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Re: Wish to record nature sounds - need advice please

Subject: Re: Wish to record nature sounds - need advice please
From: Syd Curtis <>
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:57:53 +1000
Re the posting below, alas I lack technical knowledge, but I have one
advantage over Walter - I use an NT4.  Two items of advice: it is a very
sensitive mic. - sensitive to any air movement or any mechanical movement.

I can endorse the advice that the foam cover is not useful outdoors.   I was
recording in a forest situation on the edge of a scarp with a very steep
drop in front of me.  Just after daylight, and there was a slight drift of
cold mountain air to the valley below.  One could hardly call it a breeze,
but it was enough to affect the mic.  Draping my handkerchief over the back
of the foam cover solved the problem, though it brought another - the
handkerchief attracted mosquitoes.  However, that indicates how sensitive
the mic is to air movement.   A fully enclosed windshield solved the
problem.

And the mic won't, in my experience, tolerate any movement at all of the
cable where it connects to the mic.  I imagine it would be simple for
someone with Walt's skills to build a set-up that immobilises the cable and
allows the mic to be hand-held.  I took the easy way out: mic mounted on a
tripod and a cable long enough to place my recorder on the ground and be
sure of no movement at all of the cable.

Syd Curtis in Brisbane, Australia



> From: Walter Knapp <>
> Reply-To: 
> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 22:59:09 -0500
> To: 
> Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Wish to record nature sounds  - need advice
> please
> 
> From: "Ryan" <>
> 
>> I think the Rode microphone you are referring to is the NT4.
>> Regarding a fluffy cover from rycote, would you suggest that I get
>> a "Softie Windshield System" or a "Full Windshield System"? if I was
>> to buy the rode NT4?
> 
> The full system is much more capable than the softie.
> 
>> Apparently the NT4 comes with a WS4 twin-head Wind Shield. Would
>> this suffice?
>> saw it here: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NT4/
> 
> The foam covers that mics typically come with are more like pop filters.
> To stop noises from the performer's breath hitting the mic. Strictly
> inside stuff. You need much more outside.
> 
>> Is it true that I should get an extra 20ft of cable to distance the
>> microphone from the mini disc?
> 
> For my uses 20ft of cable would usually be just to make life
> interesting. I generally record hand held, typically with about 4' of
> cable to my mics. I don't own a NT4, but can see no reason why the cable
> needs to be long.



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________


"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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