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Re: Introduction, and a question

Subject: Re: Introduction, and a question
From: "peter" quies_still
Date: Sat Apr 13, 2013 2:37 am ((PDT))
I'm gonna have to agree with Eric's PS here. What you wanna try is not part=
icularly hard to do, you just need the right gear and such gear is not low =
cost. Not expensive either, mind you.
I'd say phantom power is pretty much indispensible, for one.
And then for your needs, I'd suggest a shotgun mic. You can have it at a sa=
fe distance from their teeth.
And then you'll need lots of gain, so I'd definitely suggest a preamp.
None of these things need to cost a fortune. Rode does a shotgun mic (that'=
s even battery powered) and Naiant make good inexpensive preamps.

Good luck!

Peter

On 13 Apr 2013, at 11:10, Eric Fassbender wrote:

> I agree with Peter. You already have pretty good gear so I would try to w=
ork with that and eliminate other noises so that you can crank up the input=
.
>
> Ps - Unfortunately, low cost and low noise pretty much cancel each other =
out.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Eric
>
>
>
>
> On 13/04/2013, at 4:45 PM, jonny6pack <> wrote:
>
>> Good morning from London, England. Just a few words to introduce myself.=
..
>>
>> From the moment I opened up an old transistor radio I've had a deep inte=
rest in audio. My first recordings were made on a compact cassette recorder=
 in the late 1970s; I still have those early recordings (archived as WAVs) =
and have removed the noise using a mix of Goldwave and Adobe Audition.
>>
>> In the early 90s I trained as a broadcast engineer; sound was my special=
ity, but this was more technical side related to broadcast techniques (AM, =
FM, FM Stereo, NICAM)
>>
>> Over the past two decades I have recorded on MiniDisc, a Zoom H2, and no=
w a Sony PCM-M10 together with a Rode NT3 and Rode Video Mic. I love these =
microphones; they produce clear, low noise sound, that I find pleasant to l=
isten to. The Sony PCM-M10 is a recent purchase and I have been dumbstruck =
at the quality of its recordings. I thought the Zoom H2 was superb, but the=
 Sony is so much more defined and has much lower self noise.
>>
>> Now to my question. I need to record the sounds made by rabbits. They do=
 make extremely quiet vocalisations; so quiet that they are almost inaudibl=
e unless you know what to listen for. It's difficult to describe the sound,=
 but 'grunt' comes close - very short bursts of principally low frequency s=
ounds. they also squeak and 'quack' but these are not the sounds I want to =
capture.
>>
>> The problem is that I need very small, sensitive, low noise microphones =
to capture the sound. As the sounds will be captured in a domestic environm=
ent (inside a house) the only sounds I'll need to reject are of electrical =
appliances operating in adjacent rooms, and cars passing by. There will no =
wind or other weather to worry about. The NT2 and Video Mic are capable of =
capturing the sounds I'm after, but they are too large and attract the atte=
ntion of rabbits. And rabbits like to gnaw things, especially new, expensiv=
e items! I have already lost two foam windshields and numerous cables to ra=
bbits, and can't afford to lose entire microphones.
>>
>> So, could anybody suggest either low cost, low noise, sensitive, unobtru=
sive microphones or components to construct such a microphone? I can't supp=
ly phantom power, so batteries or plug-in power is preferred.
>>
>> Thanking you all in advance of any suggestions.
>>
>> JM
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "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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