Hi there and welcome to the forum. I'm sure the Cornell guys have a
recommended equipment list. You'll note there are broadly two camps
of nature recording...the ambiance recordists and the species
recordists. Cornell folks would fall into the latter. You'll mostly
be following birds around and pointing mics at them. For that type of
work the best is usually a Telinga parabolic mic. That wouldn't be
terribly useful for non nature recording purposes, but it does a good
job at doing what it was designed to do...capture sounds that are
being reproduced quite far away from the microphone. A shotgun is ok
as well. That might be more versatile for your other endevours.
Recorder-wise, you are set if you have a 744t...it's amazing. Go with
that.
You will find taking your 414s outside may cause problems due to
humidity affecting the mics. In general Sennheiser mics do very well
outdoors with minimal problems from humidity. Your C40Bs and AT822
would do nicely for getting ambiant recordings.
Also, check the archives of this forum for many many discussions
regarding people's first rig, first mic, etc. Maybe you've done that
already.
Danny
--- In "Alan K" <> wrote:
>
> Hi folks:
>
> I'm fairly new to this list, and have been reading the digest on and
> off.
>
> I am an adult student in a Recording Arts program at Los Medanos
> Community College, an advanced amateur flutist (with alto flute and
> piccolo, too) who enjoys playing chamber music, and since I recorded
> some of my dress rehearsals for flute and piano concerts as a kid on
> my reel-to-reel "portable" recorder have been fascinated with
> recording.
>
> I now own several mics: a pair of AKG C414B-XLS, a pair of AKG C480B
> with Omni and cardioids capsules, a vintage Equate E-100
> hypercardioid, an AT822 stereo mic, and a number of lavaliere mics,
> including a pair of AT853 with a set of capsules (O/C/H/W) and a pair
> of MM-HLSC-1 based on the Sennheiser MKE-40 capsules. For recorders,
> I have an SD 744T, an Edirol R-09, a rockboxed iRiver H120, and a
> digi-modded Edirol UA-5 to use as a portable field preamp.
>
> My first entry into recording over the last few years was during
> chamber music workshops in which I participated, recording up to 100
> ensembles over a week with a simple, small stereo mic and pre into a
> Sony minidisc recorder. Given the great acoustics of the performance
> theatre, those recorders came out splendidly.
>
> I have done a number of live concert recordings with the later
> acquired rigs, mostly rock and roll, some in indoor venues, and some
> outdoors. A couple of samples of those can be found here.
> http://www.archive.org/bookmarks.php?screenname=3Dacousticvibes . I
> recently had an opportunity to record a live performance of Coro
> Hispano de San Francisco (http://corohispano.org/)
>
> My introductory class in the Recording Arts program was with a
> recordist and instructor who has produced and engineered in recording
> studios and won a couple of Grammies. He has written a book about
> Field Recording (I believe that is the title), and I now realize that
> his interest is in recording just about any thing that makes sound.
> While my major interest continues in recording music, more live than
> studio, I am also interested in expanding my limited field recording
> experience.
>
> The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is sponsoring a recording workshop
> this coming summer that has attracted my interest and I may be able
> to leverage it into an elective to satisfy my college program.
>
> I have studied up somewhat on the various mics and techniques, both
> in books, on the net and through this forum. However, I would
> greatly appreciate all counsel about what set-up (and I assume that
> would mean what mic to add to my collection) you would recommend for
> the Cornell field recording workshop. Sennheiser short and long
> shotguns seem to get a lot of airtime. Would you pursue one of
> those? I don't want to spend a fortune, as I will probably spend
> most of my energy in the music field, but I nonetheless want to work
> on some nature recording as well. I am thinking that the mics I now
> have would be sufficient for some ambient outdoor recordings, but for
> bird or other animals I would think that a longer range and even more
> directional mic would be in order.
>
> All counsel is welcome and will be appreciated.
>
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