Recommend small mic's for stereo field recording?

pustule

pustule

Member
Hi guys --

I'm taking a trip overseas this summer and i'm looking to do some field recording in the country. I have a handful of nice microphones that I use here, but they are somewhat large.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on small, compact, stereo mics that will be used to record nature sounds and other ambience? I'll be using a Sound Devices 702 digital recorder.

Thanks!
 
You didn't mention a budget.

For outdoors you might prefer a shotgun and if you are going stereo, there are numerous stereo versions of shotgun mics which would keep things simple. These stereo models run the gamut in pricing from say a Audio Technica to much more expensive models from Sanken, Sennheiser, and Schoeps. Stereo shotguns won't be the most compact of models, but compare that to say an X-Y pair of whatever else you choose which would be much more fiddly out in the field. Think dual blimps and shock mounts, some sort of bracket to hold them both and dual cables. That arrangement might stretch the limit of pole use. You will need to split the 5 pin stereo xlr cable at the recorder.

Grant
 
If you are doing "nature sound" recording then those guys have very strong opinions about what you should use. If you are just picking up ambiences and such for SFX purposes then really you can go anywhere.

While "stereo shotgun" microphones exist it's kind of a oxymoron. What they really are are shotguns that have extra capsules so that they can be a stereo pair, sort of.

That wouldn't be my first choice for a couple of reasons. First you said you want to go small and ... Second they are neither great shotguns nor great stereo pairs, the ones that get close to great are multi thousand dollars. And personally I don't like them, it's one of those "but it does everything", but is a compromise everywhere. MHO.

You can get a stereo mic that will gat your package size down and simplify a bit or you can get a pair of mic's. Neumann makes extensions so the power unit (mic body) can be quite aways from the capsule, and Rycote makes a zeppelin that fits two capsules in something that looks like a large fluffy softball. This is also $$$ but is very nice for stereo ambience recording and general FX work. I use a pair of Oktava's in a mount I made that fits inside the Rycote zeppelin that is made for the Schopes small condenser. THe angle is narrower than a standard stereo pair but I'm recording SFX so the stronger center is usually a plus. If I take the cover off I can spread them more if I really need to.

For just picking stuff up something like the Tascam DR-40 is really hard to beat. Very low profile and easy to pack.

When I do this kind of field recording I also bring a card backerupper. Not sure what is around now but with mine you stick the CF card in and press one button and it clones the card to an internal drive. Runs about a month with daily backups before the batteries need a charge, so great when traveling.
 
pustule said:
I'm taking a trip overseas this summer and I'm looking to do some field recording in the country. I have a handful of nice microphones that I use here, but they are somewhat large.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on small, compact, stereo mics that will be used to record nature sounds and other ambience? I'll be using a Sound Devices 702 digital recorder.
Click to expand...

Black on dark gray is a disaster. Don't do that to us.

As to your question, typically the biggest thing (physically) you have to worry about is the basket/furry wind protection you'll need to get clean recordings outside. Since using a stereo technique like AB or ORTF becomes pretty unwieldy with wind protection, you'll probably instead want to go M/S just to get the size under control. And of course Rycote makes packages just for this. Ideal for, say, a pairing of Sennheiser MKH 40/30 mics for M/S.

Based on what little you've told us, this is the best I can do.
 
As Richard says, some of the nature recording sites are your best bet. Personally, I have found Rob Danielson's site inspiring (here's a page on boundary mics http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?337002-Recommend-small-mic-s-for-stereo-field-recording), but one question is how much you want to play around with things (even DIY) or how much you want an off-the-shelf solution, which reduces the options? As Bruce says wind protection is the biggest size issue, although this shouldn't rule out omni mics: for example I use a pair of omni capsules (inspired by Curt Olson's experiments at http://www.trackseventeen.com/mic_rigs.html ) in what is like a mini SASS setup, all contained within a Rode blimp: but, again, this requires some minor DIY. Neither does it rule out ORTF (e.g. see Rycote's purpose-built windscreen kits for Sennheiser 8000 series: http://www.rycote.com/products/wind...eld-kit/stereo-windshield-ws-ae-ortf-kit-mzl/, which may be the sort of thing Scott was meaning), in addition to the MidSide option Bruce suggests.

Sometimes, however, a large furry blimp (whatever mics it contains) is too much - as indeed is a sound bag, but I am not sure if this is relevant to your plans (you mention taking an SD702): for example recording natural ambient sound and SFX where people are around can mean adopting stealthier approaches. The professional field recordist Paul Virostek summarizes the issues well at http://www.creativefieldrecording.c...th-sound-effect-recordings-and-how-to-fix-it/ . The issues Paul describes chime with a project that I have coming up, and I will be leaving the larger kit and mics behind, and using a Sony M10 in my pocket with two 10mm omni capsules in mini-furries mounted to my hat/backpack (not in ear as not after binaural).

In addition to mics and recorders (and their size) another issue that Paul picks up on is headphones (or, rather, reasons for not using them), and, in a different context without the need for stealth, this is something that David Farmer discusses and explains well too (http://designingsound.org/2010/09/david-farmer-special-field-recording-2010/ ): sometimes - and obviously outside the main focus of this forum (film dialogue recording) where headphones are essential - there can be good reasons for leaving the headphones off! Hard to do, I know, and may be not relevant to your particular needs, but perhaps of interest to others!

Cheers,

Roland
 
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pustule said:
Hi guys --

I'm taking a trip overseas this summer and i'm looking to do some field recording in the country. I have a handful of nice microphones that I use here, but they are somewhat large.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on small, compact, stereo mics that will be used to record nature sounds and other ambience? I'll be using a Sound Devices 702 digital recorder.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


For this use I would use an MS pair of Sennheiser MKH 40/30 (or maybe 50/30).

Work well in damp conditions, match well with the 702 in quality terms and are easy to hold. :thumbsup:
 
And, of course, Rycote makes a windshield kit that fits the tried and trusted MKH 40/30 combination: whether this, or any similarly-sized set-up, constitutes the 'small, compact' mic you had in mind is another question...

Roland
 
Make sure you jump through the proper hoops when transporting professional gear in/out of foreign countries.

As John mentioned, I prefer MS with an MKH pair. But you know what, I'm going to suggest something like an H4n with wind protection. That's about as small as you can get.
 
I'm going to suggest something like an H4n with wind protection. That's about as small as you can get.
I was thinking the same. Far easier than lugging around a recorder and blimp mic set-up... (Though the general consensus is, the Sony D50 has the absolute best sound of all the small recorders using internal mics. I would suspect the newer D100 as good.) Then there's the issues with pro gear going through customs.. been there done that, as a sound mixer on international docu crews. I'd rather forget some incidents... even with all the proper documentation and such. Bring bribe money as well.
 
David W. Jones said:
But you know what, I'm going to suggest something like an H4n with wind protection. That's about as small as you can get.
Click to expand...

This is what I was about to suggest. The wind protection can be as simple as a loose fitting fur pouch with the longest synthetic fur you can find.

Why "long"?

The longer and denser the fur is, the better it "bleeds off" wind energy with little or no noise. I did some field testing for thewindcutter.com folks as they developed what they called "The Windjacket" for the ZoomH1. Unfortunately they had to suspend operations due to a sudden and unexpected loss so a DIY project may be in order.

What they developed was a furry pouch that closed at the bottom with velcro. A peice of vinyl allowed viewing the LCD screen on the recorder although I still use one of their early prototypes without the vinyl window so that's not really necessary. Here's one of the tests I did for them on a prototype with up to 30MPH wind gusts:

https://vimeo.com/17918160


 
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I use a matched pair of DPA 4060 omnis in spaced array. I use a microdot to XLR connector and then use two long cables and record from a distance for natural sounds. At times for fun, I also record while traveling in a train, flight etc. I hide the blinking lights of my SD702T with a hat and people don't notice. You can also clip the two microphones to a hat or to spectacles and record and people will not notice.
 
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