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Greetings Patrick Cooper,
Welcome to the Nature Recordists group...
I'm a newcomer to wildlife sound recording and to this group also, I've
just started down this fascinating road of nature sound recordings starting=
with the purchase of a new recorder on the first of June.
Seeing as you comment about thinking of getting a mini-disc recorder and
microphone, I would like to offer a few suggestions based on what I have
learned in the past three weeks of experience gained along my path as a
newcomer into this fascinating endeavor.
First let me explain, I'[m a white haired old retired geezer having retired=
from a career in Oceanography as an equipment designer and somewhat of an
underwater acoustics expert. My reason for explaining this is to offer an
explanation as to why I have a very good understanding of sound recording
equipment and related technology. I have also been doing wildlife
photography as a hobby since I was a young boy and like you, became
interested in adding the capability of recording their sounds.
However, starting out with this present endeavor with the rapid technology=
advances that have occurred since my active days in the field, its a whole=
new ball game equipment wise.
A couple of pieces of advice, when selecting a recorder, you want to be
looking at music type recorders not voice recorders. Bird sounds range from=
about 500 hertz up to 14,000 hertz and you want a recorder enough range to=
be able to record clearly the full spectrum of a birds sound.
Second bit of advice, you mentioned a mini-disc recorder. The mini-disc is=
a bit of technology that has fallen by the wayside and been replaced in the=
market place by the new digital PCM recorders. I doubt you will find any
new mini-disc recorders on the market today.
When I was looking for a recorder, having recently upgraded my camera
equipment to DSLR cameras that use SDHC cards for image storage, one of my=
criteria for a digital PCM recorder was that it use the same type card that=
my cameras use and as I have a good card reader set up on my computer to
download the recorder sound files as well as image files.
Last but not least by far is the microphone. The selection of the right
microphone for your application is the most important part of the process,=
again, you want a microphone designed for recording music, not voice and
for the same reasons mentioned above and you can expect to spend more for
the right microphone than you will the recorder,
There is a whole gamut of microphones to select from, and this is where
this Nature Recordists group can help you a lot as they did me. The most
important issues to look at when selecting a microphone is the that the
microphone should have a low noise floor figure, high sensitivity, and a
compatible interface with the input of the recorder. i.e. how does the
recorder and microphone match up as far as balanced or unbalanced input and=
input impedance as well as how is the microphone powered, either by an
external battery, its own internal battery, or by the recorder itself.
Sounds more complicated than it really is.
After weeks of looking at specifications and asking lots of questions, I
was looking at a Zoom H4n, a Sony PCM-M10, and an Olympus LS-11
recorder. Any one of these three PCM recorders would have been a
satisfactory choice however I chose the Olympus LS-11 recorder as its
features seemed to fit most closely my needs as I saw them. At the time I
bought the LS-11, I also bought a Sennheiser MKE 300 shotgun type
microphone based on articles I'd read about people using this microphone
for making bird sound recordings and it works reasonably well although it
seems a bit insensitive to me.
About that same time I discovered the Naturerecordists group and joined
it. One of my first questions to the group was about microphones and I
received very good advice that led me to the immediate purchase of a
Sennheiser ME66/K6. This ME66/K6 microphone has much higher sensitivity as=
well as the ability to be used with either a balanced input recorder or
unbalanced as well as being powered either by an internal battery or
phantom power from the recorder or an external power supply. As the LS-11
is a compact recorder, it has an unbalanced input and it does not have
phantom power making the ME66/K6 about as close to the ideal microphone as=
I could find to use with this recorder.
As this all has worked out for me, I'm very pleased with the sound
recording setup as I have it and you can follow the "Wildlife" link
following my signature below to hear a number of my recordings made with
this setup.
Enough of this running on, I've written all this in hopes that it will
provide you with some insight as to getting started.
Again, Welcome aboard, and I hope you get as much satisfaction form nature=
sound recordings and this group as I do...
At 01:59 AM 6/22/2010 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Hello there! As you see, I'm new to the group and also new to 'serious'
>sound recording. I admit that I know next to nothing about audio but am
>keen to learn. Thinking about getting a Mini Disc recorder and external
>microphone.
>
--
Thanks,
Mitch & Shadow...
http://www.4shared.com/dir/UTASxktL/wildlife.html
Shadow's area: http://www.4shared.com/dir/ecfWjyZb/Shadow.html
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