[OKAMINOKE]

Hello!
Please would you advice about which option would be the best to track distant and low sounds from nature that I wish to get AT NIGHT, searching for nocturnal mammals. I do not aim to record a perfect sound. I'd rather use a sound recording device to LOCATE animals from their noices.
2 options are suggested on previous forum I visited: either Telinga parabola and omni mic. Or shotgun ME66.
I may search for badgers feeding at the corner of a field form 100m or 150m or a couple of shrews running on the forest ground at 20m...Hidden rodent eating a nut at 30m in a tree.
I really appreciate your suggestion and experiences.
The lightest gear is the best to me...
Thanks
Bruno

[KCFoggin]

Hi Bruno and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at BirdForum

I'm going to move your thread to the Bird Sounds section where you are likely to get more feedback. I've subscribed you to this thread so that you can keep track of it

[OKAMINOKE]

Originally Posted by KCFoggin

Hi Bruno and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at BirdForum

I'm going to move your thread to the Bird Sounds section where you are likely to get more feedback. I've subscribed you to this thread so that you can keep track of it

Thanks for your welcoming message; Sorry to have send my first thread at wrong place
Regards

bruno

[Sounds-a-tweet]

If you don't wish to record these creatures but rather locate them at night, might I ask what for???

Originally Posted by OKAMINOKE

Hello!
Please would you advice about which option would be the best to track distant and low sounds from nature that I wish to get AT NIGHT, searching for nocturnal mammals. I do not aim to record a perfect sound. I'd rather use a sound recording device to LOCATE animals from their noices.
2 options are suggested on previous forum I visited: either Telinga parabola and omni mic. Or shotgun ME66.
I may search for badgers feeding at the corner of a field form 100m or 150m or a couple of shrews running on the forest ground at 20m...Hidden rodent eating a nut at 30m in a tree.
I really appreciate your suggestion and experiences.
The lightest gear is the best to me...
Thanks
Bruno

[OKAMINOKE]

Hello
Why locate sounds without recording them? Aim isn't recording but simply: wildlife watching for my hobby or sometimes during job: i'm nature educator so that I often guide students groups in the wild at night to discover a new environnement made of sounds. I already use a lot my ears to get mammals at night from the noice they make. I just wanted to be supported by a amplifier device whan ear aren't sufficient, especially for distant sounds or low sounds. Amplifying is the right word. If I need a recorder to connect the mike, I will buy one, especially to get a recording gain in the earphone.
i'd rather carry very light gear...so the parabola is not the best even if it can be folded and rolled to pack. I heard that no microphone does amplification of sounds. They only direct sounds and bring sound to the recorder...Then the recorder may amplify the sound. Am I correct? So, parabola also doesn't amplify?
the following video camera mike has a +20db fontion. What does it mean?
http://www.thomann.de/fr/rode_videomic_pro
Sorry for this messy content...
Thanks

regards

Bruno

[NZparadise1]

Contrary to what some people think, shotgun mics are not like telephoto lenses. In other words, they don't magnify distant sounds. What they do have is a very narrow field that they "hear". A supercardioid or hypercardioid capsule is placed in an interference shield that blocks out sound from the sides of the mic for the most part. So, if you use one it needs to be pointed pretty much straight at the source in order for you to pick it up. A cardiod mic will pick up a wider field, an omni a wider field still.
Whatever mic you use, one thing you will need is a good preamp with lots of clean gain in order to pick up distant sounds well without adding lots of hiss. Having a good compressor in the chain post preamp is another way of getting a bit more gain as well.

[buile]

Telinga parabola seems rather expensive if you're looking to just amplify sounds.

My experience with shotgun versus parabola is yes you can hear more things in the distance with either... just turn up the gain on the recorder while wearing headphones. The parabola is more tightly focused than the shotgun. When recording with a shotgun mic, pointing directly at the source versus slightly off-axis did not impact the recording quality as much as with a parabola. It was much more apparent with the parabola when I was not aimed directly at the source, which forced me to be more discipline when recording with a parabola.

The parabola's focused beam means I ~could~ better narrow down a sound's location *if* the sound repeats enough times constantly re-aim. A half-dozen short sounds would not be enough for me to positively pinpoint.

Without understanding exactly what you need, my guess is a shotgun mic would be the more cost-friendly way to achieving a desired result.

(If it helps put my thoughts in perspective, my experience is only with PMD661 recorder, Sennheiser ME67, and Telinga Twin Science).