At 4:48 AM +0000 7/27/05, Robert wrote:
>hi--
>
>Here is yet another version of the ultimate newbie question, except
>that it is a question whose answer changes as the technology changes.
>
>I wish to record cicada, cricket and katydid sounds, but not for the
>purpose of getting pristine natural sound quality. Instead, I want to
>capture the intriguing melodic cacophony for use in making electronic
>music with my little sampler/synthesizer program.
>
>I did what everyone of a certain interest set has probably has done
>at one time or another, trying to use my simple 20 dollar mike and
>portable cassette player to capture bugsong, only to find myself
>capturing really interesting (and perhaps useful) tape hiss.
>
>But when I walk in our north Texas Summer nights, on my favorite
>hiking trail, the insect choruses overwhelm thought, sensation, and
>my ears. There must be a way to capture this for sampling purposes
>without buying one thousand dollars worth of gear.
Where in North Texas? I went to college in Sherman. The tree frogs
and cicadas pack a lot of energy so its not like you need a low
noise rig to get some loud song onto your PC. People who walk often
like headphone mounted binaural mics. If you can solder, there are
plans around for DIY projects using WM-61A capsules. Plug "wm-61a
DIY" into google. Anyone have a Radio Shack part no for another
capsule with a proven track record on PIP? Then maybe a used MD
recorder on ebay for the other 60-80 bucks (assuming you have some
headphones you can donate to the cause). Make sure it has a mic
input. Cheap is fine, cheap and easy is asking too much. After you
get hooked, maybe for a $180 HiMD recorder like the Sony 910 to make
the digital uploading easy. While you are freeware browsing, look for
parametric EQ. It can can help tame the harshness of highly
concentrated frequencies of insect and amphibian sounds. Let us know
when you've got something you can dance to. Rob D.
>
>Has anyone tried to capture sounds like this with nothing more
>sophisticated than a Radio Shack audio amplifier and a simple
>recorder? What is the least expensive way to get audible birdsong
>and bugsound onto a medium that I can then record into a .wav file on
>my computer? I have a huge advantage over the purist seeking the
>ideal sound, because I am not interested in perfect clarity, but only
>in intriguing sounds, that I can slice up and make into electronic
>wonders.
>
>For those, by the way, who are not musical, but who want to try a
>musical experience with their nature sounds, let me suggest the
>open source software Slicer, which is available as freeware at
>www.ixi-software.net. Slicer lets you import a simple wave file of
>anything, and use it as music with a graphical string art interface.
>How much musical knowledge or electronic knowledge do you need to use
>Slicer? Zero. You just hit the "import" button, import your nature
>sound .wav file, and the use the string art interface to alter the
>sounds--it's perhaps not more fun than a barrel of leopard frogs, but
>it's interesting.
>
>But I keep imagining what it would be like to get nature sounds
>on .wav files I create, and then slice and dice.
>
>Can you help me find a way to do it, i.e., capture the sound and
>record it, on the least expensive (let's say the abysmally low sum of
>100 dollars) equipment imaginable? Surely with all the new
>technology, there must be better ways than the old, out of date
>magazine articles I find here. I admire all you folks who are doing
>really professional stuff, but can you help a fellow out who just
>wants to record a slice?
>
--
Rob Danielson
Film Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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