Michael P. Moore wrote:
> Thanks for all the tips, Walt. I am new to all of this but I hope to a
> lot of recording. Could you describe your field card? I just have a
> cheat sheet of what I info I want to speak onto the end of each track.
The field card I'm using now is a outgrowth of the official Georgia Herp
Atlas one. Card size is 4 X 7. I do my own design in Canvas, print it in
a laserprinter and make copies on card stock at Kinko's. Two cards can
be printed on each letter size sheet. I normally print a batch and have
them cut them on their power cutter.
Both sides contain data spaces, and I'm still doing minor tweaks to make
it easier to fill out. Currently on the front side it's:
Track; Date; Time; Temp; County; Directions; GPS; and 8 lines for common
name, species, and numbers. On the back are two more lines, for a total
of 10. Also a large notes section, and my contact information. The notes
section will contain info about recorder and mics and such like, also
anything else I want to note. I mostly record in Georgia, so don't have
a state entry place, but when I record outside Georgia I just put that
info in the County section, which has plenty of room.
In my filemaker database I break out the recorder & mic info separately,
add length of recording, separate state and country from county. For
County, Common Name, Species Name, and numbers I have popup menus or
spelling check based on a list. To avoid data entry errors. Mic and
recorder are also a pop up menu for convenience, as I add new setups to
my set I just add to the list.
I've a separate design in the same card size for photographs. I use tan
cardstock on the audio cards, pale yellow on the photograph cards. When
the Herp Atlas Was still going those cards were green.
The advantage of having a field card that's standard like this is that
it makes sure you know what you are supposed to write down. And no
computer crash ever hurts them.
Note that I record GPS coordinates. Even if you are not doing recording
for science it's a good idea to get a GPS and do this. So you can always
find the site, or give someone else the info to find it.
Other data I often check in the field is wind speed and noise level.
I've meters for both along. These currently go into the notes section.
> Also, I am using the Portadisc's USB output. Twice now I have gotten
> noise. Is this strange? I figured the cord was just rattling while I
> typed or something. I replaced the cord and have not had any problems,
> but now I am not doing anything while I transfer.
I don't use the USB with the portadisc because I had problems
maintaining monitoring while switching back and forth between transfer
and working with the new file. A problem in that USB switched both input
and output to the portadisc. So, I use the Roland UA-30 and a optical
connection. My headphones are also connected to the Roland, so when USB
switches everything to the Roland I can always hear.
I had no problem with noise with USB, and have not with optical. Maybe
by working on it you triggered one of the os tasks that has a high
priority that disrupted the USB. Digital is fairly immune to noise from
moving cables unless the cable or jack is defective. And then it usually
will be obvious.
Just a note, I was looking at a New G5 today in the store. Once it's
been through a revision or two and settled, it's going to be the
replacement for my older model G4. Don't like everything about it, but
noted one thing of high interest. It's got optical digital audio in and
out ports. These even had spring loaded dust covers instead of those
easily lost plugs that most everything else has. Real nice touch. So,
for something like the Portadisc nothing else will be needed other than
a optical cable.
Walt
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