At 8:07 PM +0000 12/13/07, Sean Offord wrote:
>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 simply use my
>old camcorder directional rifle mic (a very cheap one) which I have
>used relatively
>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 sounds, 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 either 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
>cumbersome for field
>recording.
Learning about specific work-arounds that people are using would be
ideal. I believe there is a community around the use of the iRiver
for recording. I did a quick search and didn't come up with much.
Does anyone know any iRiver user groups or resources to suggest?
>
>So can anyone recommend a decent mic (directional)?
The Rode NTG-2
>
>Or can anyone tell me the technical specs I need to be looking for
>when I am considering
>a mic?
Its hard to generalize, but assuming your iRiver can be made to
perform as well as a manual gain Sony or Sharp MD recorder, perhaps
less than 20dB(A) self-noise and at least 10mV/Pa sensitivity.
>
>And finally a silly technical question: is the battery in a powered
>mic used for pre-amping
>the signal, or for something else??
Battery powering in a mic usually provides "mic level" for a mic
input. An external mic preamp usually provides "line level" for a
line input. Rob D.
> (You can see I don't know much, can't you?). 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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