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Getting used to mics in the field, was ATRAC don't get no respect

Subject: Getting used to mics in the field, was ATRAC don't get no respect
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 13:39:28 -0400
evertveldhuis wrote:

> Perhaps it will be of much more interest to provide some kind of 
> fieldjournal ; tell of how a recording was made, and let the 
> recording be heard.
> I would love to get some small course in how to record outdoors.
> Anyone interested in sharing their experiences in the field?

The whole area of field use of different mic configurations is what I'm 
busy working on this year. With all those mics new to me I'm fumbling 
around trying to get the best out of. And even more setups still in the 
works. There is a fair amount of variation between the mics even 
recording the same subjects from the same spot. The samples I've put up 
show both some of the fumbling, and some of the variation. So far they 
are all close recordings, I'll try for some more distant stuff to put up 
as the opportunity arises. I'm more than happy to discuss how these 
recordings were made.

The first part of this is to try and pin down the field coverage of each 
combo. Just what sort of area it's good at picking up. The SASS I have, 
for instance pick up a field that's very wide, but mostly close, 
250degrees or so wide. The Telinga stereo is kind of a elongated pear 
shape, the wide part of the pear local ambiance, the stem the extended 
reach of the parabolic. With the M/S setups the MKH-60/30 also has a 
somewhat elongated field, though the short shotgun does not have near 
the reach of the parabola.

Then once I have some parameters about the stage my singers have, the 
next thing is to work out where I want them to sing on that stage. 
Unlike human singers I can't just put a piece of tape on the stage to 
tell them, but have to move the stage by moving the mics. Often I'm 
highly limited in what locations I can use. The reality of recording 
frogs in Georgia is that most are on private land. And Georgians are not 
at all friendly to folks going on their land.

I watched Lang one evening doing this. We were trying for a quality 
recording of Ornate Chorus frogs and he was working on getting his two 
primary singers in just the right balance. Trip after trip out into the 
water to move the tripod a little. The result was very good indeed, I 
have some that was recorded on my Portadisc, and Lang was using his DAT. 
Though there was the gate crasher Southern Chorus Frog who kept letting 
loose close to the tripod. And the train, distant traffic, airplanes and 
so on.

The toughest part of good field recording is finding the holes between 
the noise to record in.

> Regards, Evert
> (This is not meant as a personal attack, it's just that this list is 
> for nature recordist, not for high tech lab personel that spend all 
> their days indoors...)

Ahmen!

Walt




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