Listening to birdsong... (3 Viewers)

[ChrisF]

I'd like some advice / thoughts on good equipment for listening to birdsong. It's for my wife, she's very interested in isolating and listening to individual birds at a good quality, largely for identification purposes but also just for the pleasure. She's not interested in recording the birdsong. Can this be achieved without the expense of recording equipment?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Welcome to BirdForum, Chris. There are two separate parts to your question. One is what is the best means of listening to bird sound recordings (presumably pre-existing recordings?) at home. I would say the answer to that isn't going to be very much different to listening to music at home, so if you have good equipment for that, it should work for bird sounds (although it may depend on what format the bird sounds are in). The only thing I would add is that headphone listening may be better for identification than listening through speakers.

The other part is using recordings for identification purposes. Is this for learning identification from recordings so that you're then in a better position to identify birds in the field, or is it trying to identify recordings where you don't know what bird it is?

 

[delia todd]

Hi Chris and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

Sorry, I can't help with your query but I'm sure someone will be along soon.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

EDIT: LOL I was too slow in typing that.

 

[ChrisF]

Welcome to BirdForum, Chris. There are two separate parts to your question. One is what is the best means of listening to bird sound recordings (presumably pre-existing recordings?) at home. I would say the answer to that isn't going to be very much different to listening to music at home, so if you have good equipment for that, it should work for bird sounds (although it may depend on what format the bird sounds are in). The only thing I would add is that headphone listening may be better for identification than listening through speakers.

The other part is using recordings for identification purposes. Is this for learning identification from recordings so that you're then in a better position to identify birds in the field, or is it trying to identify recordings where you don't know what bird it is?

My apologies, I wasn't clear. It's not recordings she wants to listen to, it's actual birds in our garden. We have many birds around our garden, what she wants is to be able to listen to them live, isolating individual birds both from other birds and from background noise (not that there's usually a lot of background noise)...I envisage a shotgun mic and headphones type arrangement but don't understand how the two might be connected to provide high quality listening. everything I can find assumes a recorder is to be used.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

My apologies, I wasn't clear. It's not recordings she wants to listen to, it's actual birds in our garden. We have many birds around our garden, what she wants is to be able to listen to them live, isolating individual birds both from other birds and from background noise (not that there's usually a lot of background noise)...I envisage a shotgun mic and headphones type arrangement but don't understand how the two might be connected to provide high quality listening. everything I can find assumes a recorder is to be used.

Okay - I see now! I've never tried doing anything like that. You would obviously need a good microphone to pick up the birds (lots of options) and the microphone needs inputting to something that be played back in real time (and indoors?). A good recording device with inbuilt microphones might be the simplest solution and it might be possible to connect it to a computer that can then play back what the microphone is receiving. The computer could easily be connected to a good speaker system (e.g. a bluetooth speaker). I've never tried doing this and am not sure about all the technicalities.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Some other things to look into: if you have a recorder that has bluetooth, you could potentially input the sound directly to a bluetooth speaker. This might be the simplest solution and, if the speaker is a good one, the sound quality should be good. The other thing to look into would be an audio interface. This would enable you to connect most kinds of microphones to a computer and to control the sound. I'm not sure which kind would be the best for this, but there are tonnes of options at various prices. Basically, once the sound is being played through a computer, you can monitor it with headphones or play it out through a speaker in any number of ways. An audio interface with a decent microphone input would probably be the best way to do that.

 

[iveljay]

Personally I tend to use my ears, but I have a lot of birds around me and existing audio recorders. I'm always concious that by limiting my hearing to listen to a specific bird I might be missing something else.

Now before we get into any of this - you need to decide on a microphone, this is your most important purchase and applies to and can be used on just about anything that has been discussed. Skim through the various threads to get a feel on what might appeal, my guess is that something fairly manageable to hold would be adequate as it sounds like most birds are nearby. In addition its connection requirements, be it phantom powered xlr or 3.5 mm jack will help dictate what is easiest to use as a headphone interface.

As you are using headphones for long periods check hi-fi reviews to see if they are comfortable for extended listening.

One you have decided on the microphone we can come up with a way of connecting everthing together that suits your needs, there are many options I have personally used, and lots more that I have not, so believe me that should be a doddle.

N.B I don't use bluetooth so will never comment on it.


There are a number of computer usb interfaces that will take a standard microphone input, (xlr , 6.25mm jack ), and use its inbuilt pre-amp to raise the signal to a sensible level and let you monitor the input with headphones. The interface gets its power from a laptop usb port, so you can hit record if there is something exceptional you want to record. I use a Focusrite Scarlett device as it has optional phantom power and direct input monitoring(needed to listen directly to your microphone without it having to pass it into the computer. Ineviably these are intended for music production, and the instruction book is overcomplicated for bird use. Instead of the complex DAW it will work quite happily with freebe software like Audacity. The added bonus of this type of approach is that it by-passes your computer audio card giving you better reproduction.

This is one of many approaches and I would rather get the microphone nailed first.

As with most things audio, once you have decided on what you are about to do, put up the details in this section so that someone can make sure there are no hidden flaws and give a bit more precise guidance on getting it up and running quickly.

As you can see Andrew and I are saying much the same things which hopefully is reassuring.

J

 

[Bbresson]

Hi, I’m looking for an outdoor setup (a decent mic) that can amplify the birds outdoors to an indoor speaker. My bird feeding station is near a window in the back of my home. A mic and speaker could alert me to species that I’d like to run back and get a look at.
The feeding station is near the home so I’d have access to power and could mount a mic under an eve to protect it from the wind and rain. Thanks for any suggestions!