Hi All,
I'm looking at buying a fairly cheap setup to get started in nature
recording. I'm mainly interested in recording bird calls for purposes
of making sonograms and id purposes. I know that further down the
track I'll probably do some ambient/soundscape recording.
I've read as much as I can of the list archives and various nature
recording websites so hopefully I'm on the correct track with this
selection.
I should be able to stretch the budget to a Sony MZ-RH1, but having
seen the various discussions about motor noise and pre-amp noise I
wondering if this is the best choice at the price? Or should I be
looking at some of the NH-*00 units or a PMD-650? I've also
considered picking up a sony portable DAT unit, say a TCD-D100 or I
could probably stretch to a PCM-M1. My concern with the DAT units is
that they are getting old, and I'd need to source a digital cable and
a spdif->usb convertor to allow digital transfers.
Is it worth putting a mic preamp in front of any of these portables?
I was considering building something like this INA217 based preamp
and phantom power supply:
http://www.celestial.com.au/%7Erosswood/diy/dualmicpre/dualmicpre.htm
My budget won't stretch to the widely recommended k6/me6* mics (well
I could but would't be able to buy a recorder!!), so I'm looking at
something like an NTG-1, NTG-2, AT897 or MKE300, plus shock mount and
wind protection. I have read that a parabolic dish would be better
for what I have in mind but I need to take the setup on bushwalks, so
I suspect a shotgun is going to be more practical. At this stage I'm
leaning towards the NTG-2, as it seems to deliver good performance vs
dollars but would welcome any advice.
cheers
Paul
|