From: "Kevin J. Colver" <>
>
> It is true that the mics I recommended in a recent post are fairly
> expensive and may daunt a beginning recordist or a recordist who doesn't
> require high quality for his/her work (such as population studies or
> documentation of a species sighting, HOWEVER, here is the strong advice
> I wish I had had a decade ago and would give to anyone who thinks they
> might want to do good quality work. SAVE UP, SPEND THE MONEY, AND GET
> GOOD MICS.
Many of your choices I have and would not part with. I would definitely
second this advice. Along with the advice that if you have to
compromise, compromise on the recorder. Keep mic quality as high as you
can possibly afford. And whatever mic you use, learn it well, it takes
experience to get the most out of this equipment. Don't expect to buy
any piece of equipment and instantly turn out consistent excellent results.
As a group in recommending the high priced quality mics we need to take
care we don't scare beginners off. It's a tricky problem, being accurate
about quality while still helping beginners to get going with what they
can talk themselves into affording. Sticker shock is a very real problem
in beginning nature recording, we need to reasure them that they can get
satisfying recordings with equipment they can afford. And help them to
do so.
In my opinion things like documenting a species "sighting" can be very
demanding on equipment and recordist. It's not a place to shortchange
mic quality. On average the location will be poor for sound recording.
Unlike those that can pass on noisy sites and concentrate on just the
"good" sites survey work does not allow that. Every site, no matter how
bad must be recorded. Many sites will be extremely challenging due to
the noisy environment. Try getting a faint frogcall clearly when your
only sightline is across the small wetland towards a busy freeway. Or in
the middle of a busy industrial complex. Or right next to a unmuffled
diesel irrigation pump. You still have to get a clear recording of the
details of the call. My telinga is the mainstay of my survey work due to
it's ability to pick up from a distance and cut out more of the
surrounding sound. I also highly recommend the stereo version for this,
it's much easier for the listener to pick the call out of the noise if
there is a stereo field. Certainly the definition of quality for survey
recording is quite different, but quality is still needed.
Note any site I happen to get in surveying that's excellent for sound
I'm going to be using several mics and working for best quality
listening recordings. The documentation part of survey will be almost
trivial at such sites. I envy those who only record at such sites. It's
so much easier.
Walt
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|