Hi, my name is Terry King and I'm new here..!
I have been asked to help a noted professor here develop portable gear
to do a creditable job of recording birds and some other wildlife.
This is an unusual opportunity as I will be living the next two years
in North Africa, in Tunisia. There are two bird species that are
unique to Tunisia, one possibly in Algeria (obviously the birds don't
notice inconvenient things like international borders). The locations
will vary from the Sahara to small islands in the Mediterranean.
I have several technical issues, and many general questions about
people's practical experience with different equipment. I'll take
those one at a time as I get further along in the process.
Initially, I'd like to ask for your opinion and experiences with using
24 bit recording capability as compared to 16 bit. It seems to me that
this type of recording has two unique challenges: very low overall
sound pressure levels, and a very wide dynamic range of desired
signals over a recording 'session'. The extremely (to me) low
background noise and high dynamic range of 24 bit equipment seems to
be a great potential advantage. The limiting factors seem to be the
inherent noise floor of specific microphones, and microphone
preamplifier noise floor. Then there are unwanted but authentic
background noises such as wind, vegetation movement, water and surf.
And those pesky humans.
So, my specific requests now:
1. Pointers to data on microphone self-noise levels (hopefully
expressed relative to ambient SPL)
2. Opinions and experiences of utilizing 24 bit recording capability
with natural sounds.
THANKS!
I have a long history in Broadcast Engineering and Recording, have
designed lots of audio equipment, and have decent electronics and
measurement equipment available to me here in Tunisia. I have done
quite a bit with digital sound recording. I'm used to doing some
mechanical design and fabrication. I'm currently teaching Photography
and Journalism part time at an International School here, where my
wife is the Librarian.
My Dad, who was a Broadcast Engineer, is now 92 and a lifelong birder.
He did some nature recording in the 50's and 60's with Ralph Morrill
and Roger Peterson in Connecticut, USA. He's glad we're back looking
for birds...
Regards,
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