There is lots of detailed advise about recording ocean waves in my
recent book, WILD SOUNDSCAPES, P. 135+, (Wilderness Press), Cheryl.
Basically, in order for any mic to pick up the essential components
of ocean wave sound, one must record examples from several different
persepctives - near-field (what's occurring at the water's edge or at
the water-line at your feet), mid-field (where the breakers crash),
and far-field (the entire perspective far from the water-line high up
on the beach near the secondary dunes). Once recorded properly, then
you mix all the elements together in one composite program.
Wave sound at an ocean beach is one of the most difficult geophonies
to record convincingly (effects of wind being a close second). That
is because we're a visual culture and we tend to hear what we're
looking at. (It took me ten years to finally figure it out.) Mics,
depending on their pattern, tend to pick up everything in the field
their designed patterns allow. So you are not likely to get a viably
recorded illusion of ocean waves on one pass. Definition comes from
the detail you get as you record from varied distances and then mix
them together.
Bernie Krause
>Greetings folks,
>
>I need to record some very large ocean waves breaking
>for a video project and wonder if anyone can offer
>some advice on the best techniques for doing this.
>
>So far I have been playing around with a Rode NT4
>going into Core Audio's Mic2496 preamp and their PD
>audio setup on a PDA. This is giving me nice crisp
>recordings of things I can get the mic close to, but
>isn't cutting it for the big waves breaking. They end
>up lacking definition and sounding too much like white
>noise. I would like to capture the different parts of
>the wave crashes more distinctly.
>
>I haven't tried using shotgun mics or parabolics yet
>(I don't have any experience with either of these thus
>far in my recording life, though I suspect they are
>probably what this project calls for). I do have some
>resources for borrowing or possibly buying another mic
>(would like to keep this under $500). I'm not looking
>to do binaural recordings and, unfortunately, most of
>the wave recordings are going to end up in mono. It
>would be acceptable to create or enhance the waves
>sounds by mixing different recordings together,
>although I am quite fond of the way they happen
>naturally.
>
>Thanks in advance for any pointers you can send my
>way!
>
>Cheryl Leonard
>www.allwaysnorth.com
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
t. 707-996-6677
f. 707-996-0280
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
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