New Microphone

[Martin_O]

Hi all. This is my first post in this forum.
First as a mid-age male I'm get an interrest about birds.

Today I get an offer to buy a microphone at a really nice price.
It is a Sony ECM-MS907. I hadn't time to research the net for info about this mic, beceause I think i will mis the offer. Therefore I ask if this one is good enough to record bird songs with an MD?

Regards

Martin from Sweden

[scampo]

Hi all. This is my first post in this forum.
First as a mid-age male I'm get an interrest about birds.

Today I get an offer to buy a microphone at a really nice price.
It is a Sony ECM-MS907. I hadn't time to research the net for info about this mic, beceause I think i will mis the offer. Therefore I ask if this one is good enough to record bird songs with an MD?

Regards

Martin from Sweden
Welcome to BF, Martin - I think you'll be lucky to find an answer to that query. I'm not sure that many people record birdsong - but I might be wrong! Let's hope so!

[ermine]

Hi all. This is my first post in this forum.
First as a mid-age male I'm get an interrest about birds.

Today I get an offer to buy a microphone at a really nice price.
It is a Sony ECM-MS907. I hadn't time to research the net for info about this mic, beceause I think i will mis the offer. Therefore I ask if this one is good enough to record bird songs with an MD?

Regards

Martin from Sweden

Martin,

Depends on how far away from the birds you will be, and how loud they are. This is a single-point stereo mic so it is not particularly directional. It will give you a similar perspective to what you hear. A camera analogy would be the standard 50mm lens, and you will get good results with birds of the sort of loudness of a chaffinch up to about 10-15m away, provided the background is reasonably quiet. It will work well with the birds in your backyard, but if you want to record birds in the field you will be better off with something more directional, like a shotgun mic. Something like the Sennheiser MKE300 at the lower end, or Sennheiser ME66/67 at the higher end.

You will need to use wind protection in the outdoors with any mic at wind speeds of much more than 5km/h . This can be anything from a old nut feeder with a sock on it to a rycote windgag.

People with greater skill and fieldcraft than me do get better results from less directional mics brought closer to the birds, you get a better tone colour and a clearer recording. This takes a lot of skill and patience.

But if you are a beginner then using a directional mic like a shotgun mic will help you get good recordings from a distance where you can see the birds with binoculars, whereas with something like this Sony mic you would need to be able to get close enough to be able to see the bids in detail with the naked eye - and I find most birds stop singing if I am that close!

[griffin]

Hi all. This is my first post in this forum.
First as a mid-age male I'm get an interrest about birds.

Today I get an offer to buy a microphone at a really nice price.
It is a Sony ECM-MS907. I hadn't time to research the net for info about this mic, beceause I think i will mis the offer. Therefore I ask if this one is good enough to record bird songs with an MD?

Regards

Martin from Sweden

Better for making bootlegs of bands yoy go to see. ;) Since you are in Sweden how about push the boat out and save up and get one of Klas Stranberg's fantastic Telinga parabolas ?

Linz

[Martin_O]

Better for making bootlegs of bands yoy go to see. ;) Since you are in Sweden how about push the boat out and save up and get one of Klas Stranberg's fantastic Telinga parabolas ?

Linz

ARGHHH!
Someone just kick me in in a new expensive facinating hobby.
My wife will kick me out :C

/Martin

[griffin]

ARGHHH!
Someone just kick me in in a new expensive facinating hobby.
My wife will kick me out :C

/Martin

Yeah, you'll lose a wife but gain a shiny new Telinga, that makes you feel like the birds are whispering in your ear !

I was recording some crossbills feeding yesterday with a Telinga Pro6 and was getting chitter calls, choops, etc. When I took off the headphones I couldn't hear bugg:er all ( and I have excellent hearing ). Birds were about 30 feet away. Also got a good sonogram of a crossbill giving flight calls 200 yards away - incredible. It brilliant in the wind too ( with the windcover on ), I love my ME67 but it distorts if the wind is gusting.

Speak nicely to the missus !

Linz

[ermine]

I was recording some crossbills feeding yesterday with a Telinga Pro6 and was getting chitter calls, choops, etc. When I took off the headphones I couldn't hear bugg:er all ( and I have excellent hearing ).

Worth the wait eh, looks like you've been won over to the delights of the dish despite the aggro of packing it in the field ;)

I see that the Scottish xbill has finally gained species recognition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/4793863.stm

[griffin]

Worth the wait eh, looks like you've been won over to the delights of the dish despite the aggro of packing it in the field ;)

I see that the Scottish xbill has finally gained species recognition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/4793863.stm

It is indeed ! It will be well useful and is already earning its keep. It is fantastic in the wind with the rycote wind cover - a shotgun would fart and splutter, but you can actually aim the Telinga into the wind.

Re-Scotbill, there will always be a barrel full of cynics to fuel the flames !

Linz

[Martin_O]

I'd just ordered a better MD-player. It's a Sony MZ-RH10. Today I have a Net MD and I think it's frustrating to transfer recordings to computer with that old one.
Now is the Talinga an economical question. Some miutes googling gave me this: http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/quickparabolic.html
Making an own parabolic mic I think will be a good winter project.

Regards

Martin

[ermine]

I'd just ordered a better MD-player. It's a Sony MZ-RH10. Today I have a Net MD and I think it's frustrating to transfer recordings to computer with that old one.
Now is the Talinga an economical question. Some miutes googling gave me this: http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/quickparabolic.html
Making an own parabolic mic I think will be a good winter project.

Regards

Martin

That's a good one - I can also advocate my own

http://www.suffolkbirds.co.uk/article/42/poor-mans-telinga

and from there you will also find a link to Jim's version

http://www.bambooturtle.us/ParabolicMicrophone.html

so lots to while away those winter evenings. And winter has a ready source of noise called the rain on the leaves for test purposes ;)

You won't regret going HiMD over normal MD. Make your bird recordings in uncompressed PCM so they are good if you get to sonograms, and don't edit on the MD in the field - there is anecdotal evidence (which I tested last week, fortunately on something I didn't need) that this can give you problems in transferring.

http://forums.minidisc.org/ is also a good source of info on all things MD

[Martin_O]

That's a good one - I can also advocate my own

http://www.suffolkbirds.co.uk/article/42/poor-mans-telinga

and from there you will also find a link to Jim's version

http://www.bambooturtle.us/ParabolicMicrophone.html

so lots to while away those winter evenings. And winter has a ready source of noise called the rain on the leaves for test purposes ;)

You won't regret going HiMD over normal MD. Make your bird recordings in uncompressed PCM so they are good if you get to sonograms, and don't edit on the MD in the field - there is anecdotal evidence (which I tested last week, fortunately on something I didn't need) that this can give you problems in transferring.

http://forums.minidisc.org/ is also a good source of info on all things MD

Thanks for url:s and tips |:d|
That's what internet is for.

Someone have tips for a good sound edit program at low cost. Today i use Audacity to edit my first recording steps.

Regards

Martin

[ermine]

Audacity is fine for bird songs, and much more.

Sonogram software - this

http://www.christoph-lauer.de/

is pretty full featured and free.

Raven

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/raven/raven.html

is the standard used in bird call research but isn't free, so I don't use it.