Gear Acquisition Syndrome, an ailment all photographers and sound recordists suffer from. At least once they admit they have it, that is. It’s very common and hard to avoid. After all, we all want the best in both photography and in recording gear.
When I took up field recording (at last) a few years ago, I didn’t think this would be an expensive hobby.
I guess I was wrong. Not so much for a starter, I started with a Zoom H2, its built-in mics were great, I could hear sound in a very different way and was happy with the recordings. But I didn’t use it as much as I should have. The form factor of the H2 ( a giant microphone with a metallic grille) was far from discreet. The sensitivity to wind noise was another drawback. I could hardly ever use it outside. So the included foam cover should take care of that, right? Nope. I think I paid some 150 dollars for it in 2009, but the windshield that it really needed was nearly 70. That was hard.
Springpeepers
So, after years of using it inside and outside, I finally decided to make myself a gift and ordered the Zoom H6, a definite upgrade. The recording quality was a lot better, but again, the dead cat against wind noise was a killer. When I finally decided to get the H6, Zoom had gone from the first edition to the “All Black” edition, leaving out the M/S microphone capsule in the process. So I went looking for microphones.
Clavinet at Lower Fort Gary, Manitoba
That’s where one goes off in the deep end. Mics ranging in price from $30 / pair to tens of thousands per ONE. Where to start? As a novice in the field, this quickly became a matter of price only. It’s nice to see Sennheiser touted as “the best” or Schoepps as “must-have” mics, they are all out of range big time. This is a hobby for me, not my livelihood. I can’t justify gear of thousands of dollars only to record some birds and some water/waves with it.
Footsteps in the snow
Come in the budget-friendly mics. First I tried out “professional” or “Studio” mics from Saramonics. They were a complete bust. I had to boost everything over 5kHz by several dB in post-processing in order to get something that was not even close to the original sound. They are in the junk drawer now.
Street organ in Holland
Another attempt was to get some external omni mics. They are fairly inexpensive. Until you have to add the converter from Phantom power to Plugin power for each mic. Since I didn’t know that, the first (cheapest) converters were straight-connections. No conversion and I could have destroyed the mics within minutes. Luckily I have some electronics background (long ago) so they didn’t get burned. Once I had the correct converters, the sound was ok. But the noise was not.
Green frogs
Then I came across the (in)famous Behringer C-2s. A mere 120 bucks for the pair of them, complete with a stereo bar and mounting hardware. Hard to pass up. They sound ok if you haven’t heard anything else before.
Common Loon
Then came the time for a new recorder. Recording thunderstorms has always been one of my favourites. Except that with standard gain-staging as with the Zoom H6, this was more than I could handle. I wanted the quiet rain AND the thunder, without ruining my recording by changing the volume during the recording. On stage – Zoom F3.32bit float recording, no more fiddling with levels. But it also doesn’t have combi connectors, so every mic should be XLR, no more TRS-type mics.
Morning Birds in the Dominican Republic
Then, one morning out in nature, the Behringers started to behave weirdly. Some popping and gurgling noise crept into the recordings. At least on one side. So I swapped channels, swapped cables, and every combination possible, but all came back to one faulty mic. On the internet this seemed to be a common occurrence for these mics and the “best” solution was to buy another pair, as they were so cheap. Yeah, right. I bought another pair, only to find that both of them had the same issue as my older ones. I sent them back for a refund.
Morning Birds in Manitoba
Then I came across the Rode mics. They are double the price of the Behringers, but come with a 10-year warranty?!? I got myself a pair of Rode M5 cardioid mics. So far, I haven’t been out much as winter tends to be very quiet here in Canada, but I am looking forward to the coming spring, summer and fall.
And no, I will not limit myself to recording waves on the beach/rocks/tree roots /etc. I really hope there is more to record than just that.
In the meantime, the recordings on this post are from all over the place, recorded with different gear and different mics. Let’s enjoy the pleasure of recording outdoors!
Until next time…