without being
leapt upon by customs authorities, protecting this gear from thieves (I los=
t
all, and I do mean ALL my recording gear in a theft in the Lima airport las=
t
season). Protecting your equipment from the same environment that makes thi=
s
part of the world so incredibly diverse is a real challenge as well. Here,=
the reality is that one must deal with the environmentally introduced
influences of rushing water (pervasive on the eastern slope), insect noise,=
vegetational "filtering", near constant rain, wind (rarely, thankfully), as=
well as the other regular intrusions.
Among the realities of the region are that while the summer (ours) dry seas=
on
has little wind and insect noise to deal with, birds are at their nadir of=
vocalization at that time. Rarely is human induced noise a problem (there a=
re
fewer than 200 people in about six million acres and half of these are
uncontacted natives; plane overflys are rare and a subject of much
speculation to those of us on the ground). High relative humidifies are all=
pervasive and rain is possible daily, even during the lowland dry season, a=
nd
virtually guaranteed on the Andean slopes, where the annual rainfall is 6-7=
METERS and where only six of 365 days in 1999 were without at least some
rain.
I use standard ice chests (Igloo, etc.) for equipment transport and storage=
with appropriate padding for transport, and with a one gallon plastic bottl=
e
(originally for yogurt) of indicator silica gel, which is changed every few=
days (depending on how frequently the chest is opened). I have an identical=
bottle which I dry in the clay oven after the bread has been baked and only=
warm coals remain. Since I also photograph, the ice chest has to house all =
my
moisture-sensitive gear. Thus I take the large 96 quart size. Also, the ice=
chest is not as indicative to thieves that valuable cargo may be contained=
within (my loss last year was a fancy Tundra-type case).
Therefore, I find the tit-for-tat discussions of the relative merits of thi=
s
or that type of equipment fairly irrelevant to my situation (however
interesting in a technical sense). Of course I want to use the best equipme=
nt
I can afford, but the realities of the influence of the environment on my
recordings seem to be so much more relevant than their performance under
laboratory conditions that these considerations don't provide me with much=
useful information. I own, but seldom use, a Tascam DP1 RDAT recorder with=
Ecocharger recharging system. I find that I don't use it much because I fin=
d
it clumsy in the field. I really like the sound that it is capable of
recording. Perhaps it is due to my own prejudice that I have never really
used it to its full potential. In the field where recharging is a non-issue=
,
I can't afford the battery drain of walking about with the machine in
pause/record mode, so often I miss critical vocalizations. Electricity, if=
available at all, is from generators that run for 3-3.5 hours or so a day,=
and thus are not very helpful for recharging batteries. Also, I have often=
accidentally disengaged the "pause" mode and have recorded an hour or so of=
feet crunching on leaves. The weight of my luggage from the States is usual=
ly
made up by half of disposable alkalines. Unfortunately these don't exist fo=
r
the Tascam. The Tascam dies about a week or two into my stay (though I have=
3
Ecocharge batteries) if I am active. Therefore a workhorse Sony TCM 5000
backup is standard equipment and often what I end up getting my best
recordings with.
I have a friend who operates under similar conditions in Amazonian Brazil w=
ho
has solved some of these problems by carrying a flexible solar panel to
charge a 12 v. motorcycle battery, which in turn powers (through an inverte=
r)
the various stock chargers of the equipment he uses. This works, but is qui=
te
bulky and weighty, a critical problem in these air travel days. So basicall=
y,
I would like to encourage more discussion of the practical recording proble=
ms
encountered under field conditions. Many thanks for the information so far=
supplied.
John Arvin
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