{"id":1599,"date":"2010-07-03T09:24:26","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T16:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2010-07-03T09:24:26","modified_gmt":"2010-07-03T16:24:26","slug":"field-workshop-notes-part-2-gear-dawn-chorus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/2010\/07\/03\/field-workshop-notes-part-2-gear-dawn-chorus\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Workshop Notes, Part 2: Gear + Dawn Chorus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1600\" style=\"width: 590px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1600\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1600\" title=\"nss2010_702\" src=\"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nss2010_702.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nss2010_702.jpg 580w, https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nss2010_702-290x146.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Neither dirt, nor fog, nor clouds of mosquitos keeps a field recordist from his crack-of-dawn tasks!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;m finally unpacked and rested from the inspiring (and exhausting) 26th Annual\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Visit naturesounds.org\" href=\"http:\/\/www.naturesounds.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nature Sounds Society<\/a> <a title=\"Check out the details of this event!\" href=\"http:\/\/www.naturesounds.org\/announcements\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Field Workshop<\/a> in California&#8217;s Sierra Nevada. Since <a title=\"Read &quot;Field Workshop Notes, Part 1&quot;\" href=\"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/2010\/07\/01\/field-workshop\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6-1-video-diary\/\" target=\"_blank\">my last post<\/a> was a compilation of high-level personal experiences, I thought that I&#8217;d report back about what worked, or didn&#8217;t work, in the field on the technology side of things&#8230;as well as share a recording from our first early-morning field session.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Outdoor Gear<\/strong>. My\u00c2\u00a0<a title=\"Check it out at REI.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/product\/765283\" target=\"_blank\">REI trail stool<\/a> was instrumental in keeping my body still (I can be a fidgety so-and-so), the importance of which can&#8217;t be understated when your preamp gain is at 80% of maximum and you can hear birds&#8217; wing flaps 20 meters away. <em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">[Hint: For nature recording, more layers of softer materials &#8211; like fleece, soft-handed polyester, and wool -\u00c2\u00a0are the best for staying warm and silent. Consider gaffer-taping your metal zippers, too!]<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Microphones<\/strong>. My primary <a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/79497-REG\/Sennheiser_MKH50_P48_MKH_50_Microphone.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">MKH 50<\/a>\/<a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/79495-REG\/Sennheiser_MKH30_P48.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">30<\/a> rig performed brilliantly, with a strong signal-to-noise ratio even in the quietest moments.\u00c2\u00a0I also got a chance to try out a rather large <a title=\"Read about how they work on Wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Parabolic_microphone\" target=\"_blank\">parabolic microphone<\/a>&#8230;more on that in a later post. <em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">[Hint: If you want a mic for nature recording, you need to be looking in the &lt;-16dBA <\/span><\/em><a title=\"3rd paragraph down in this section on Wikipedia!\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Microphone#Measurements_and_specifications\" target=\"_blank\"><em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">self-noise<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span style=\"color: #888888;\"> range, the lower the better.]<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Recorders<\/strong>. The ol&#8217; <a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/429566-REG\/Sound_Devices_702_702_High_Resolution_2_Channel.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">702<\/a> worked its usual wonders. I monitored as mid-side in the field, only converting to left\/right once I returned. A +8dB side signal using <a title=\"Visit Tom at UCSD\" href=\"http:\/\/musicweb.ucsd.edu\/~tre\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Erbe&#8217;<\/a>s<a title=\"Free and downloadable here\" href=\"http:\/\/www.soundhack.com\/freeware.php\" target=\"_blank\"> +Matrix<\/a> plug-in made for a wide, enveloping sense of space without losing center imaging. \u00c2\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">[Hint: Batteries drain faster when cold. Store spares inside your jacket, or in your sleeping bag with you overnight!]<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The gear list across everyone was pretty insane: many <a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/538924-REG\/Olympus_141970_LS_10_Linear_PCM_Field.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">Olympus LS10 recorders<\/a>, several <a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/325631-REG\/Sound_Devices_744T_744T_4_Channel_Portable_Audio.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">Sound Devices 744T&#8217;s<\/a>, a <a title=\"Check it out at B&amp;H\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/524130-REG\/Sony_PCM_D50_PCM_D50_Professional_Portable.html\/BI\/5129\/KBID\/5631\" target=\"_blank\">Sony PCM-D50<\/a>, and mics from <a title=\"Visit DPAMicrophones.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dpamicrophones.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">DPA<\/a>, <a title=\"Visit Neumann USA\" href=\"http:\/\/www.neumannusa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Neumann<\/a>, <a title=\"Visit Rodemic.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rodemic.com\" target=\"_blank\">R\u00c3\u00b8de<\/a>, <a title=\"Visit Sennheiser.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sennheiser.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sennheiser<\/a>, and <a title=\"Visit Telinga.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telinga.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Telinga<\/a>. Recording techniques varied from mono to mid-side stereo, XY stereo, ORTF, Jecklin discs, and even two binaural dummy-head rigs (see <a title=\"Read more on tape.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tape.com\/resource\/stereo_microphone_techniques.html\" target=\"_blank\">this site<\/a> for a good explanation of all this alphabet soup). An outdoor mic directionality seminar helped to illustrate what each is good for, which was a rare opportunity and extremely educational.<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, yeah, whatever. But what did it <em>sound like<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s sound was recorded around 5:45am on a day with a slight breeze and scads of ground fog. The location was Sierra Valley, north of state route 49 in the Sierra Nevada. This recording includes at least swallows (cave or barn, I&#8217;m unsure), American bitterns, red-winged blackbirds, white-faced ibises, yellow-faced blackbirds, and a bullfrog, and certainly more that I can&#8217;t identify.<\/p>\n<p>Get those headphones on and close your eyes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>[soundcloud url=&#8221;http:\/\/soundcloud.com\/noisejockey\/amb-bird-dawnchorus-sierravalley-01&#8243; params=&#8221;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;color=dd0000&#8243; width=&#8221;100%&#8221; height=&#8221;81&#8243; ]<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #999999;\">[Sennheiser MKH 50 and MKH 30 recorded as mid-side pair into Sound Devices 702 recorder]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m finally unpacked and rested from the inspiring (and exhausting) 26th Annual\u00c2\u00a0Nature Sounds Society Field Workshop in California&#8217;s Sierra Nevada. Since my last post was a compilation of high-level personal experiences, I thought that I&#8217;d report back about what worked, or didn&#8217;t work, in the field on the technology side of things&#8230;as well as share [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,7,134],"tags":[13,127,128,86,9,10,55,14,324,77,321,18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1670,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/1670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noisejockey.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}