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Re: Basic Bird Song/Call Recording Kit Recommendation

Subject: Re: Basic Bird Song/Call Recording Kit Recommendation
From: "Bill Kraus" bill_kraus_snapshots
Date: Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:10 pm ((PDT))
In a nutshell, yes - (I'm focusing on 16 bit mono here).

There are, though, a few considerations when using an external mic with an
Android device like a Samsung. First, some devices can be finicky when it
comes to the TRRS plug - e.g. plugging the cable in first before starting
the recording app rather than plugging in while an app is running,
 Sometimes a cheap mic won't work, etc.

Second, both Android devices and iOS devices are limited to a top frequency
of around 24 kHz (sampling rate of 44.1 to 48 kHz, depending on the device)
thru the TRRS jack.

Finally, the recording app should turn off any prefiltering of the incoming
audio - while this prefiltering is fine for music, isn't optimal for
wildlife recordings.

At that point, it's just a matter of sampling the incoming data and saving
it out to file - the quality of the signal just depends on your mic.

On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 8:44 PM, Peter Shute 
[naturerecordists] <> wrote:

>
>
> Is it that easy to record with an external microphone on a Samsung? I was
> under the impression that it's not so simple with an iPhone, but perhaps
> iPhones are different, and perhaps it also depends on the microphone. Doe=
s
> anyone know if that microphone would be simple to record with using an
> iPhone? I forget what the issue with them was.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: 
> > 
> > Sent: Wednesday, 30 March 2016 5:48 AM
> > To: 
> > Subject: [Nature Recordists] Basic Bird Song/Call Recording Kit
> > Recommendation
> >
> >
> >
> > Looks like I found the right group for this... ;-) I am a complete
> novice at
> > recording. I did do a search and found post 30490 - "An inexpensive
> sound
> > recorder for birders" - which is what I'm looking for. A basic recorder
> for
> > singling out nearby bird songs/calls, mainly for identification and
> learning.
> >
> > I was thinking (hoping) that a shotgun-type microphone that plugs into
> my
> > Samsung S5 could work? I wrote Sennheiser about using their MKE 400, an=
d
> > they replied that it "...has a standard 3.5mm TRS plug and hence would
> > connect into Samsung smartphone without issue and without the need for
> > any additional adapters." This mic would have the added bonus that I
> could
> > use it on my DSLR.
> >
> > Has anyone used this with a Samsung smartphone? Is it effective? Or
> should I
> > look into a dedicated recorder such as a Zoom H2N or TASCAM DR-40 or
> Sony
> > PCM-M10 or something else? Not really wanting to spend over ~$250 and
> > not intending to become even close to a pro bird recorder. The
> smartphone
> > itself works just ok for recording, but difficult to focus on a specifi=
c
> bird song
> > or call when there are many going on around you. Thanks!
> >
> > -Doug
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>





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