On the trail

Here in Liverpool, we have old train tracks. The tracks were pulled long ago and the trail is open to the public for walking, hiking etc. At least there is no traffic allowed.

European Starling

A few weeks ago, I acquired a Zoom F3, while a lot longer ago I got some Lavalier mics I wanted to try out.

As it turned out, the lav mics didn’t really fit the Zoom H6 I also use, so they went back into their packaging in the drawer. When I got the Zoom F3, I decided to get a set of adapters for them, as they are 3.5mm with plugin power, while the F3 is XLR-only. I am still hoping to get the courage to leave the F3 out in the open for a night of recording.

I promptly got the wrong adapters, without power conversion. No wonder they were so cheap. I then got the correct ones and decided to go on the trail to listen to some birds.

The mics I used for this are very cheap: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0BGHZF5ZJ/ . Yet they work reasonably well. The low rumble is certainly coming from the mics as I also tried them elsewhere. I guess another trip to the mic store is in order...

I clipped the mics to some branches, just on the side of the trail. They were about 6 feet apart, with me in the middle holding the F3. Light travel was required for this little trip. The mics only had their little foam windshields, nothing furry or anything more effective was available.

And here are the birds:

I had to hi-pass the sound at about 200Hz as there was a lot of audible traffic in the background. A busy highway is about 2km away and is (with mics) very loud. The human ear filters that out and enjoys the quietness instead… Sometimes I wonder what else our brains filter out…

Anyway, enjoy the birds!

Until next time…