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Re: dunesong and other low freq's (was............)

Subject: Re: dunesong and other low freq's (was............)
From: Wild Sanctuary <>
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2005 06:26:34 -0700
You're welcome, David. Actually, I have a confession to make. With
several hours of dune recordings made since 1984, I mistakenly ID'd
the one posted as a later one at Kelso, but it turns out to be an
earlier version done with a pair of PZM (pressure zone mics) mounted
on a sheet of clear plastic...hence the sound of the ravens in the
bkg. The h-phones were a later addition and provide a substantial
gain in low frequency (assuming the ability of the recorder to
capture it).

You might try attaching the h-phones to the log w/ bungie cords so
that it acts as contact mic. That sometimes provides a wonderful and
surprising result. I once did that to record a pileated woodpecker by
binding the h-phone to the trunk of the tree it was hammering and
began recording. Got the entire resonance of the tree and some detail
otherwise not possible with any other type of system.

Good luck with the installation.

Bernie

>Thanks Bernie, the Kelso dune recording really makes me grin. I wonder
>if the Raven at 9 and 24 sec. hears and responds to dunesong. How far
>apart are the mics?
>
>I'm using your suggestion, Bernie, of buried hydrophones for low
>freq's, in one of my current projects: For an installation in Hilo
>(the Mauna Kea Astronomy
>Education Center, opening Dec 05), a combination of a forest and
>cultural exhibit. One scenario is hauling a Koa log down thru the
>forest, with chants and commands of native Hawaiian canoe builders,
>and native forest birds, to accompany. I already have the bird-song
>audio, the human voices we are doing in a studio in Hilo, to be mixed
>with the log-hauling sounds, which I am doing here on Kaua'i in quiet
>Koke'e, (working at night to avoid unwanted sounds of alien birds).
>
>I'm using a 20 foot, one-ton log to try to produce a passable audio
>simulation of a moving 60 foot mega-ton Koa log (There is a lot of
>downed Koa here from Hurricane Iniki in '92). I've got a large block-
>and-tackle with 150 feet of 6000-lb-test line to move the log down-
>slope. Mic'ing is MKH-20's in modified SASS (Thank you Walter)
>recording to Portadisc, with parallel buried hydrophones in zip-loc
>bags recording to Mzr50.
>
>This is my second attempt--the first one with just the SASS didn't
>yield enough low frequency sound--so I'm trying the hydrophones. Hope
>this works.
>
>Aloha,
>David
>
>
>
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>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
t. 707-996-6677
f. 707-996-0280
http://www.wildsanctuary.com


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