Spaced omni night pond frog and bug singings. Wide enough?

[9sbean]

Just did a recording with a spaced omni at about 17 inches. Please comment if the stereo is wide enough for you. Thanks.

[7Hz]

too close maybe

[NorseHorse]

I would also try it a little wider.

[9sbean]

Thanks guys, I shall look for a longer light weight stick. The one I use was 2 bamboo sticks end to end with a little overlap at the boom pole tip.

[Haydn]

Sounds pretty good though, what microphones and preamps did you use for this ?

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by Haydn

Sounds pretty good though, what microphones and preamps did you use for this ?

The microphones are DPA4060. I built a simple Y cable so that each DPA 4060 goes into 1 channel of Sony PCM-M10. Turn-on the plug-in power of M10 and works perfectly with 4060.

Since the K-tek boom pole is internal mono cable, I cannot get stereo balanced through. I use the internal cable for headphone monitoring instead, while keep Sony PCM-M10 on top of the boom pole.

I shall built another Y cable with XLR 3 pin so that I can use the internal cable for un-balanced stereo feed. Not sure about interference problem.

I tried these DPA 4060 with a DIY phantom power adapter similar to MPS 6010 and record them into Sound Devices 722, or to Sony PMW-EX1. Both work great. These DPA 4060 could be my future rear surround microphones while my main stereo pair will be Schoeps CCM22.

[wishy-washy]

Hello !
I've read that the sony can only provide 3v, which shouldn't be enough for the 4060's...it's great that it does ! Still, have you tried your diy phantom power box with the sony pcm m-10 ? Does it sound any better (less distorted peaks/noticeably increased headroom) ?
Do you feel its preamps have enough gain to record quiet sounds with those mics ?
Thanks !

[GuySonic]

Suggest you baffle those mics, since spaced omni (at least when used indoors) almost never sound very good.

Outdoor recordings with spaced omni works better ONLY because there's far less spacial information from the direct sounds arriving to the mics with a lot more sound arriving bouncing off walls, ceiling, and other objects also being received by the pickups when recording in enclosed ambient spaces.

So indoor recordings with spaced omni do not image well making audible flanging sounds, but outdoor recordings still having spaced omni flanging issues, but far less audible for most listeners. Properly baffled omni have little or no flanging issues, and give both indoor/outdoor recordings improved imaging.

Just posted a new recording of NW Red-legged tree frogs and creek water stream sound using this suggested method, and used much more natural sounding mics, but you'll do better with a baffled mic method regardless of kind of mics being used.

Recording of nature sounds at: Sonic Studios MP3 Page 1 with Ambient Stereo-Surround Composer, Nature Sounds, Musicology Recordings

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by wishy-washy

Hello !
I've read that the sony can only provide 3v, which shouldn't be enough for the 4060's...it's great that it does ! Still, have you tried your diy phantom power box with the sony pcm m-10 ? Does it sound any better (less distorted peaks/noticeably increased headroom) ?
Do you feel its preamps have enough gain to record quiet sounds with those mics ?
Thanks !

3V is enough for DPA 4060 micro dot to DAD 3050 mini jack adapter. I didn't use DAD 3050 while I just change the DPA 4060 to mini jack (3.5mm mini phone plug) directly.

PCM-M10 doesn't provide phantom power. My DIY phantom power adapter, similar to MPS 6010 works with Sound Devices MixPre or any other standard phantom power microphone inputs. Since MixPre provides tape output for Sony PCM-M10 line input, I use this combination in case I need long cable run.

Direct connection is OK for ordinary sound pressure level, in case higher gain is needed, I prefer Sound Devices 722 with phantom power adapter. The pre-amplifier noise level difference between 722 and M10 is 20dB, which is so easy to tell.

[9sbean]

Did another recording with identical equipment except the microphones were arranged on a 20cm ball as binaural setup.

[John Willett]

You should find this website useful:-

Wildlife Sound Recording Society

It's also very inexpensive to become a member if you do lots of wildlife recording.

[Audiop]

Originally Posted by GuySonic

Suggest you baffle those mics, since spaced omni never sounds good.

Ever heard the album Cantate Domino? :-)


/Peter

[medearis]

Both of those sound pretty great!
How did you go abouts recording all that sound?
Near a backyard pond or a natural source?

Soooo many questions

[9sbean]

Those frogs are my neighbor, I can hear them even in my house. Just do that for fun and experiment new settings.

This is the real job, I took the 20cm ball for the real game - Concert. Here is the result:

[GuySonic]

Here is a good frogs recording done many years ago by a friend 'Dr. Dirt' on his 800 acre California ranch using headworn HRTF baffled DSM-6S/H + WHB/N windscreened mic into a Sharp minidisc.

frogs.mp3

QUESTION: How does one get the MP3 player to show in the post to directly play the attachment???

[medearis]

Wow bean! When I clicked play on your last clip, I was NOT expecting something so pretty to pour from my headphones. Great job on that. Incredibly dynamic recording!

[9sbean]

Originally Posted by medearis

Wow bean! When I clicked play on your last clip, I was NOT expecting something so pretty to pour from my headphones. Great job on that. Incredibly dynamic recording!

Thanks, DPA 4060 really nails it. It is so good for the money especially I got used ones. I am planning to built a 5-channel surround microphone with 5 DPA 4060s.

I almost use it again today, but found the environment noise is not suitable, so I put Schoeps CCM2 on the stage today. I would use CCM22 if I got them, but they're still on the way.

[rkopald]

Everything posted to this thread sounds fantastic to me.