From: "Eric V. Schmidt" <>
>
> Dan and all;
>
> Hello again. As a follow-up to my last post.
>
> I looked at the condenser/ omni mics in a catalog and there are a whole big
> bunch (technical term) to choose from.
>
> Can I get a couple of recommendations. Or at least limit it to small
> diaphragm or large diaphragm.
>
> I know I've seen posts on this in the past too. Any hints on how to access
> the archives on it? I'm pretty sure Walt has talked at length on his
> set-ups.
Start with a few decisions:
Stereo or Mono?
What price range?
What level of sound quality do you want?
What exactly will you be recording? Is your emphasis on getting
individual calls, or whole soundscapes. Or somewhere in between. Or is
it nature recording at all?
What distances do you plan to work?
As you noted there are lots of choices. Though once you weed out those
that can't stand being outside it does thin out. Many mics don't do well
in the humidity and other things involved in outside recording. The list
of ones that do well and have the track record to prove it is short. The
best track record is with the Sennheiser ME or MKH series mics.
Mostly small diaphragm mics are used, but there is no reason a large
diaphragm mic should not do well. It's partially a choice as to the
characteristics of the sound you like.
For nature recording it's important to get as low a self noise rating as
you can. Even in a parabolic. You should not choose only on this
characteristic, but it is a important consideration.
On the question of a lav mic, they make pretty good starter mics with a
parabolic. They don't have the good sound quality characteristics of
bigger mics, however. If you check my homemade parabolic page they are
using a sony tie tac mic.
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/quickparabolic.html
As far as a parabolic I use a Telinga Pro 6 with the DAT Stereo mic
element. I record virtually exclusively stereo. I occasionally
experiment with other things in parabolics, but other than the cheap
starter design I put up not much to pass around at this point. I do have
the dual science element for the telinga, but almost never use it.
Walt
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