From: "Barb Beck" <>
>
> I too prefer open headphones. I am too "cut off" with my good ones that I
> thought I needed to record.
>
> I always want to be aware of something "better" behind me when I am
> recording something. We are often out doing atlas or other work like that
> and I want to be aware of all that is around me.
>
> Of course the point of my recording is identification CDs and I am sure this
> is a great part of my headphone choice. I use a parabola even though it
> trashes some of the sounds from the sides and backs because my main focus is
> on the one critter vocalizing.
I use a parabola and see no reason to apologize for it. Since it gets
all kinds of excellent recordings in situations where no other mic will
get them.
Having done a lot of survey work, I'm always operating on finding
everything. Still I use closed headphones. Directional mics are not
completely directional, so things calling somewhere else can be heard if
your headphones are giving you the background detail.
And, since I'm hunting everything and the parabolic will pick up things
too faint to pick out by ear, I scan 360 degrees at all sites. Then
record the stuff I found.
It's all part of each nature recordist being a individual. We like
different things.
Last night I was recording gopher frogs. And even though my headphones
are closed, and pretty soundproof, they are not totally soundproof. I
was having a lot of trouble working out if the SASS was picking up the
highway behind it or not, because enough highway noise and frogcalls was
making it in the headphones. I sure hope I got some clean sections after
spending several hours standing in leaky hip boots in cold water nearly
to the top of them. If I'd have been using open headphones the Spring
Peepers would have really been painful. That's not uncommon in my frog
work, the headphones double as hearing protectors.
> Syd is right, however - has to be a female thing - after all we have to
> listen to multiple conversations with kids all the time. If we couldn't I
> doubt our species would have survived. And most wives will tell you that
> there is insurmountable proof that husbands cannot even listen to ONE
> conversation
I'd not be so sure. At least around here. My wife can hardly listen to
one conversation, let alone multiples. Around here I'm the one that can
listen to multiple conversations, often while doing multiple other
things. My father is the same way, while my mother hardly notices one
conversation.
There have been studies that say that females are better at verbal
things as they use that half of the brain more, men use the other half
more. One could stretch those studies to include non-verbal sound, I guess.
Walt
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