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Re: Location needed

Subject: Re: Location needed
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 12:24:23 -0500
From: "Martyn Stewart" <>

> 
> I'm popping down to Florida next weekend for a few days, has anyone on the
> group got a good place to record, quietish? I'll be around the Orlando area
> unfortunately, I know of Merritt Island wildlife area but I'm looking for
> somewhere remote. Lang, any ideas?
> Thanks in advance......

"Orlando" now covers Florida clear across, or so it seems, not the best 
starting point.

When you get tired of recording the feathered dinosaurs, there are some 
that look a bit more like one. The Male Alligators should be bellowing. 
Their call does go way down into the infrasound, below what our 
recorders can handle, but there's plenty that you can hear. Dawn and 
into early morning is not a bad time for them. Though they can get going 
just about anytime. If you get to watch one calling, watch along their 
sides as the infrasound vibrations ripple the water.

The Winter/Early Spring frogs are still going here and the main Spring 
frogs are tuning up. Down there it will be farther along. Try getting 
out late at night, say 2AM or so. Even some areas that are pretty full 
of noise in the day can be ok then. The real show for frogs is at night. 
There is this mysterious phenominum in early evening, backcountry roads 
that were deserted in the daytime have lots of traffic. Especially if 
you turn on a recorder. There are some frogs that only call until about 
11PM, making it a problem.

If you check out low landscape bushes that have natural mulch under them 
just after the sprinkler system has run (or it's rained) you may hear a 
sort of cricket like call. Looking under the bushes may reveal the tiny 
Greenhouse Frog. Not native, has no tadpole stage, and is pretty widely 
distributed in Florida. It's only in a few towns in Georgia, shipped up 
in potted plants. You can hear the call here:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/greenhouse.frog.html

Note there is also another frog with cricket like calls, the native 
Little Grass Frog, tends to call with rain, but can be calling anytime 
of year:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/little.grass.frog.html

Looking through my frog pages will reveal quite a few others you may 
hear, though many of our frogs only get about as far south as Orlando if 
that far. Best bet is simply driving back roads at night and listening. 
There are more species in fishless water than water with fish. And 
fishless water is generally too small to be on maps. I'd expect you 
would hear Southern Toads, several treefrogs, they are just getting 
started, Southern Cricket Frogs will be calling, Eastern Narrowmouth 
Toads might be going down there. With heavy rain you might hear 
Spadefoot Toads. Pig frogs and Bullfrogs may be calling. Southern 
Leopard Frogs will be going. The various Chorus frogs are near done and 
only in northern Florida. Gopher frogs should be done.

Note if you should decide to try Okeefenokee (it would be about as close 
as everglades) be aware they lock the place up at sunset and don't open 
in time for the dawn activity. Chesser Island has a long boardwalk out 
into the swamp for daytime only. The only way to be out in the swamp at 
night (or even near it) is to go on a multiday paddling trip through the 
swamp, and that's not something you can do on the spur of the moment. 
Permits alone would stop you. You can actually paddle in the swamp at 
night otherwise, but the only launch that's accessible at night is way 
up near Waycross, Pogo's home town. Anyway Pogo greets you from their 
water tank. All in all, given the choice I'd head for Everglades.

> Secondly, is the wait for the sound devices 722 any better? Is there still a
> backlog or a waiting list?
> I took the pmd-670 to Wales last week while attending my brother's funeral
> and took it on myself to record the dawn chorus, there was virtually no
> noise pollution and this exposed the self noise of the recorder, I was using
> 2 mkh-20. This is the first time I have experienced the noise of the
> machine.
> I did a reading of the location and I was monitoring 25dba.

It's one of the reasons why so many don't find mic self noise or preamp 
noise, they simply don't have quiet enough places when they try, or they 
don't use quiet enough mics. MKH-20's are often cited as good mics for 
testing preamps. MKH-60's are even quieter. The amount of equipment that 
can do a good job in the very quiet sites is limited.

Even recording distant subjects in noisier sites is not the same. The 
noise is still messing up the recording, but it's masked by the noise of 
the site. The lovely sound of a quiet site is a challenge to equipment.

Walt




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