Hap Holly wrote:
> Walt,
> The problem I had in Tucson was that the neighborhood mocker insisted on
> perching high atop a tree across the road, which was across the yard Ther=
e
> was simply too much background noise and precious little signal.
I used a Telinga Pro V stereo parabolic mic. This helps both with gain
and the directionality cuts out surrounding noises a fair amount. The
recording I did was from about 100 feet. Unfortunately for your purposes
this mic is not cheap. You can, however, get the reflector it uses from
Doug Gausig and mount your own mic. Won't be the expensive mic, and hard
to do in stereo, but is still a very acceptable option. And far cheaper.
I have a webpage on a concept for doing this sort of thing:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/quickparabolic.html
Unfortunately that page is mostly pictures. The basic idea is something
to support the mic in the focus, and a handle to hold it. I used PVC
pipe fittings for most of it. And a inexpensive Sony tie tac mic which
could power off a minidisc recorder. You'd still need to work out a mic
preamp.
A parabolic mic is about the most bang for the buck for directional
pickup with gain. Unfortunately the inexpensive ready made ones are also
very poor. You can build better easily.
As I noted even with my setup I had to do a fair amount of filtering,
which kept the bird but little of the surrounding ambiance. Removing
airplanes, lawnmowers, cars, etc. And there was a wind. And I live in
the country. Man made noise is a big problem and getting worse.
Walt
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