Audio Recordings

[woodchip]

Been wanting to make nature recordings for years now and finally bought a Tascam DR100 MK2. So after slowly learning how to use it I made a wav file of thunder and would like any of you who are knowledgeable in this arena to listen and give a quick opinion. My speakers are a cheap set that I replaced my Klipsch speakers when they died so the bass isn't all that great. Problem is right now I am using a freeware version of Audacity and not sure if I have to convert the wav into a mpg to post here and if I do will there be any degradation ? Windows media player seems to play it as a wav well enough. It's a 13 meg file and only about a minute long.

Will I have to upload it someplace like those free image site and if so can you recommend a site?

Add: found out how to convert to mp3. Just needed to get something called Lame. I still need some place to upload to though as we cannot attach mp3's to post.

[Krom]

If you want a lossless format you could use FLAC as an alternative instead of mp3 (because mp3 is lossy), naturally since FLAC is lossless it will be larger than mp3.

You can also use foobar2000 to convert wav files to mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format quickly. I can convert a CD worth of FLAC or wav audio files at more than 300x playback speed using foobar and lame, which basically means converting a 1 hour long CD in 12 seconds.

As for uploading stuff, the maximum supported size for the forum is 256 KB per attachment, I enabled mp3s, but it also accepts various archive formats (zip, 7z, rar, etc). But with that size limit, you may be better off using a file locker such as mediafire, rapidshare, dropbox, etc. Another option that might work in this case would be soundcloud, that way people could play the files without even having to leave their browser.

[Top Gun]

If you're already using Audacity to record the sounds, I don't think you'd actually need to download LAME separately at all; I'm pretty sure that's what Audacity uses natively to encode MP3s.

[woodchip]

If you're already using Audacity to record the sounds, I don't think you'd actually need to download LAME separately at all; I'm pretty sure that's what Audacity uses natively to encode MP3s.

Nope, tried to do that and a little pop up said I need Lame. Once I got it the conversion happened with no problem.

Krom thanks for leads. Will try tomorrow to hook up to them.

[vision]

Been wanting to make nature recordings for years now and finally bought a Tascam DR100 MK2. So after slowly learning how to use it I made a wav file of thunder and would like any of you who are knowledgeable in this arena to listen and give a quick opinion.

It's a fun hobby. I did field recording for a couple years and one thing I can tell you is that it requires a lot of patience. It's the equivalent of nature photography. You have to get get dirty and put yourself in crazy positions to get the perfect capture, just like professional photographers. I did a series of urban audio captures which required me to do stupid things like crouch down on the double stripe of 4 lanes of rush hour traffic and straddle two moving subway cars with a mic hanging between my legs. Fun stuff and rewarding.

My speakers are a cheap set that I replaced my Klipsch speakers when they died so the bass isn't all that great. Problem is right now I am using a freeware version of Audacity and not sure if I have to convert the wav into a mpg to post here and if I do will there be any degradation ? Windows media player seems to play it as a wav well enough. It's a 13 meg file and only about a minute long.

All versions of Audacity are freeware, and it's a great software tool. I use it all the time. If you feel like there are limitations, there another free program called Wavosaur. I actually do professional audio work for a media company and Wavosaur is my main tool (I've also donated to the project). Since you don't have good speakers right now, I would suggest investing in some audio visualization tools so you can at least "see" what you can't hear. My favorite spectrum analyzer is by Seven Phases, a Free VST plugin -- which works really well with Wavosaur.

Will I have to upload it someplace like those free image site and if so can you recommend a site?

You could always make an account at Soundcloud. It streams your audio and supports uncompressed and compressed formats. It's like the youtube of audio.


I'm not familiar with your device, the DR-100MKII, but it looks like it has some nice features. One thing to watch out for is the limiter and the low cut. If you are recording nature in all it's beautiful dynamics I would turn both of them off. Hopefully the device has manual gain adjust. Some of those handheld recorders only have a high/low gain switch and some have built-in compression (products by Zoom come to mind) and that sucks.

[Top Gun]

If you're already using Audacity to record the sounds, I don't think you'd actually need to download LAME separately at all; I'm pretty sure that's what Audacity uses natively to encode MP3s.

Nope, tried to do that and a little pop up said I need Lame. Once I got it the conversion happened with no problem.

Oh, that's right, you had to point it at LAME separately. I think I'd already had it installed at the time.

[woodchip]

Ok, got soundcloud set up and link is:

http://soundcloud.com/woodchip-1/
thunder

Thunder doesn't start for about 30 sec. so you can jump the sequence that much to hear it. Now to me it sounds clean enough but I am no expert in the acoustical dept. I used the on board directional mics (tho I did get a AT 8015 shotgun mic also). Again listen to it with good speakers and let me know technically how it sounds. Only had the foam sock covering the mics.

Also vision here's a link to the digital recorder. Author shows a lot of views and closeups of the unit:

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=152321.0

Unit does have a auto limiter switch, so you are saying I should leave it off? Had it on for the test thunder recording.

vision
" straddle two moving subway cars with a mic hanging between my legs"

My whole impression of you has forever changed (in a good way )

[Krom]

Well, my headphones are a studio quality sealed set coming through a reasonably high quality amp and it sounded fine to me. I could hear the rain, what sounded like some vehicle in the distance, some birds at various points, and the thunder was clear to me. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary like pops or clicks, but I'm no expert either. It did sound a bit louder on the right ear than on the left, but that I'm guessing that was just from the original recording.

[woodchip]

Krom,thanks for the feedback. You are right about the strength of noise. The recorder does attempt to do stereo and in Audacity there are 2 tracks showing. One has a bit more amplitude than the other. I'll have to listen closer as both you and my daughter both say there is a bird sound but I never noticed it. I'm also glad that it seems there is no impedance noise or hiss.

[vision]

That's a pretty good track. I'll have to keep that device in mind if I ever get back into field recording.

Unit does have a auto limiter switch, so you are saying I should leave it off? Had it on for the test thunder recording.

I would leave it off wherever possible. You are capturing nature, which is infinitely dynamic. Limiters and compressors remove dynamics. The automatic limiters are there to prevent clipping, but may do so at the expense of a clean recording. They usually have preset attack and release times and the sound of the limiter turning on and off might be noticeable enough to distract from the material you are recording. However, you don't always get a chance to sound-check nature, haha. You will have to use your judgement depending on what/where you are recording. If you get some time, practice recording a source with the auto-limiter on/off and try to get the recording to clip/distort so you can hear how pronounced the effect is. Knowing the device's limits will help you make better recording decisions later.

[woodchip]

Thanks for the feed back vision. I'll try what you suggest about the limiter and see if anything happens. There are 2 sound tracks for my immediate goal over the summer.

One is the chorusing of tree toads. This happens not very often here in MI at least as they sing only on very warm nights. It is a deeper more slow cadence than what the spring peepers sound like. As the toads are off in the distance my shotgun mike might be the better tool

The second sound will be a chorus of insect sounds and buzzing when the Purple Loosestrife blooms. It is loud enough that one can hear it quite easily by ear alone and since I'll be standing in the middle of the field, I suspect the built-in mics might do just fine.

[vision]

The second sound will be a chorus of insect sounds and buzzing when the Purple Loosestrife blooms.

Nice. In Chicago a few years ago I caught the cicada invasion that happens every 17 years. Madness. I was in the forest recording for about 20 minutes and my ears were ringing for 2 days. So loud.

[woodchip]

Well get ready cause I think the 17 year cycle comes up this summer.