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Re: cheap bird microphone

Subject: Re: cheap bird microphone
From: Rob Danielson <>
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 16:22:57 -0500
Hi Rich--

Thanks very much for sharing this with us. You mic is elegant and 
sounds quite good.  Some have written that some caps radio shack 
sells include WM-61A's.  Dunno.  To my ears, your mic sounds a tad 
peaky circa 2300Hz for a WM-61A but then the small pzm surface might 
be part of this. Noise and output seem comparable.  Another addition 
for the cheap but decent recommendation gear list we've written 
about. The strainer as windscreen substructure is definitely a keeper.
Rob Danielson

  = = =

>--- In  Walter Knapp <> wrote:
>>  Rich Peet wrote:
>>  > I am looking for evaluation of this mic I just finished.
>>  > The intended use is outside as both a bird feeder mic and for
>>  > monitoring migrating birds. Critical evaluation by all is
>appreciated.
>>  > It tests above 40mph winds headon and 15 mph side.
>>  > So far I lost no recording time in 1 hour of rain.
>>  >
>>  > Base cap is 4" pvc, Stainer is 6".
>>  > The total construction cost of this mic is $13.50 US
>>  >
>>  > Any changes would be easiest now before I move on to Proto 2
>which
>>  > will be balanced output with a xlr connector.
>>  >
>>  > design preference is to be low freq weak and song bird call range
>hot.
>>  > Mic element before pzm gain is: Sensitivity -65 db.
>>
>>  You would probably get a bit better PZM gain off the end cap if you
>>  polished off the mold marks. At least it seems like you should.
>>
>
>Ok, I will set a 600 grit paper to finish the top on all futures. 
>You'r right that is sloppy.
>
>
>>  If you have the ability to do so, placing the mic in a small
>housing to
>>  provide a gap leading to the mic might help the PZM effect more. As
>it
>>  sets it's probably mixing regular pickup with PZM.
>>
>
>I am sorry, I don't understand this comment. I thought I needed both
>direct and reflected for pzm to work?
>
>
>>  I'm wondering how this element would compare to something like the
>>  Panasonic WM-61A.
>>
>
>God yes I need better stuff in the basics.  I have searched for years
>to find a element with good specs.  The trash I used is $3 what is
>the cheapest for the wm-61a?  Should that be done for 2.5-12. khz?
>
>
>
>>  > All jpg downloads are under 200kb. but the mp3 file is 466 kb
>>
>>  You can do better on jpg size by cropping the images, and set them
>up to
>>  a specific size at 72dpi. They must be higher resolution, come
>through
>>  giant size in Netscape 7, which is wasting bandwidth.
>
>ya. I put it out their for ie 6.0 and never thought that Netscape
>wouldn't resize.  Sorry.
>
>>
>>  > A sample recording 6' under a bird feeder with callers about 20'
>>  > away.  An expressway with severe rumble is 1/4 mile away.
>>  > http://home.attbi.com/~richpeet/proto1.mp3
>>
>>  Sounds fairly reasonable, need a lot more variety of recording.
>
>If this has value I hope that many others will bring the variety.
>
>
>>
>>  Walt
>>  
>
>
>
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Rob Danielson
Film Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee


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