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Re: Re: introducing another wannabe recordist

Subject: Re: Re: introducing another wannabe recordist
From:
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:32:37 EST
 
Thanks for the warm welcome and direction, Greg.  Your microphone  
recommedation is most useful; biophony is what I'll originally attempt to  
record.  I've 
also ordered Bernie's book; an in-depth read makes sense  before 
dough-dropping. Hopefully by spring I'll be trouncing in the middle  of my 
selected swamp 
at least "looking" like a recording expert.   :)  We have a huge expanse of 
territory in NJ's pine barrens and I've been  sitting at many a bog-side for 
years enjoying the sounds.  I've done  some photography work here, but have no 
idea why it took so long for the bulb to  go off enlightening me to at least 
attempt to bring home the  voices.  
 
Thanks again.
 
-- Bill
 
 
 
In a message dated 12/17/2005 5:56:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
 writes:

Welcome  Bill,

There is much advice here to start the recording habit.  To  me the
most important is by scouting and listening first, finding the  right
location is one of the big challenges in nature recording and  it's
getting more difficult by the day.

There are a few good books  out there, Bernie's book (a member of this
list) "Wild Soundscapes" is  highly regarded.  He covers finding
locations, technical info and  listening exercises and much more.

http://tinyurl.com/azukf  (amazon.com)

The online version of this Yahoo group has a search  function to find
specific information, "microtrack" for instance brings up  many recent
posts, some reviews, some more technical than others.   Another place
to look is at some of the consumer MD players; again a quick  search
through the list will let you know what people like.

If you  are getting ready to drop some dough I would say teh microphone
is the most  important element.  There have been endless discussions of
what mic is  best.  It really depends on what you are trying to record.
To me there  are two general directions in nature recording: species
recording, going  after a certain critter; and ambient, trying to
record everything in a  given area (biophony).  

To make another generalization, species  recording uses more
directional mics, shotgun, hypercardioid, parabolic  dish etc; ambient
recording uses more omnidirectional mics and mic arrays,  omni, wide
cardioid, binaural, ORTF, XY etc.  Some of these use  multiple mic
elements and some have two elements built in to one  unit.

Also key is a good windscreen, either purchased or  improvised.  The
foam that comes with most microphones is only good  for keeping bugs
off your mic.

I'll let other fill in more technical  questions (and dissect mine).

In addition to the mics and recorders, a  pair of closed back
headphones or canal-phones will allow you to hear what  you are
recording better.  I would start with the headphones, to me  they are
easier to remove and listen with your ears, an important part of  my
experience.

One more piece of recording advice is to "slate" your  recordings,
every one, every time.  At the beginning or end of your  recording (I
do the beginning) say the date, time, location, direction, mic  array
used, recording levels, equipment, specific species being recorded  and
any other information to help identify your recordings when you  get
home or in 5 years.  I also carry a little notebook to note  any
specifics while I'm recording.

Well that's enough out of me,  good luck, ask questions and happy
recording.

--greg  weddig
Baltimore,  MD
http://home.earthlink.net/~gweddig
http://www.ourmedia.org/user/627






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