At 6:52 AM -0700 8/24/10, laurent fournier wrote:
>HI All
>
>I am completly novice in the field of sound recording. Am a birder doing
>frequent surveys on the field, looking basically
>for=A0to document the occasional
>odd bird song, for an affordable price. Quality
>would be nice, but affordability
>and portability is my main concern.
>
>I was thinking about the combination ATR55+LS10
>or ATR55+Tascam DR-08. I looked
>into the group archive, without finding a good
>answer. Anyone has anything good
>to say about those entry level combinations? Is the cheap mic an improveme=
nt
>from using internal mics (I heard the LS10 has pretty good ext. mics)?
>
>Does it need a preamp? which one?
>
>
>Laurent
>
Hi Laurent--
Welcome to the list and to field recording. I'm
not sure how you came to making the mic and
recorder decision at the same time, but its very
prudent on your part!
We have a couple of mic/recorder matching tables
in the list Community FAQ. I'll walk the
ATR55+LS10 or ATR55+Tascam DR-08 would be a good
combination initially. You don't need a preamp.
In following the steps here:
http://tinyurl.com/34ojchb and accessing
Raimund's chart of input noise measurements for a
number of recorders, one can determine that the
Tascam DR-08's input noise measurement is -106dBu
(A weighted). This is at the low end in terms of
noise performance. The Olympus LS-10, at a rating
of -122 dBu (A weighted) has a much "quieter" mic
pre. Folks have been picking-up Sony M10's for
value/dollar with -122 dBu (A weighted) input
noise.
The ATR55 isn't on the linked miclist. A web
search produced a sensitivity rating of "-45
dB, 1 kHz at 1 Pa" Inserting that into this
chart:
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-transferfactor.htm
-45 dB translates into 5.6 mV/Pa. Mics rated
under 10mV/Pa are not recommended for nature
recording. I can't find a self-noise rating for
the ATR 55 but a search of the "self-noise" and
"ATR55" produced numerous descriptions of it
being "disappointingly noisy." Likely, its self
noise is in excess of 24 dB(A). As reasoned in
the (C) paragraph, mics with over 24 dB(A) are
not recommended for nature recording if you can
afford some options costing a little more. You
probably should look into other mic options.
Off the top of my head, the Sony M10 and the $250
Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic are two possibilities to
research [
http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=3DNTG-2
18 dB(A) self noise 15 mV/Pa sensitivity ]. The
Rode Stereo Video Mic used to be rated at 18
dB(A)? self-noise and as stereo and
super-cardioid, was a popular choice. I think
Rode "upgraded" this mic to a noisier capsules
:-(, however.
It would be great if someone on the list who has
used gear like this can create a short list of
the most promising, low-cost shotgun mics to
consider? If so, I'd be happy to add their
response to the FAQ for future users. Rob D.
=3D =3D =3D
--
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