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Re: Time to buy a microphone

Subject: Re: Time to buy a microphone
From: "Gianni Pavan" gpavan1960
Date: Mon Jan 5, 2015 5:18 am ((PST))
Hi, with one omni you loose all spatial information that make the recording
pleasant and similar to the real listening experience. For scientific use
mono recordings are useful and often used, e.g. with ultradirectional
microphones and parabola, or to monitor for the presence of singing species
in an area, however, other than more pleasant for listening, stereo
recordings add spatial information that can be useful to discriminate
animals vocalizing in different positions or make easier to "isolate" - the
task is done by our brain - a noise coming from a direction different from
the direction of the song .... to maximize localization capabilities
special mic configurations are often used.
I would encourage you to use two microphones and choose the configuration
you prefer, e.g. coincident stereo with two cardioids, binaural with two
omni, or largely spaced microphones ....

Gianni

2015-01-05 12:10 GMT+01:00 TJ&LJ 
[naturerecordists] <>:

>
>
> Yes, thanks.
> Is there any point in just getting one omni?
> TJ
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* " [naturerecordists]" <
> >
> *To:* 
> *Sent:* Monday, 5 January 2015, 15:53
> *Subject:* [Nature Recordists] Re: Time to buy a microphone
>
>
>  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 w=
as
> not satisfactory, in fact, pointless. Next a friend loaned me a Sennhiese=
r
> 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 prett=
y
> 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 t=
he
> 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 a=
ny
> 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 gea=
r
> is without a doubt an improvement by an order of magnitude.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
>
>
>



--
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