Well, I'm certainly already doing that.
http://www.townisp.com/~jerry.berrier
-----Original Message-----
From: Barb Beck
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 6:47 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Seeking Low-cost Commercially Available
Parabolic system
Start recording with whatever you have or can afford.. Heck half of
mine are with a small old Sony parabola and the crummy mic which came
with it. Still some of those are my best because of the area I was in
and the fact that I was close to the bird under ideal conditions.
Just go for it
Barb Beck
Edmonton
Jerry Berrier wrote:
>Walt,
>
>Thanks for your very interesting comments.
>I currently have a Sony MZR907 stereo microphone. While I realize it
>is at the low end of performance, here's my question. Is there a
>commercially available parabola that I could make work with such a
>microphone, until I'm ready to spend more money on a high end mic?
>Because I'm an amateur and anticipate deriving no income from my hobby
>of "birding by ear", cost is definitely a factor for me.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Walter Knapp
>Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 6:10 PM
>To:
>Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Seeking Low-cost Commercially Available
>Parabolic system
>
>
>
>From: Klas Strandberg <>
>
>
>
>>>>With the parabolic it is in focus or out. There is no smooth
>>>>transition.
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>Yes, there is. The size of the focus varies with frequency.
>>
>>Klas.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>>With a shotgun the center is more like the ear to find the sweet
>>>>spot.
>>>>
>>>>You can read that a shotgun has no gain but the truth is a bit more
>>>>gray. If you have a sensitive directional mic that is has a pattern
>>>>more close to the ear in direction ability, then it is easy to find
>>>>the sweet spot in the blind. It still can do a selective receive
>>>>that a dish can do.
>>>>
>>>>
>
>First off this grew out of the assumption that being blind means a
>person cannot hear the direction of the sound. Nothing could be farther
>from the truth. Friends I have that are blind can point exactly where
>some sound is and describe it far better than a person with sight, they
>don't need to see the bird. I see no problem in their using a parabolic,
>in fact I've handed my parabolic to a blind person, and he had no
>problem using mine. No instruction necessary he already had what he
>wanted to point at nailed. And he could scan up new things too.
>
>It's not just that the size of the focus varies with frequency, I
>certainly agree with Klas on this. The focus is also variable depending
>on target distance. The bottom line is that a parabolic is hardly a
>straight line only as to it's pickup. While the angle of acceptance of a
>parabolic is narrower than a shotgun, it's still very wide and does have
>a transition zone that's easy to use as a guide for centering the
>direction of the mic. It's easy to zero in by ear with good headphones.
>I submit it's even easier if you use a stereo parabolic, like the
>telinga stereo. In frog survey recordings I'll usually survey a site
>entirely with my headphones on, zeroing in on each little calling group
>by ear. Bird folks need to try this more, with frogs your chances of
>seeing the calling frogs are very low, so you always do it by ear. Try
>recording with your eyes closed, listen to the sound.
>
>The problem with shotgun mics in addition to having no extra gain that
>won't increase the self noise as well, is that they tend toward the high
>priced end, hard to cheaply hand make a quality shotgun mic, though I
>have a few ideas. You will get more bang for the buck with a parabolic,
>particularly at the less expensive end. Even once you get the shotgun
>pointed at the bird, it's still hampered by less gain and a wider pickup
>zone. Shotguns tend to have polar patterns that have a fairly even
>pickup for the center 60 degrees or so, much harder to get exact aim by
>ear. If anything they have greater need of visual sighting.
>
>Try both a parabolic and a shotgun blindfolded, I think the parabolic
>will win as far as aiming.
>
>As far as the ear's angle of acceptance, it's more like the SASS than
>either of these. It's our brain that then filters out all that came in
>to make it appear like we were only listening in one limited direction
>to a single caller.
>
>Walt
>
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
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>
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
Yahoo! Groups Links
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