Recording bird songs

[Steve T]

I've recently been thinking of buying a small sound recorder, something like a dictaphone, to record the calls and songs that I hear and don,t recognize. Which is nearly all of them. I think that a decent directional microphone will seriously up the cost, but would help when recording distant calls. I could then check the recordings with the audio cd's at home. Then I would know what I haven't seen!
Does anybody have any experience with cheap, pocket sized recorders ?. Thanks in advance
Steve
PS wasn't sure where to post this, there doesn't appear to be a forum on sound.

[Tim Allwood]

minidisc or small casette walkman type with a directional mike work fine but mikes can be a bit expensive. I have used a dictaphone to good effect in some places for loud calling stuff like Pittas. For crossers though Linz you'll need a good directional mike

[Tim Allwood]

Thanks Tim,

I am a pro musician so the mics ( and possibly discman ) would be Tax deductable - hooray ! I do have an SM58 vocal mic but didn't think this would be any good ?

Best

Linz

no idea but I guess not...you'll prob. need a Sennheiser or something

not another Zep fan!
u and CJW will be ganging up on me soon
We fought the Punk Wars to do away with that.... ;)

[Steve T]

I thought that a solid state recorder( if thats what you call one that doesn't need a disk or tape) would be cheaper, will google it and find out. A mini disk would come in handy for music, so better I'd check them out as well. It's good to hear that someone has used a dictaphone with success. Thanks Tim.

Steve

[rka]

I've read that a parabolic mic will work best once the diameter of the reflector is > 18 inches.

I'll be building one from inexpensive radioshack components an a cheap painted aluminium bowl.

Will let you know how it works.

rka

[helenol]

I do have an SM58 vocal mic but didn't think this would be any good ? Nope, says hubby (in the sound/film business).
It also depends what you want to use the recordings for, and how far away you would be from the birds.

[Sven W]

I found a lot of useful info on this subject athttp://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/wiltrain.html

My personal observation is that I wouldn't put any larger amount of money on DAT equipment. It is a quite dated by now and isn't as popular as it used to be for consumer electronics. It is also quickly losing it's importance as a computer backup medium, having been surpassed by better alternatives.

Another page to look at might be the the micronphone manufacturer Telinga http://www.telinga.com/

[Robert_Scanlon]

If you want a cheap and portable set up, you won't go far wrong with a cassette based personal stereo /walkman and a sennheiser video microphone, the like of which Wildsounds in Norfolk sell (or at least used to)...I think about £150 was the price last time I looked. You won't get any award winning recordings, but it would be OK for what you need it for. I have used this set up for playback in the tropics and it has been very successful.

You would get better recordings on mini-disc, but the price then goes up a bit as well...and you would need a seperate speaker to play back in the field. Solid state recording is pretty stable, but again...the cost goes up and I imagine a speaker would again be needed in many cases.

I just looked on wildsounds website, this is what it says:

"Sennheiser MKE300
Superb lightweight camcorder-style mike. Length with windshield 220mm/8.7". Frequency response 150 - 17,000Hz. Short coiled cable to mono mini jack. Uses LR44 1.5V button cell - one supplied. Has a built-in blocking capacitor i.e. it can be used with portable minidisc recorders that usually only work with plug-in-power mics. Click here for more details.

* Mike £169.95 £157.95 UK & EU (£134.43 Non EU) "


Hope this helps.

[mike w]

There is a web site which you may find useful run by Greg Kunkel in the US which in his words is "dedicated to the recording of birdsong with simple inexpensive equipment"

the URL is ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/G_Kunkel

Good luck

Mike

[griffin]

Sven, Robert and Mike,

Thanks guys for your comments - will check this out.

Linz

[Dave B Smith]

After lots of research I recently bought a Mini disc from Sony, model MZ-NF810 CK. It ran about $250 so couldn't classify it as cheap, but it is good. For external speakers I bought the Sony SRS -T77, again very good but not too cheap, about $90.

I have downloaded a bit of bird song from the web. I normally do this for target birds prior to a trip. I have only used it a few times to date, but twice got a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl to "talk to me".

I have not splurged for the mic yet. The one most highly recommended was a Sennheiser ME-66 but that's about $350. I'm looking at a smaller one from Audio Technica but is still at $170.

[Steve T]

Thanks for all the advice. A good selection of web sites as well, especially the British Library site, I got lost in there for a couple of hours. I think I may look into the Hama RMZ 10 mic, with a minidisc, or maybe use my Sony camcorder, although this would be heavy compared to a minidisc.
Once again thanks to everyone.....great forum !!!
Steve

[Geoff Brown]

Only yesterday at Freiston shore Iwas listening to a colleague with a Sony Minidisc recorder and a hemispherical transparent plastic "bowl" about twenty inches in diamater around his microphone. I am not sure where he obtained this bowl but the directional sound pickup was excellent. The brent geese on the grass in front of the car park were loud and clear. I inadvisedly experimentally pointed the bowl at a passing tornado jet bomber going over to the nearby Friskney bombing range and nearly had my eardrums blown out, so I can say that a setup like this really works.

[Sven W]

On paper the ultimate gadget seems to be the portable multimedia harddisk thingies made by for instance Archos. See http://www.archos.com/products/photo_video_product_list.html

I can think of several uses for such a device:
1) temporary storage and view of pictures during longer trips.
2) Storage of bird song/call CD:s for reference in the field. In mp3-format, it should be enough room for many CD:s.
3) Playback of calls. I'm personaly against this as a general method, but it can be OK in some circumstances like during some types of bird census.
4) Sound recording.

I have thought about buying one for the first purpose only, but with all these extra uses it could be a very useful toy. The price is a bit higher than a recordable minidisc, but it might be worth it. Increased size is probably a larger problem.