Thanks for your interest Peter and your kind comments Vicki, and your diagn=
osis David (which was lost on me I'm afraid - I need that idiots guide you =
are writing!).
I use the spectrograms as a learning tool - if folks can see a sound as wel=
l as hear it then the message gets to the brain via two routes, and that ce=
rtainly helps a brain like mine ! I expand them Peter so that the individua=
l elements of a song phrase can be clearly seen, but that brings the disadv=
antage of only showing a few seconds (to keep file size small for downloadi=
ng efficiency for those with slow speed connections) and you then need to u=
se the pause button to study it well.
I clean them up certainly.
Firstly I choose the sequence carefully from my archives, and the best ones=
are where I have done the fieldwork well - got myself in the right place a=
t the right time with the right subject - no amount of digital jiggery-poke=
ry can make up for failures with that step. They are focal species recorded=
with a parabola (Telinga) for the most part. I make soundscapes but they =
are rarely any use for my type of spectrograms. Positioning to omit unwante=
d sounds in the field is key.
Having got a good sound in the machine then I use Auditon to clean it up, i=
n the middle of Europe long distance anthropogenic rumble is ever present -=
cars, planes, machinery etc. (My holy grail is the peace of your farm in t=
he outback Vicki !) Then I make the spectrogram using Raven which has some =
nice little sliders that allow you to play with brilliance, contrast and gr=
anularity of the sonogram, juggling those three maximises clarity of the im=
age. Then I make the screen capture video.
A lot of time goes into each one if you start counting from the moment the =
alarm clock goes off and I put the kettle on !
Slowing down a high speed sound helps the learning but is a tricky thing th=
at can introduce weird distortions and artifacts. I have not got it complet=
ely right. And there is some interplay between Raven and Camtasia that is b=
eyond my digital skills to understand.
But it will soon have to change. The files I post are .swf files, a format =
which is not mobile compatible, and Apple won't play Adobe Flash so they wi=
ll not work on an iPad. As mobile devices take over, and .swf falls further=
from grace, and html5 becomes the standard then my stuff has to evolve. Bu=
t these are all terms I read on the internet and parrot back only vaguely k=
nowing what I say, I am really a field person !
Hope this helps you in your search.
Best
C
--- In Peter Shute wrote:
>
> I agree, it's a little out of synch. The full speed version might be too,=
but it moves so fast it's hard to be sure.
>
> Chris, how do you get your spectrograms so clean? Is that the results of =
them being cleaned up somehow, or is it because the recordings are clean? M=
ine are from a SASS style array, so there's lots of background noise making=
the spectrograms speckly.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> ________________________________
> From: =
On Behalf Of vickipowys
> Sent: Monday, 14 January 2013 7:11 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Re: More on scrolling spectrograms
>
>
>
> What a lovely website Chris!
>
> I had a quick look & listen to 2 species with sonograms, your system
> seems to work well. But for the Skylark at one-fifth speed the
> sonogram started to lag behind towards the end. Not a criticism,
> just an observation on the technologies we are discussing.
>
> Vicki
>
> On 13/01/2013, at 10:56 PM, chrishails50 wrote:
>
> > Peter,
> >
> > I use Raven software to make a spectrogram and then Camtasia Studio
> > as a screen capture package. I don't scroll them as it takes longer
> > to load but I play samples. Lots of examples here:
> >
> > http://www.wildechoes.org
> >
> > No problems with jerkiness if the file is small, some problem with
> > very high frequencies and Camtasia.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > --- In , Peter Shute wrote:
> >>
> >> It's about a year since I asked here about methods of producing
> >> scrolling spectrogram movies for Youtube. At the time, the only
> >> solutions I was offered were to use screen capture software to
> >> capture the display of an audio program like Audacity, etc, or
> >> Acousmographe, which can produce a Flash movie.
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> > sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
> > Krause.
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
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