I'm located in N Central MA Jerry... we got it good too. Over a foot here
but very peaceful sounding.
Robert
>From: "Jerry Berrier" <>
>Reply-To:
>To: <>
>Subject: Okay, I ordered One: RE: [Nature Recordists] Seeking Low-cost
Commercially Available Parabolic system
>Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:46:21 -0500
>
>Well, I finally bit the bullet and placed an order. I found one from
Saul
>Mineroff Electronics that sounds like it will meet my needs.
>I will use the microphones I currently have for the time being and then
>later purchase a better mic.
>
>We just got a foot of snow today here in central MA; can't wait for
spring.
>
>
>-----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
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