Archive for April, 2008

April 26, 2008 5:45 am Week #6

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

I am trying to get up earlier to capture first light every week, but due to a number of factors I can only get so close.

This week we have a technical comparison between two sets of microphones. The first set is my standard Schoeps ORTF configuration, a set of MK21 capsules directly into the Sound Devices 744t mic preamplifier. The second set, a demo set of the Sennheiser MKH 8040 configured in ORTF. Keep in mind that the pattern of the two sets is slightly different: the Schoeps is a wide cardioid, the Sennheiser is a classic cardioid. I have done my best to match levels on these two samples.

The same part of the sound file was used for each sample. in about the middle of the recording you will hear me swatting a spider, I was recovering from a few spider bites from the previous week at the time.

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ORTF, Sennheiser MKH 8040, Grace V3, 744t
Creative Commons License

April 20, 2008 6:15 am Week #5

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

This seems to be the quietest recording (in terms of wildlife) I’ve done here yet. The forecast was calling for a morning thunderstorms but it didn’t start to rain until we were leaving. The wind however was pretty constant. The trees haven’t started to fill in yet, they are only now starting to bud.
Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t Creative Commons License

April 12, 2008 5:49 am Week #4

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

A foggy, warm morning, after a thunderstorm, the first I’ve seen this spring, temp was about 60 degrees fahrenheit. It was dark when I arrived, but the Northern Cardinal just started to call. I was hoping to get there early enough to catch the owls, but all I got was a few eastern grey squirrels waking up (at about 15:50). I left most of the slate on this track. The transient pops you hear is water rolling off the trees close to the microphones. USE CAUTION, SOME OF THESE POPS MAY BE LOUD!

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t Creative Commons License