Soon I will have to make some decisions. As well as fine suitable locations where to carry out my plans. When I was recording these Spring Peepers, they were close to an intersection with traffic coming and going all ways. It was not very busy, but this was a spot where I could find Spring Peepers.
Spring Peepers are tiny tree frogs, making a very specific sound in spring.
But that was not all. When I arrived they were happily peeping, despite traffic going by from time to time. The fact that the temperatures were only +2°C, they were kind of quiet. I have recorded them last year at this location and promptly overloaded my Zoom H6. The dynamic range from these creatures is enormous and I had left it on the quieter side.
This time, The Zoom H3 didn’t suffer from the same problem. However, when I set up the mics and the recorder, the frogs changed their tune. At first, all was quiet, then one of them started “singing” a tune I hadn’t heard before. The rest stayed quiet. I recorded that, it’s the first part in the clip below. This time I was using my Rode M5 cardioid mics, way more capable of recording the subjects while “ignoring” the traffic. Up to a point.
Then I came back and reduced the height of the setup to about 30cm (1ft) and walked away again. Then the lonely singer was gradually joined by more of the frogs.
So the decisions I have to make are the following: will I be brave enough to leave my gear in a spot all by itself so that nature can sing its heart out without me disturbing it?
Or will I be too chicken and stay close to the gear and make sure it remains in my possession?
Another question is to find suitable spots where I can leave out my gear without the risk of someone picking it up. I will certainly not be recording here on this intersection without supervising the gear. If I did, I might as well throw it in the water.
So what shall it be? Remain close to the gear or leave it unattended for some period?
Until next time…