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Re: What Equipment Would You Buy with $1000?

Subject: Re: What Equipment Would You Buy with $1000?
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 17:14:51 -0500
From: "jhall_jonathan" <>

>
>
> Hey,
>
> Thanks Rob D. and Rich P. for helping me fine-tune the
> question.
>
> I''ll be using a G4 ibook and am tentatively looking at using
> ProTools as the editing program.  Don't have any high-end
> playback system other than standard stereo system.
>
> The inspiration for getting into this field have been the recordings
> of Jonathon Storm.  I'd like to be producing sonic, ambient
> landscapes in that vein.  Forests, streams, trees creaking in the
> wind, etc.
>
> http://www.earthear.com/catalog/profiles/storm.html
>
> So looking at portable recording unit, cables, microphone, and
> accessories.

Think microphones, as in stereo. Which requires two microphones. Or a
one point stereo mic, but it's hard to find those that will meet the
quality requirements and still be cheap enough and work well for nature
recording. If you are headed toward individual birdcalls or such then
mono can be ok, but it's not going to be the way to go with ambiance.

Ambiance is one of the hard areas. A bird calling is relatively loud and
thus easier to record. Ambiance is the delicate sound in between the
bird calls. Ambiance requires the microphones not add anything, have low
self noise. You want the hiss of the breeze to be the pine trees, not
the mic. And you cannot do much processing to a ambiance recording
without messing it up. Calls plus ambiance has been one of my primary
focus areas lately.

The shure 183 series lavaliers are a place to start, though they have
high enough self noise to limit you to recording louder ambiance. If you
want to produce recordings like those commercial CD's expect to spend a
bit on mics. The most likely mics he used would be Sennheisers, probably
MKH series. The MKH are the quieter, higher end mics, and expensive,
there are also the ME mics, nearly as good and cheaper though the
variety is not quite as complete. If you could manage to come up with a
recorder for a low price, then a couple ME mics might be possible in
your budget. Ebay can save some money. In any case, where you need to
put your money is in mics.

Figure on going less expensive now to get going, you have chosen a area
that can really eat money initially. If you are into ambiance,
particularly the quieter sites, expect to be spending some money in the
future if you stick with it. But, you will have to gain experience to
really know what mics will suit you, and that will probably save you
some from equipment not suited to you. So you need to get out and record.

I started with inexpensive equipment, not many years ago I was using
walkman minidisc and cheap microphones. I've gradually built up a more
capable outfit as money and my own readiness allowed. I now use a HHb
Portadisc and a number of MKH mics in stereo setups as well as a Telinga
stereo parabolic:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_mod_sass.html
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_ms_setups.html
It took may years haunting ebay to put this stuff together. Every mic on
those pages and most of the other stuff came from ebay.

I'm not sure ProTools is the way to go. It's a expensive route. A basic
editor like Bias' Peak with one or two of Elemental Audio's plugins
would be a less expensive route. Particularly if you intend to emulate
Storm's purist approach and do only minimal editing of your recordings
you don't need software that's designed for music mixing or sound
modification. You will find that having a ability to do sonograms will
greatly help understanding the sound editing.

As far as listening, get a good pair of headphones that seal out sound.
You will need them to monitor when recording, and they can be what you
use for most editing. I use Sony MDR-V900's, but others have their own
preference. It has to be something you can wear for hours at a time.

Most important, get something and get out and record!

Walt




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