As it has been said, nature recordings really suffer with low grade equipment.
It's hard to get into this stuff half-way. Ultimately, it depends on what your
goals are and what level of quality that you think will be satisfactory.
A few years ago I was in a similar situation, so here's a road map of the steps
that I took with a comparison of expectation versus satisfaction.
I started with a Tascam DR-100 and just using the internal mics. I found that
for nature recording in the desert southwest the Tascam by it self was not
satisfactory, in fact, pointless. Next a friend loaned me a Sennhieser ME-66
shotgun mic. That was an improvement, not too bad for ponds and wetland (they
tend to be louder and more consistent areas), but not too good for songbirds in
the forest. Overall the recording still had a pretty high noise level and it
was mono.
Next, and after a bit of research, I ordered a Naiant Tinybox pre-amp and a
pair of his X-O (omnidirectional) microphones, while still using the Tascam
recorder. I think the purchase was about $350. This was a big improvement. Now
I was making good recordings in the wetlands, and much better recordings in
some forest areas where conditions were good. Plus the recording was stereo,
which had become a priority for me.
I probably would have stopped with that arrangement, but an unexpected
opportunity presented itself, and I decided to make the leap to professional
grade equipment - a pair of Audio Technica 4022s, a Sound Devices MixPre-D and
a Marantz PMD661 recorder. Now I can record almost any sound that I hear. The
Tascam/Naiant combination would have been satisfactory for a lot of locations
that I was interested in recording. Under most conditions it can make a good
recording, but the pro-level gear is without a doubt an improvement by an order
of magnitude.
I hope this helps.
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/
<*> Your email settings:
Digest Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo Groups is subject to:
https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|