Hello group!
I'm going to Bolivia very soon for holidays, during which time I'll also
spend a few days in Madidi National Park (which is in the Bolivian Amazon).
I'm bringing my recording rig (a Tascam DR680, MKH8040/MKH30 and Sony
D-50). It will be rainy season, so I'm expecting it to be very hot, very
humid, and with millions of biting insects fighting for a piece of my flesh=
.
I've never gone to a place like this, let alone record in one. My plan is
to set up the MKH & Tascam rig for overnight recording (dusk to dawn),
hopefully within a nice spot of the rainforest itself, or otherwise near
the lodge where I'll be staying (which is also in the middle of the
rainforest). The D50 I'll use during daytime hikes into the jungle.
Using the D50 will be easy, but I have some concerns about my plans for the
MKH rig, and wanted to see what people have done in similar situations.
Currently my preparations consist of the following:
- mics and recorder will be kept in ziploc bags with silica gel packs
during transport, so i can let them 'air' / warm up in the humid
environment before using them
- the recorder will be kept in a waterproof bag during recording overnight
(and obviously has the battery power needed for 12 hours of recording)
- i have a good backpack with foam padding to store all equipment during
transport and hikes
The main issue I face is keeping the microphones safe for a recording
sessions that lasts 12 hours without me being present. To protect them
against rain, and things that fall from the trees. The easiest solution
would be of course to put the rig (mics + zeppelin) underneath a roof, for
instance on the patio of a lodge. But if at all possible, i'd prefer to set
up everything at a spot in the forest, press record, and leave, only to
come back the next morning.
I've seen pictures of people who constructed a kind of roof made out of
towels and tied to branches of surrounding trees to protect their
microphones. This at least will be effective in light rain, but any heavy
rain would obviously soak the towel(s) and potentially the microphones.
One solution I thought of would be to use an umbrella, attach it to the
zeppelin, and put either foliage or towels on top of the umbrella in order
to mask the sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella. This is currently
the 'best' idea I have, but I wonder if it will be sufficient to take the
risk of leaving my rig out on its own. An alternative would be to build
some kind of roof using foliage, but to be honest I am not sure how
feasible this will be, as that will take quite some time and effort and
most likely you don't want to stay in one spot for too long because of heat
and insects.
Apologies for this long post... basically what I want to ask is: what have
other people done in similar(ish) situations?
Thanks for reading!
Daan
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