New hobby; FIELD RECORDING!
I have always enjoyed nature sounds. In real life and through nature documentaries and such.
I’ve been through some rough times for past year or so and in that time the sounds (and silence) of the nature has became more important for me than ever.
All the noise pollution of modern city life has been drilling it’s way too deep into my fractured mind.
It was only when I dragged my self far enough from civilization, that I could breath freely. When I had trouble falling in sleep, I put on my headphones and played some rain sounds or forest ambiance. Eventually I started doing that also daytime when I just wanted to isolate my self from the traffic noise coming trough my windows. It has been good medicine.
And it sparked a new interest in me. I wanted to start doing those same kind of recordings my self. That way I have one more reason to head out and away from the noise pollution surrounding me and replace it with the soothing sounds of nature.
The gear
Unfortunately this hobby, like many others, can get quite costly if you want to work with quality tools.
But I think of this also as an investment to my own mental health so that way I can easier justify the cost.
I started out with the basic recorder that’s possibly the most common recorder to start with; the Zoom H1n. It’s a small stereo recorder with built in X/Y stereo mic capsules and 3,5mm stereo mic/line input. It’s a nice little recorder, but it quickly came evident that it isn’t the right recorder for the quiet nature sounds. For city soundscapes it’s fine, but otherwise the noise level is just too high.
Zoom H1n
Built-in X/Y stereo mic capsules
3,5mm mic/line input
3,5mm headphone/line output
The Zoom H1n, while noisy, was a good device to practice with.
I wanted to try the difference in noise with better mic than the built-in mics in the Zoom so I bought an Audio-Technica AT8024 stereo mic that plugs straight in to the mic input of the Zoom. Audio quality was better, but the noise level was only marginally better. Oh well, that mic will still serve a purpose as I can plug it straight in to camera as well and it sounds quite good.
Audio-Technica AT8024
Switchable M/S STEREO or MONO
3,5mm plug
The best sleeping aid sounds, that I mentioned earlier, are “binaural” sounds. It means that they are recorded in a way that closely mimics the way that we hear things in real life. Those recordings have realistic phase, time and level differences between the left and right channel, caused by a human head sized and shaped object. Or better yet, a real human head.
That’s why next I bought the Roland CS-10EM binaural mics/headphones.
They look like typical in-ear headphones, but they have little microphones on the outside of the earpiece.
That way it’s possible to record sounds the way I truly hear them. (Well, to be accurate, the mics should be in my ear channels, but this is close enough for me (at least for now))
These also work with the Zoom H1n, but the noise issue still persists.
Roland CS-10EM
In-ear binaural microphones/headphones
Modded with Rycote over cover wind shields. Credits of this mod idea goes to Marcel from “Free To Use Sounds” on Youtube (https://youtu.be/-k1l292-a9k)
I wanted to replace my Zoom H1n with something better and I found a second hand Tascam DR-60D MK2.
The price was good so I went for it.
This was a nice upgrade from my Zoom. Much quieter pre-amps and now I also had 2 XLR inputs with Phantom power. That opened a door for a whole new world of professional microphones.
Tascam DR-60D MK2
4-channel recorder
2 XLR inputs with 48V Phantom power
3,5mm stereo mic/line input
3,5mm headphone output
3,5mm line output
Now that I had 2 XLR inputs with Phantom power, I wanted to take advantage of it.
I started looking for XLR Stereo microphone options.
I considered mics like the sE Electronics sE8 stereo pair, Rode M5 pair and Lewitt LCT040 pair, but at this point I didn’t want to start hassling with stereo bars so I ended up with an Audio-Technica BP4025.
It’s a X/Y stereo microphone with large 1” diaphragm capsules, good frequency response and low self-noise.
It makes a great pair with the Tascam and its XLR inputs.
Audio-Technica BP4025
X/Y Stereo microphone
5-pin XLR output
Now I was quite happy with my audio recording gear, but there was this thing called “32-bit float” recording that kept haunting me.
It’s a technique that brings wide dynamic range to audio recording. I’m hoping to record thunderstorms this summer and that wide dynamic range could come in handy.
Going back and forth with this topic, eventually I decided to upgrade to a 32-bit recorder. My options were Zoom F3, Zoom F6, Tascam X6 and Tascam X8. After reading many reviews and watching (and listening) hours of Youtube content, I decided to go with the Zoom F6.
Zooms seemed to have slightly better pre-amps than the Tascams and the Zoom F3 was tempting, but having only 2 inputs worried me a bit so that’s why I ended up with the Zoom F6. It’s an overkill for now, but those extra inputs may come handy in the future.
Zoom F6
14-channel recorder
32-bit float recording
6 XLR inputs with Phantom power
3,5mm headphone output
3,5mm line output
What’s next?
I have ordered a pair of Rode VXLR+ XLR to 3,5mm adapters so I can plug my Roland CS-10EM binaural mics to the Zoom F6, as it doesn’t have any 3,5mm inputs. I have to solder my own adapter cable for it, but it will be nice to hear how they work with the F6 once I get everything done.
I had a Sony XLR-K3M XLR adapter for a while, but it was defected and I had to send it in for warranty replacement. Haven’t got the replacement yet, but hopefully it will arrive sooner than later.
Wind protection plays a major role in field recording so that is one thing that I likely need to improve in the near future. Boya BY WS-1000 “blimp” could be one quite affordable and good option. By replacing the original 3-pin cable with a 5-pin cable, it would probably be compatible with the Audio-Technica BP4025. It’s also big enough that it would house some sort of ORTF stereo pair setup with some modifications to the mic mounts. Clippy XLR EM272 stereo pair could be a viable option…
I’m also thinking of making a separate page for the recordings that I make. Some content will end up on my Youtube channel, but maybe I should upload some plain audio content here. We’ll see…
