Greg,
Welcome to a fellow Aussie, on joining the naturerecordists group. Greg, d=
o
you know that there is an Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group up and
running? We send out two journals and two CDs of members recordings, per
year, and we currently have about 60 members. In October we are holding a
workshop at Clark Bay on the south coast of NSW. (Some of our members are
also members of the naturerecordists web group.)
Regarding White-plumed Honeyeaters, one of our members, Harold Crouch from
Adelaide, has made a study of their pre-dawn calls including calls from
Alice Springs, and has published his findings in one of our journals. Ther=
e
is a lot of geographic variation in those pre-dawn calls. We have also
included pre-dawn calls of honeyeaters on previous CDs.
One of our group, Bill Rankin, makes parabolic reflectors, for sale I think=
.
He made his first out of cardboard but has progressed a long way since then=
!
Our members use a wide range of recording equipment, the main thing is to
get the best out of the equipment you are using, no matter what it is. Re
sound processing, PC users have mostly been using Cool Edit to process
recordings and make CDs, while Mac users in Australia (including myself) ar=
e
mostly using Peak software.
Membership of our Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group is currently
A$ 26.00 per annum (for overseas members it is A$ 36.00 pa).
Good places to buy gear in Australia are Audio Sound Centre in Sydney, and
Musiclab in Brisbane.
Hope that gives you a few more ideas.
Vicki Powys
Sound Editor
Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group
on 4/10/03 7:34 PM, Greg Winterflood at wrote:
> Hello Naturecordists, and thank you Doug, for making arrangements
> for me to come on board.
>
> I've been lurking on the side of this group for about 6 weeks. I've
> been reading through the archived messages of the group - and
> wondering which way to go. I've followed the arguments about MD vs
> DAT and decided to go with cassette! I've tried to access an
> Australian supplier of satellite antenna parabolas with no luck. I
> did send a message to Klas at Telinga but to date have not received
> a reply. Anyway, I thought I should start with a shotgun mike to
> learn the tricks. I'll look a little less suspicious with it, until
> people get used to my antics!
>
> My interest in recording was sparked by the lovely little White
> Plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus) which is both
> prolific in numbers and in song here in Alice Springs, Central
> Australia. The male birds have a pre-dawn call which began to
> intrigue me only recently. Previously its alarm clock timing had
> only served to annoy. I searched the web and found some
> ornithological references to recordings of the pre-dawn call of this
> pretty little fellow and now - here I am. Unfortunately, I have
> not recorded more than 30 seconds worth of birdsong to date. My ex-
> reporter ex-wife loaned me her old Marantz Superscope C207LP but
> it's mechanical days are over. Syd Curtis mentioned that same model
> in a post to the Group in Message 1199. If anybody knows where I
> can find information on how to safely pull a C207 apart I would
> appreciate a pointer to it. I can get the case open, but haven't
> ventured further as I have a batting average of 50% - it's either
> fixed or broken. The VU meter is jammed and the machine won't fast
> forward or rewind. However, it continues to record and playback.
> My initial efforts with a dynamic uni-directional mike with stiff
> cable leave much to be desired.
>
> Anyway I plan to get recording as soon as the gear I ordered over
> the web arrives. In the mail is a Marantz PMD222, an AT815b shotgun
> mike, and a pair of Sennheiser HD-SP monitor headphones. These are
> being sent by the folk at the "B&H Photo Video Pro-Audio" store in
> New York City. I decided on that suite of equipment by looking at
> Stith Recording's equipment "packages" which I got onto via the
> Cornell web site. I thought I should start slowly as it takes $1.46
> Australian to buy $1 US. The Sennheiser phones aren't in the
> cheapest Stith package, AKG phones are. However, the B&H website
> says that AKG can't be sent internationally. I am wondering if AKG
> phones can be incorporated into WMD?
>
> So....I'm 55, a medical doctor currently working in General
> Practice. I began my medical life as the first ever Intern at the
> Alice Springs Hospital in 1978. I have previously held positions
> here as an Emergency Physician, Flying Doctor and Aboriginal
> Community District Medical Officer.
>
> My recent interests include gliding sailplanes; 4WD trekking in the
> Simpson Desert in my LandRover - binoculars ever ready for the
> elusive Eyrean Grass Wren; GPS games in the glider and in the 4WD
> with GPS connected to Laptop Computer; Messing with computers =96 ie
> surfing the web;Commuting on my mountain bike - blood pressure still
> high but weight coming down; Fluorescent light technology =96 for the
> front of the bike; and now...bird calls. I used to be a ham radio
> buff =96 I'm VK8KMD. When much younger I spent a year at High School
> in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania graduating in the Class of 1965.
>
> Having come this far (?) I'm wondering how I get birdsong from the
> tape onto a CD? I have Windows XP home on a Laptop with 1.2Gig
> Celeron and 256K RAM. It has a CD burner. The computer has a mike
> input and a sound card of indeterminate nature.
>
> At present I'm not keen on parting with $(1.46 x 299) Australian
> Dollars to get Adobe Audition. I have seen references to shareware
> audio editing software in the Group's posts and am wondering if
> there is a `top of the pops'? Alternatively, in an effort to tidy
> things up, I guess I can use the ex's Marantz C207 on playback and
> dub to the PMD222. (That still doesn't get the White Plumed
> Honeyeater onto CD!) I am assuming that the PMD has variable speed,
> so another beginners question is: how does one standardize speed
> using such a setup?
>
> Well, that should do as an intro. I'm very much looking forward to
> getting some decent recordings that I can play in my office, and I'm
> also looking forward to communicating with the Group.
>
> I can't believe this but that bird just made another call and it is
> way past dusk. That's the first time I have heard that.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg
>
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