On 12/08/2011, at 6:20 PM, mrmarcanderson wrote:
> Thanks a lot for your advice and help Vicki and Raimund. I'll have
> a look into the options you suggested & take it from there.
>
> I was impressed with your audio samples Vicki & especially loved
> the Coco Creek file. So that was taken using those cheaper electret
> microphones? Do you use two or four mics?
Yes, I used the cheaper electret mics, they are ideal for using the
plug-in power supplied by recorders like the Olympus LS10. For the
Coco Creek file I used 2 mics per channel but you would get almost as
good a result using 1 mic per channel.
>
> Do you think a pair of Sennheiser ME62 or Audio Technica
> 3032/4022's would improve this setup even further?
The 3032/ 4022s are better run with phantom power via a better
quality recorder such as Sound Devices 702. Also, the logic behind
my 'SASS Lite' design was to have a lightweight setup, so using
heavier mics would defeat the purpose.
Vicki
>
>
>
> --- In vickipowys
> <> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Marc,
>>
>> I have not used the Zoom H1 but your recording of the Bell Miners was
>> lovely, complete with dripping water, and any self noise was
>> minimal. Mind you the Bell Miners do have loud calls so that would
>> have helped. The Nattai track had more noise but lovely Brown
>> Thornbills.
>>
>> You will have to decide if you want to record in mono or stereo. If
>> you want recordings like Paul Jacobson and Andrew Skeoch you will
>> need to go with stereo. The recording by Paul on the AWSRG page
>> probably does not have any filtering at all and definitely has no
>> mixing of sounds, i.e. this is a true audio picture of the location.
>> Paul uses low noise mics Audio Technica 3032, a pair of them, and in
>> this case they were mounted in a home made rig similar to one of Curt
>> Olson's, see http://www.trackseventeen.com/mic_rigs.html
>>
>> You will see from Andrew's web site that he now uses Sennheiser MKH20
>> mics in a Knapp-modified SASS head. Paul's rig and Andrew's rig give
>> similar results in sound quality. Andrew uses a Sound Devices 722
>> recorder, Paul was using a Tascam HDP2 Oade modified, for the
>> Gundabooka track.
>>
>> I made a thunderstorm comparison of a SASS rig same as Andrew's
>> running to a Sound Devices 702, compared with my home made Powys SASS
>> Lite rig to an Olympus LS10, you can hear the results at the bottom
>> of my recording gear page http://www.caperteebirder.com/index.php?
>> p=1_17_recording-gear . The Lite rig compares very well! This is
>> just to show you that you do not necessarily need to spend a huge
>> amount of money to get good results.
>>
>> More examples from my SASS Lite rig here: http://
>> www.caperteebirder.com/index.php?p=1_19_sounds I have not used any
>> filtering or mixing, these are raw recordings.
>>
>> The AWSRG (Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group) website is
>> currently not fully operational as we are changing over web masters.
>> Should anyone wish to join it is around $50 a year for 2 journals and
>> 2 CDs. Please contact me and I will forward your details to our
>> secretary. Our next workshop will be in Western Australia 18-23
>> September!
>>
>> Vicki Powys
>> Sound Editor
>> Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11/08/2011, at 7:09 PM, mrmarcanderson wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I am a keen birder & photographer & I have just recently delved
>>> into the world of audio recording.
>>>
>>> I purchased a Zoom H1 recorder for a project I was working on
>>> (voice recording on location) & thought I would test it out on some
>>> nature ambiences. The results were mixed - I was pleasantly
>>> surprised with the recording if I was up close to the calling birds
>>> (see Bell Miner colony - http://soundcloud.com/marcanderson/bell-
>>> miner-colony-blue ) but in most cases the birds were not so loud &
>>> close as these and this seemed to highlight the limitations of this
>>> $100 recorder, as it seemed to be exhibiting a lot of self noise
>>> (see Nattai National Park http://soundcloud.com/marcanderson/nattai-
>>> national-park )
>>>
>>> My question is: How can I get high quality recordings without much
>>> self-noise, even if the birds are distant or quiet? I have done a
>>> bit of searching on the forum & I am considering a Sennheiser
>>> ME66 / K6 to start with. If I plugged this into my Zoom H1 would
>>> the Zoom's self- noise still be evident? If so, what would I need
>>> to spend on a recorder to get a significant improvement?
>>>
>>> After owning and listening to many of Listening Earth's recordings
>>> (Andrew Skeoch - http://www.listeningearth.com), I find it hard to
>>> be satisfied with anything less! Also, when I listen to something
>>> like - http://www.awsrg.org.au/ (play the Gundabooka 2009 file at
>>> the bottom of the page) I'm thinking thats the sort of stuff I'd
>>> love to be able to record. Minimal hissing/noise, loads of subtle
>>> quiet sounds picked up.
>>>
>>> How much of these wonderful recordings do you think are done in
>>> post-processing? ie. layers of different recordings, noise
>>> reduction etc?
>>>
>>> I know there is no simple, straightforward answer to my questions
>>> but any advice you can offer from your experience I would really
>>> appreciate. I'm travelling through Sabah & Sarawak in October & it
>>> would be great to get some decent equipment for then!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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