Hi All,
Vicki's advice is good. I've been recording birds with my new Sony
PCM D1 mounted on a Gorillapod tripod http://www.amazon.com/Joby-
GP1-01EN-Gorillapod-Flexible-Tripod/dp/B000EVSLRO
I first watch the bird from a distance and observe it's primary song
perch. Then I disturb the bird briefly to place the recorder (with
Gorrillapod legs wrapped snugly around a fork in the tree branch)
with mic pointed at the bird's preferred performance site and the
recorder about 2 meters from where I anticipate the bird will be. I
turn on the recorder for an hour or two and leave the area. Later, I
retrieve the recorder and hurry home to listen for the goodies I
might have captured.
A few points on this technique:
Make sure you leave the recorder in a location safe from theft, or
keep an eye on it from a distance.
Protect the recorder from the W's (wind, water, waves, weather,
weirdo's, warfare, wallabies, etc.)
Make sure no annoying branch or leaf will be repeatedly banging the
recorder each time the breeze blows.
Try to imagine the stereo field you will be creating with your
recording and how your principal subject and surrounding sound
sources will sound later in a set of stereo speakers. For example,
at a stream try to place the stream trickle sounds pleasantly
centered, and not too strong, rather than having a rushing gushing
noise annoying the listener off centered to one side. If 2 or 3
birds or frogs are performing, place the nearest performer slightly
off center to one side with the others pleasingly place to right and
left. You might try centering you aim between two performers and
listen to them sing to the right and left. Make an equilateral
triangle with your mic and the two performers at each triangle
corner. Try not to have all the action just on one side. In other
words, this is your chance to compose the soundscape picture you are
creating so take some care to compose with beauty. Take some time
before placing the mic to get a feel for what's going on audio-wise.
Experiment with record volumes, I use about level 5 or 6 out of 10 on
the Sony. You don't want to record on most machines too high or too
low on the record volume scale. You'll have to find out how high you
can go without clipping.
My wife helped me make a small furry coat for the whole recorder that
is fairly camouflaged and protects from the wind. I've spray painted
the Gorillapod in brown camo and to the critters it looks like a
dried mossy chunk of nothing sitting on the tree branch.
And of course - Have lots of fun!
Kevin
On Jun 27, 2008, at 4:00 PM, Vicki Powys wrote:
> Max and all,
>
> Max, try putting your LS-10 on recording level 5 (REC LEVEL knob on
> right hand side). Make sure the high sensitivity switch is on. Then
> try to get as close as possible to the singing bird (or frog or
> whatever), and preferably when it is not windy. On level 5 (with the
> built-in mics), you should get a useable signal. If you don't, you
> are not close enough to the bird. When you download the sound to
> your computer and listen through good headphones, you will get a true
> idea of what you have recorded. The LS-10 headphone outlet (VOLUME
> knob on left hand side) is fairly weak so don't rely on this for
> judging your recording quality.
>
> Yesterday I soldered up a pair of WL183s and tried these with the
> Olympus LS-10, but not yet in the field. The 183s give less noise
> than the built in mics, and may be better when used with the LS-10
> low cut switched ON. More on this when I have tested them in the
> field.
>
> The photo of my home-made windscreen for the built-in mics is now
> uploaded to the naturerecordists web page, look under the heading
> PHOTOS.
>
> Vicki Powys
> Australia
>
|