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iRiver H120 microphone advice needed

Subject: iRiver H120 microphone advice needed
From: "Sean Offord" seanofford
Date: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:07 pm ((PST))
Hello all - this is my first post and I am not a technically minded person =
so please bear
with me!  I recently purchased a used iRiver H120 - a hard-disc based mp3
player/recorder.

I want to use the H120 to record bird calls so was imagining that I could s=
imply use my
old camcorder directional rifle mic (a very cheap one) which I have used re=
latively
successfully with a Sony MD recorder.  However the mic does not do as well =
in the iRiver -
I think I need something with a higher gain/more sensitivity to quieter sou=
nds, as the
results I got were very quiet. Pushing up the gain to max on Rockbox gives =
very hissy
results.

I am a total novice at microphones but through reading it seems I need eith=
er a better mic
with higher gain or a pre-amp setup.

The trouble with the pre-amp idea is that I cannot find a reasonably cheap =
one which runs
off batteries, and also using one will start to make the setup a bit cumber=
some for field
recording.

So can anyone recommend a decent mic (directional)?

Or can anyone tell me the technical specs I need to be looking for when I a=
m considering
a mic?

And finally a silly technical question: is the battery in a powered mic use=
d for pre-amping
the signal, or for something else?? (You can see I don't know much, can't y=
ou?). If so, do I
just need to buy a mic which takes a lot of batteries???

Thanks for your patience!

Sean





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