Ric, while Wild Soundscapes has many decent features, keep in mind
that it was published in 2002. Therefore the chapter on tech (except,
perhaps, for some of the mics) is woefully out of date. Best to
consult the list (Nature Recordists) archives for the latest and best
field technologies because they are arguably among the most thorough =
evaluations going...especially those of oryoki and Rob Danielson.
Bernie Krause
On Jul 26, 2009, at 9:16 AM, Matt Blaze wrote:
> Hmmm. I'm not familiar with your particular recorder. but it sounds
> like a number of things could be going on here.
>
> How long is your cable? Inbalanced cables (the kind with a miniplug)
> aren't designed for long runs - they effectively act as antennas, and
> will pick up any electrical or radio noise in the area. But it
> doesn't sound like that's your problem here, since you're getting
> mechanical noise, rather than electrical noise.
>
> The problem could be be with the connector. Most headphone cables are
> stereo, with three wires and a three conductor mini-plug ("tip, ring,
> shield"). Your mic might use the TWO conductor version of that
> connector, which is (very) slightly larger. The three conductor
> connector will fit, but not securely, and so what you might be hearing
> is noise from the connector as it moves. Are you sure you're using
> the a cable with the correct connector?
>
> The most likely problem is handling noise Mechanical sounds from the
> cable can travel to the microphone and be picked up there. Handling
> noise is the bane of handheld recording, and it's why commercial audio
> production uses elaborate (and expensive) shock mounts to isolate
> microphones from the environment. But it shouldn't be as loud as
> tapping the microphone element. Again, I'm not familiar with your
> recorder, but is the automatic gain control (sometimes called
> automatic level control) engaged? That's designed to set the
> recording level automatically to even out the level of the
> recording. If it's very quiet and you introduce a small handling
> sound (like from moving the mic cable), the AGC circuit will amplify
> it to be very loud. Basically, you never want to engage the AGC
> control for a serious recording. (It's useful for recording, say, a
> lecture, where you can't adjust the controls, but that's about it).
>
> -matt
>
> On Jul 26, 2009, at 10:14, Riccardo Bianchi wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Good morning,
> >
> > my name is Riccardo and I'm new on the list.
> > ...and I'm new in this field, as well ;-)
> >
> > Last year during a trip at Indiana Dunes national park, near
> > Chicago, at I bought the "Wild Soundscape" book at the Park
> > bookstore.
> >
> > And now I just bought an Hi-MD recorder on ebay ;-) a NH900.
> >
> > I'm trying to get my first recordings, thus I have a question...very
> > stupid question, I guess ;-)
> >
> > - I noticed that using the little mic drectly plugged on the recoder
> > case, I record the noise from the MD machinery...
> >
> > - ...so I thought that I could have bought a long "hearphone" cable
> > to use the microphone at a certain distance from the recoder
> itself...
> >
> > - ...I bought it, but I noticed that this cable introduces a lot of
> > strong noise in the recording!! I mean, each time that the cable is
> > touched or moved, a loud sound (like that one we get when tapping on
> > the microphone) jumps in the recording, as like as the cable itself
> > would be a microphone!
> >
> > So I guess that that cable (that one we buy in order to get a longer
> > cable for the earphones) is not the right cable ;-)
> >
> > Thus my question is: which cable should I buy?
> >
> > Thank you very much for your help and for your patience with a so
> > basic and stupid question! :-P
> >
> > Have a nice Sunday,
> >
> > Ric.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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