Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Cryptozoology, Field Research, Audio Analysis, Vocalizations, Interpretations, and after all that...Life in general. It's a lot of stuff in a little box. The learning process never ends.....
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Simply Sasquatch episode coming your way.....
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Recording in the field
Depending on what and where you are recording in the field, correct microphone placement can mean the difference between a mediocre low volume "whoop" and a highly defined, well formed "whoop".
Of course, that’s if you are in an area where you have potential activity. Many days have come and gone with nothing being recorded. Well, nothing except dead air. Not to worry, patience sometimes pays off.
Here are some tips that I will share to help optimize your recording strategies.
Take a moment to observe the topography of the area where you intend to record. Topography is important because of the potential introduction of echo's & reverberations, not to mention the possibility (yet less likely) introduction of Doppler Effect artifacts from something that is moving at a high rate of speed.
Steep inclinations that surround your microphone setup can distort your recordings because of the echo and reverberation that may be present. "Multipath" echo can also cause a loss in audio quality because whatever it is that you are recording is moving, thus projecting the sound in various directions.
Hard surfaces such as rock faces and cliffs are far more likely to reflect sounds than surfaces that are matted with sound absorbing material such as moss, thick grass, dead & decaying leaves. However, hard surfaces can also carry sounds much further. This brings up a good point; Use the local surroundings as a reflector or concentrator if you wish to pickup weak sounds. Parabolic and shotgun mic's work very well as a directional setup but it would be sad to have a sound come from the opposite direction of your collector and of course, not be able to record it. So picture this setup; This is ultimately how you get the best of both worlds; Having a highly sensitive parabolic or shotgun mic assembly recording the sounds in from of it, but at the end is a rock face or some sort of structure that could potentially reflect the sounds made behind the dish into the collector, therefore, although it would be lower in volume you would still have a chance to record the sound, plus you have the chance to record whatever is between the rock face and your collector.
J.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
"Simply Sasquatch" radio show
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Nothing to report? That's hard to believe.....
One of the things that I question when it comes to field research is coming home with no news. No data. Nothing. This is really quite a shame because even on the most uneventful outing, hoards of information can still be collected.
Ok, great. Thanks for sharing that. By the way, what was the ambient air temperature during your trip? What was the dew point? Were there any prevailing winds? Cloudy? Clear? Ambient noise such as a construction crew that echoed down the lake? Drunken partiers at a fire pit yelling obscenities all through the night? How about the water temperature at the local lake? Were flowers and berry bushes in bloom? Unusual odors in the area?