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[Scott Speck]

Hi Everyone,

I'm interested in doing outdoor environmental recordings (ocean surf,
storms, rustling leaves, singing birds) with a portable digital audio
recorder and a couple of microphones. I am also on a limited budget, so
let's say I have less than $1,000 to spend on everything. I'm thinking of
getting a portable (battery-operated) digital audio recorder by Marantz that
can sample at cd-quality frequencies and write direclty to a flash-ram card.
Later, I'll transfer the flash-ram data onto my pc and create audio cd's for
myself. I'd also need a couple of omnidirectional
microphones, probably with wind-screens if I'm planning on recording
outdoors on a windy day.

One thing I'm wondering about is this talk about "phantom mic power" on the
digital recorder. Does this mean that I have to supply external power to
the mics? I'd rather just plug in the microphones and record on battery
power. What sorts of omni-directional mics should I buy, if I don't want
to have to provide external power to the mics? I'll need two, to record in
stereo.

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on how good a job these small digital
recorders do (the Marantz unit sells for around $500). I'd rather stay away
from tape-based recorders, and the Marantz unit is pretty small and
lightweight, making it easy to carry around, with a minimum of equipment,
cables, etc.

My goal here is to record an ambient sound field that I find relaxing, and
that
I can replay for myself as a means of relaxation while I'm busy doing
something
else. For example, while I'm working in a windowless science lab, put on a
set of headphones and surround myself in the sound field of a forest on a
breezy day -- an entire cd duration's worth of uninterrupted, soothing
sound --
no cuts from scene to scene -- one continuous track. And no background
music.

I've bought environmental sound cd's, and I like some of them, but I want to
record my OWN idea of what I find relaxing/enjoyable, like a rain shower in
my own backyard with the sound of my own wind chimes tinkling in the
background.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Scott Speck

[Mike Rivers]

Scott Speck wrote:

[Guest]

you should really look into the new generation of battery operated
recorders that capture to memory stick ram. they are kind of like the
digital camera or camcorders of audio.

for example, M-Audio has one out now. it's about $500. it has mic
preamps in it, headphone jack, records up to 24 bit /96khz. and if you
put a nice size memory stick in it, you can get plenty of record time.
then you can simply transfer the files into your computer using a USB
port. i was waiting for the audio industry to realize that a 1GB
memory stick provides hours of record time, and that they should build
something around this technology and get away from 1990's DAT tape
technology. now they did.

so you spend $500 on that, and then $400 on microphones, and $100 on
cables/stands roughly.

you could think about getting a pair of small diapraghm cardiod pattern
condenser mics, and run them in a coincident pair setup. you can ask
people what that means.

also you can think about "binaural" recording. Neumann, for example,
makes fake human heads with places to put micrphones where the ears
are. the idea is that the mics will pick up the soundfield like your
head does. when you record this way, listening back to the recording
on headphones can produce amazing stereo fields... kind of like "wow, i
feel i'm right there inside the nature scene". but when you listen on
a boombox or stereo, the recording can sound peculiar.

for start, i would recommend the first setup (coincident pair).

Maybe look into a pair of Octava 012's, that are factory selected from
that place (forget the name of the place). they are a good value if
you get ones that have passed decent quality control.

also, wind noise could be a problem. so mic selection in that regard
and windscreens needs to be thought out.

this entire field is "environmental recording" and there is a whole
community of recordists who do this. so try finding them on the
internet to get ideas.

[Michael R. Kesti]

Scott Speck wrote: