r/fieldrecording

I have a zoom h1 recorder with a 3.5mm mic in (mono i think) and would like to connect to an external mic (RØDE NTG2) I use on my camera to record audio when not shooting video. The mic has XLR male pins. when I went looking for a female xlr to 3.5mm cable I was seeing different options balanded/unbalanced etc and I have no idea what I should get. Would appreciate if someone could put me right. Thank you

I have an assortment of contact mics made by Jez Riley French, Metal Marshmallow, and Oaka, and I’m finding electromagnetic interference occasionally prevents me from getting a clean recording in many urban environments, especially when I need to drive the gain up for a quieter sound source.

This is especially noticeable with the Oaka mic as it probably has the brightest frequency response and highest sensitivity of the lot, but the same interference is audible with Metal Marshmallow and JrF too.

I’ve tested my equipment (FR-AV2 and MixPre-3 II on batteries and on USBC powerbank), to verify that it isn’t self or other tech noise, and that it is indeed from the environment.

Do you know how I might combat this issue in a way that’s readily deployable in the field?

Hi All,

I am very new to the audio and video producing and was advised to get a sound recorder to enable this. I'm just finding my results a bit hit and miss and it's getting to the stage where I'll end up not using it, which would be a shame.

I managed to record the early morning call to prayer in Saudi Arabia which sounded very good and will run as ambient backing audio in an upcoming video. I feel this was easy to record though as it was the only noise about, I could get close and it just worked.

However, I'm finding recording things such as light desert wind, a bit hit and miss. I was advised to have the gain around 4.5/5 and the audio at 48k/24bit. All other settings set to off. I have to stress that the wind was very, very minimal so I'm just not sure if I'm expecting a bit too much to be picked up by the mics or whether I should add more Gain or try something else with the other settings currently turned off.

Any advice appreciated and I'm sorry if my terminology is rubbish!

I have 24/7 soundscape analyzer detecting birds on my back yard, I recently got update to detect bats also and I wanted to see how Rode NT5 works for utrasonic sounds, and to my surprise it works quite well!

Attached is a screenshot of Myotis mystacinus recording made with single Rode NT5 connected to Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface connected to Raspberry Pi 5. Sampling rate is 192 kHz. I boosted gain about 6dB for this screenshot.

No doubt there is high attenuation for ultrasonic frequencies but still, response to almost 100 kHz is not something I expected of this mic.

https://preview.redd.it/fykqouesn42h1.png?width=1700&format=png&auto=webp&s=08c8f9cf7d965e2b472e03bf83a76420b90c9e2c

I recently got a Tascam DR-40XP to sample and bring real-world sounds into my DAW. Yesterday I tried to record the impulse response of an underground parking lot, using a balloon pop as my impulse, and I'm not happy with the results.

I popped the balloon about 4 meters from the Tascam. I brought the recordings into my DAW later and I noticed noise floor was quite prominent initially, but as soon as the balloon pops, the noise floor disappears. It sounds like a compressor with a fast attack and a very slow release. If I wait after popping the balloon, the noise floor slowly builds up again. Why does this happen?

Edit: Thanks for all the replies. Turns out the culprit was a "normalize" setting in my media player. This setting was resulting in quiet passages being normalized (boosted). With the option disabled, everything is working as expected. I feel as stupid as I feel relieved.

been trying to record small environmental stuff lately like rain against metal roofs, bugs at night, trees moving etc and realizing my setup is way more annoying than the actual walking part loli borrowed a tiny boya wireless thing (i think it was the magic?) mostly because it was stupidly light and easy to clip around branches/fences without carrying a whole bag. surprisingly not awful for close ambience stuff but wind absolutely destroys it unless everything is super shelteredcurious what people here use for low effort nature walks where you dont wanna carry giant rigs around for 2 hours

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FS4y1z7wB

A teardown shows

Hey! I'm getting started in recording animal sounds and don't know what mic+ recorder I should get.

I want to record both long range and short range, think one mic set up for recording reptiles in a terrarium and another set up recording animals 100's of meters away.

As good quality for the price at possible.

I'm currently thinking of getting the sennheiser mke 600 with windscreen combo, but still stuck on what recorder to get. What would you recommend? And should I save up for another mic or is the sennheiser mke 600 good? If there's a mic that can record both long range and short range that'd be fantastic, but I'm fully ready to get two sets if needed.

Any recommendations are welcome. TIA

When you listen to an ordinary space, what makes one sound become the center?
Is it volume, rhythm, texture, memory, or something harder to name?

I recently got the new Tascam dr40xp that has 32bit float recording. I've been messing with the settings for a while and doing some testing. The audio overall sounds tinny/echoey and its not capturing all the vocals on soundtracks.

Both L/R XLR are plugged into my 3.5mm adapter. Settings have been switched between stereo and mono with Line settings switch on. No active effects are on.

I'm not sure what I have wrong. Perhaps its the 3.5mm or if its being recorded on a A1 128GB sandisk microSD?

any help would be great.

It is winter time in Mauritius and I want to go to the jungle again to record nature sounds. But there is one problem that I face in the jungle: Mosquito noise.

Main problem is that windshields or deadcats are in black and this colour attracts mosquitoes like crazy.

Any creative ideas how to keep mosquitos away from the microphone?

I have a Pluggy XLR, and while I overall think it's very neat, it gets a bit noisy when when I'm recording quiet audio.

I was looking at alternatives (that don't get crazy expensive), and I was curious if the Line Audio Omni1 is any better. Does anyone have any experience with it? Would it be an upgrade compared to the Pluggy, or would it pretty much be the same – or worse?

Thanks! Would love to hear some thoughts and experiences.

Hi, I want to get a stereo pair of EM272Z1 to record soundscapes with a Tascam Portacapture X8. I found a seller on Aliexpress called "Micverve" who seems to make their own, it seems to be basically the same as the "famous" Clippys: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809525420237.html

These are considerably cheaper than buying the original Clippys from the Netherlands (I live in Germany). Does anyone here have experience with this seller? Is matching pairs important for the EM272Z1? Am I missing other cheaper EM272Z1, beside DIYing them?

I have been looking for this one specific program to order my samples. I heard about it a couple months back but I cannot find it for the life of me. It’s quite simple if I remember correctly, with the name, date, type of sample and so on all being displayed on the main UI.
Does anyone know what it is I’m looking for?
Thanks!

I would be using these mics with a Zoom F3 and my biggest concern is interference. Would any of these be better interference wise, especially when used in urban environments? I also plan to use them for nature, rain, birds, and things of that sort.

I’m pretty casual so I don’t need perfection but would any of these be better than the others? After shipping they all equal out to be pretty similar in price.

I'm looking to buy a set of microphones to use with a Zoom F3. I'm upgrading from a Tascam DR-05x and my biggest gripe with it is interference so I definitely want a setup that can be used in a city without terrible interference. I plan to do mostly soundscapes, nature, rain, ambient city sounds, and stuff of that nature.

I've done some research and come up with probably the three most popular recommendations. I was going to get the MicBooster Clippies but the $50 shipping to the US brings them to a similar price with a few other options that have less info that I could find. I also read a few people who had interference issues with the Clippy.

One alternative that I found is the Immersive Soundscapes Earsight mics. These come out to be a few dollars cheaper than the Clippies but pretty much the same price. Sonorous SO.1 are the other ones I was looking at and a few dollars more than the others, but again not a huge difference.

Is there one of these that would suit my needs better than the others, especially regarding interference? Or should I expect similar performance from all of them? Also if there are any other options at a similar price point then feel free to give recommendations.

Title basically, I'm building a custom hard case with slots for my F3, F1-LP, stereo mic pair, sd cards, and two mobile power banks + accessories like XLR cables and such. I want to add a check list inside above the case foam and a label of some kind on the outside that won't get ruined by being outdoors. I just can't think of what would work, maybe it's the fact it's 2am but everything I think of would wash away or fade pretty quick (like I thought just custom stickers even but they're not UV proof forever)

I want this because I love hiking and my fiance is getting into recording and will likely be using my setup a bit, I want to make sure it's labeled in case of theft (throwing a GPS tag in it fwiw) and so my fiance can make sure everything is there bc he's kind of an airhead, like forgetting things as soon as he leaves the room diagnosed ADHD type (tbh, same)

I might be overthinking even needing this stuff but I'm worried we'll leave to go to some hike three hours away and I'll realize my gear is missing upon setup or he'll forget the checklist and lose some small but important part like the SD cards case or lav mic or something.

Keeping him away is a no-go too, he helps a lot and I want him to get into recording, I want him to be involved in our (wow I can't even say House Room of Recording here at all) so I don't want to discourage him?

Hello all!

I’ve been recording sounds for a little over a year, but have only recently considered getting an external microphone for my kit, as a Sony ECM-MS957 has appeared in my local marketplace for a good price. I wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this microphone and whether or not it offers a better sound plugged into the Sony pcm-A10 than the PCM-a10‘s built-in microphones. I already have the Bubblebee windshield for the field recorder, and I do get good sound from it already, but I am interested in capturing more detail with a little less self-noise than what the built-in mics are capable of providing. Many thanks!

Does anyone have any recommended covers for microphones and recorders? When you don't want to pack everything up and want it to be available easily for more recording, but you want to minimize the dust gathering (and protect from accidental spillage, e.g. if carrying a cup of tea around). What do y'all use?

So far, I've just used small plastic bags. But I'm worried they could be prone to static, and I'm curious if there are good options out there for these purposes.

Thanks a bunch for any suggestions!