Hi Travis--
Welcome to posting to the list. My recommendation would be mics in an
array that will allow you to hear the calls (and associated
alterations and stresses) "accurately" in relation to background
sounds (including levels and other sonic characteristics). You might
miss some key clues or get an inaccurate impression by using a rig
that is designed to isolate the callers such as shotgun, dish or
other directional mic.
Its best, for control purposes) to use the same mic/array in both
settings so this brings us to the familiar requirements of using very
low noise mics in a stereo array that will create an accurate stereo
field for locating the background sources and callers. There are a
lot of experienced folks on this list who will have specific
recommendations to make. You might want to scan the terms, "quiet
location" and "mic" and "stereo" in the list archive to launch your
research. Any mics/array that will perform to your needs in quiet
locations will work fine in the urban settings. Feel free to
follow-up with questions. Rob D.
At 6:30 PM +0000 3/9/09, saspring2002 wrote:
>This is the first time I have made a post to this group's page, but
>I have been reading through in an attempt to find out what equipment
>would work best for me. I am planning a research project which will
>analyze song alteration by birds in the Urban environment in
>comparison to the rural environment. So far I have narrowed down my
>choice of digital recorders to either the M-Audio Microtrack II or
>the Tascam DR-1. I am also planning on using the Raven software for
>analyzing the sonograms. Other than that I am having difficulty
>deciding what the best microphone option would be for my uses
>(recording a specific species of bird amid all of the noise found in
>the urban/rural landscape). Any help pointint me towards specific
>equipment or previous posts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for
>your time!
>
>Travis Wood
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