Based largely on what I heard at Vicky's site, I purchased an LS-10 for a l=
ittle under $100 on ebay a while ago(found an auction with only a day remai=
ning, with no bids and made a low bid...somehow, it made it all the way tho=
ugh). =A0 I just built the first of several home made microphones using Pri=
mo 172 capsules from Frogloggers, for about $30 in parts. =A0 =A0Considerin=
g what I paid, I could not be happier with the results! =A0I was somewhat d=
isappointed with the onboard mic's on the LS-10(either I have a bad one, or=
they are worse then even the various zoom's), but the external mic in and =
preamp are really =A0nice.
From: vickipowys <>
To:
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] newbie intro and question
=A0
Alan,
I would suggest you purchase one of the smaller digital recorders
such as Olympus LS10 or LS11, or Sony PCM-D50 / Sony PCM-M10, all of
which have been well tested within our group. You may be able to buy
one for around $300 or so. Buy or make a furry windcover for it.
Use it first with the built in mics, find out what it will do and
what are the shortcomings.
Then add:
small, inexpensive, electret microphones ($10) such as Primo EM172 -
these use 'Plug-in-Power' of about 2-3 volts provided by the
recorder. These electrets need some DIY to connect them up and can
be used in a parabolic reflector, or in other types of DIY rigs.
But aim for:
professional-quality gun mic such as Sennheiser ME66 which is powered
by its own AA battery. With a handle and furry wind cover e.g. Rode
pistol grip PG2 and Rode softie wind shield WS6 (cheaper than Rycote
by a mile). This can connect directly to your recorder for close up
species recordings.
Learn to use:
sound software that will show waveforms and sound spectrograms
(sonograms) so that you can study your recordings in detail. e.g.
Audacity (free), Raven (free), and many others for both PC & Mac.
What you already have:
Sony digital voice recorder - anything that records can be useful!
But pay a bit more and the quality will be much better.
Hope this helps!
Vicki Powys
Australia
On 10/05/2012, at 10:34 PM, Alan Harvey wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Just found and joined this group, and will follow the format
> suggested in
> the FAQ for this very basic question.
>
> Stop me if you=E2=80=99ve heard this one! I=E2=80=99m interested in explo=
ring
> nature sound
> recording but have limited budget and experience.
>
> 1) Although I=E2=80=99ve long been intrigued by natural recording, I=E2=
=80=99m
> acting now
> largely because I=E2=80=99d like to incorporate an audio component into t=
he
> Field
> Biology course I teach. Because our main goal will be to capture
> recordings
> (birds, orthopterans, and frogs) in the field that we can later try to
> identify, I think we=E2=80=99d want these sounds to have as much separati=
on
> from
> the background sounds as possible.
>
> 2) Realistically, most of these recordings would take place in
> either urban
> settings or natural settings within a mile of urban development.
>
> 3) I think portability and =E2=80=9Con the go=E2=80=9D would be valuable =
attributes
> in a
> field biology class. I=E2=80=99m not sure about sound qualities; I suspec=
t
> noise
> would be best minimized, but stereo image and spatiality probably less
> important (I may be biased here, as I=E2=80=99m deaf in one ear!).
>
> 4) Total budget almost too embarrassing to mention; probably less than
> $300, at least initially. There are a couple of internal grants,
> ranging
> from $500 to a few thousand, that I could apply for with some
> preliminary
> data/experience (see next question). I doubt I currently own any
> relevant
> gear (does a Sony digital voice recorder count?).
>
> 5) I view this as a try-out exercise with the potential for
> considerable
> expansion if I can make it work in an educational (college
> undergraduate)
> setting. On the other hand, it=E2=80=99s just the sort of activity that I=
> could get
> personally addicted to regardless of whether it works in class!
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated. There apparently once was a
> shotgun
> mike somewhere in the department, but its location is currently
> unknown, so
> I haven't been able to try it out to get some baseline experience.
>
> Thanks very much,
>
> Alan
>
>
> --
> Alan Harvey
> Associate Professor of Biology
> Georgia Southern University
> Statesboro, GA 30460-8042
> (912) 478-5784
> fax (912) 478-0845
> http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/bio-home/harvey/index.html
>
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