Hi All
I've posted on here before and was very grateful of the advice received and wondered somebody could help again. I'm at present using an Oylmpus ls5 recorder for bird sound recording which had worked perfectly well for ad-hoc recordings for several years, easy to use with a reasonably good quality sound and reach. I am now thinking about upgrading to either a shot gun type mic or a mic use in conjuction with a Parabolic reflector.
I really want to try and understand what they both do and their limitations ( I realise the size and portability differences) before making a purchase
.
Night recording ( mainly overflying birds) is something I have been attempting and have a particular interest in and would be one use for what ever system I bought. I have been advised to take the parabolic reflector route by several people although seemingly with no other reasoning than its the best route ! As I understand it a reflector dish will magnify the sound (by approx. x10 ?) presumably a shotgun mic has a similar ability ? Does the dish design mean it operates over a wider area, picking up sound then concentrates/bounces it off the dish and onto the mic or just able pick up sounds further away? Therefore does a shotgun mic have a more concentrated recording zone in front of it ( like a beam ), that reaches further rather than a spread recording zone ? A shotgun mic also needs a separate power source or can be powered by some recorders ?
Hope that all makes sense, been trying to glean what info I can online but finding it all a bit confusing, I'm just trying to grasp initially in lay mans terms an understanding on how the two systems work and wether one is actually better than the other.
Many thanks
I've posted on here before and was very grateful of the advice received and wondered somebody could help again. I'm at present using an Oylmpus ls5 recorder for bird sound recording which had worked perfectly well for ad-hoc recordings for several years, easy to use with a reasonably good quality sound and reach. I am now thinking about upgrading to either a shot gun type mic or a mic use in conjuction with a Parabolic reflector.
I really want to try and understand what they both do and their limitations ( I realise the size and portability differences) before making a purchase
.
Night recording ( mainly overflying birds) is something I have been attempting and have a particular interest in and would be one use for what ever system I bought. I have been advised to take the parabolic reflector route by several people although seemingly with no other reasoning than its the best route ! As I understand it a reflector dish will magnify the sound (by approx. x10 ?) presumably a shotgun mic has a similar ability ? Does the dish design mean it operates over a wider area, picking up sound then concentrates/bounces it off the dish and onto the mic or just able pick up sounds further away? Therefore does a shotgun mic have a more concentrated recording zone in front of it ( like a beam ), that reaches further rather than a spread recording zone ? A shotgun mic also needs a separate power source or can be powered by some recorders ?
Hope that all makes sense, been trying to glean what info I can online but finding it all a bit confusing, I'm just trying to grasp initially in lay mans terms an understanding on how the two systems work and wether one is actually better than the other.
Many thanks