rnet.com
Date: Thu Jul 5, 2012 4:41 am ((PDT))
We used to live in the middle of a town in the Midlands UK, and the noise
used to drive me nuts. Constant traffic, sirens etc. I did research around
the Midlands, and tried driving to a few places, nature reserves etc. but I
never found anywhere that was totally quiet :-(
We have now moved to Somerset, and we are now in the middle of nowhere, and
it's near silent a lot of the time, and also no near light pollution either=
.
Very lucky indeed. It's bliss, and of course great for recording.
However, all is not lost.
When in town, I did still record, and made some fine recordings of various
birds, in my garden. I discovered that using a parabolic dish to record hig=
h
frequency sounds like birds works very well, even in urban environments.
It's very easy to filter the bass off, if the dish does pick anything up,
and you end up with remarkably clean recordings. However, obviously dishes
are not suited to record all sounds. The dish used in this recording was a
cheap DIY effort - less than =A3100 including the mic.
http://snd.sc/M79WhU
The other technique we use, more for our sound design work, is surgical
removal of noise, after you have taken the recording.
We use Adobe Audition 3 for this, the spectral display. The tools in the
program allow you to 'draw' around the offending noises, and simply
delete/fade them out. Therefore, if you have an engine, then these are
usually predictable tones, and show up very obviously on a spectral display=
.
With some careful work, you can remove these sounds. Of course, if the
offending sound shares the same frequencies as your nature recording, then
yes, there are going to be side effects. However, it is possible to get
great results with a bit of work, patience (and luck).
Tim B.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Wil Hershberger
Sent: 04 July 2012 20:24
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] the frustrations of engine noise
They appear to be taking an active role in noise legislation and noise
abatement from traffic, aircraft, construction etc.
http://www.nordicroads.com/website/index.asp?pageID=3D69
http://www2.toulouse.inra.fr/lerna/travaux/cahiers2010/10.17.323.pdf
http://www.osh.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/noise-m06.pdf
http://www.bth.se/fou/forskinfo.nsf/all/2e2aa0bc2bd5fbc0c12568a3002cab90/$f=
i
le/Active%20Noise%20Control%20in%20Aircraft.pdf
http://www.bth.se/fou/forskinfo.nsf/alfs/4c246ae6eb7bf99dc12569f10037a543/$=
f
ile/PHDthesis_sjo.pdf
Wil Hershberger
Nature Images and Sounds, LLC
Hedgesville, WV
The Songs of Insects
My Blog
On Jul 4, 2012, at 3:05 PM, Peter Shute wrote:
> What are those measures, Wil?
>
> Peter Shute
>
>
> --------------------------
> Sent using BlackBerry
>
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