--- In "sumphull" <>
wrote:
> How do professionals record the very soft, tiny sounds of insects?
I would like
> to listen to the noises of say, pillbugs or beetles scurrying
about. I have a
> Sony N707 and would like to buy a high quality mike to listen to
these types of
> sounds. I am a little confused by the plethora of information on
mics and
> would like some plain advice on a mic setup that will give me
solid results. I
> would like to listen to insects in the field, close up, and I can
spend about
> $400 on a microphone. I would also like to use this mike to record
close up
> percussion sounds of various soft sounding homemade instruments,
for
> example clusters of nuts, metal parts or glass clinking together.
I understand
> that I need to purchase an XLR to mini cable and use a self-
powered mike
> with my system if I want to use the "pro" microphones.
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Stephen G.
For your budget, I would recommend the Sennheiser K6/ME64 or K6/ME66
microphones. These are self-powered models (using a standard 1.5V
Mignon battery), are very sensitive and have low inherent noise
levels. The ME 66 is more directional than the ME64 and would
therefore better attenuate unwanted noise from other directions.
Both models could also be used for recording soft percussion sounds.
However, for recording very loud percussion instruments, a dynamic
microphone would be better (condenser mics can not handle these
extreme sound levels).
In order to get good quality recordings of the very soft insect
sounds, it is essential to place the microphone as close as possible
to the subjects (a few inches only). One way to achieve this would
be to catch the beetles and put them into a small chamber.
Professionals (insect researcher) place such a chamber directly over
the microphone diaphragm (see the paper by T. Aubin, F. Ryback and
B. Moulin (2000). A simple method for recording low-amplitude
sounds. Application to the study of the courtship song of the Fruit
Fly Drosohila melanogaster. Bioacoustics, 11, pp 51-67 ).
Raimund
Avisoft Bioacoustics
www.avisoft.de
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