Cheryl,
Boy does what you're saying ring true. Your experience
dovetails with what I have experienced. The recording
lacks definition (I don't know that I would have said exactly
that, but I do agree) and starts to sound more like noise
than it does like a wave.
My recording efforts aren't project oriented; that is, I
don't have a time limit. My goal is to make surround
recordings of the waves, but not with much success.
I just keep trying.
One thing that I can offer as a suggestion is that you
should seriously consider recording in stereo. Recording
near the ocean, or in my case IN the ocean, has the
obvious drawback that your gear can get ruined. What
I do is to make my own microphones out of inexpensive
capsules, and then consider them to be expendable. I can
stand in the surf and have the recording on the sand, or
even in the parking lot. The principle drawback of the
inexpensive microphone capsules is that they have high
self-noise, but that's not the limiting factor. The loss of
perspective is the limiting factor.
Aaron Ximm, on this list, has some good recordings of
surf that he has made. I'm sure that he can be convinced to
chime in and share them.
And please, if you discover some "secrets" to recording
believable surf sounds, share them!
Eric
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