Wildlife sound recording questions

[Steve House]

Gosh Annie that's a wonder I thought the main aim was to present the real sounds of the wildlife, not Foley .. seems to miss the point somehow.

Video and film, and audio, like photography, can never capture reality. Remember the ads "Is it real or is it Memorex?" Well, the recording is ALWAYS an abstraction, an interpretation, of the reality. You can never present the 'real sounds' of anything except the sounds of an amplifer for electrical signals whose frequency is in the audio range and a transducer that converts the electrical signals from that amplifier into sound waves. The sound you hear when listening is always a representation of the sounds that were present when the recording was made. So the idea is to create in the viewer/listener a simulation of the orignal sound, a perception of what the reality was when the recording was made. To do that most effectively may require some tools that go beyond the unaltered presentation of whatever the recording process captured. If we're looking at a film of a cricket on a twig and hear a cricket chirping, it doesn't matter if the chirp is THAT cricket recorded at THAT moment; what matters is we hear what we COULD have heard, had we sufficiently acute hearing, if we had been there with our head positioned where the lens has taken us.

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Steve House

I just had a bizarre vision of trying to rig a wireless lav on that snarling tiger :)

Use a Countryman B6 under the base of the jaw and hide the wire in the fur with blonde colored hair pins.

When rigging speak in a soft, low voice and don't look 'em in the eye. They take that as a challenge.

[Paul R Johnson]

If anyone has an old big satellite dish, it's well worth having a fiddle with it - if you position a perfectly normal lav mic - an omni works fine - at the focal point, you can experiment with dish technques for free. Even a 1.2m dish works surprising well, as long as you filter off the bass end. You can hear spoken conversation at surprisingly great distances. From my own attempts, I'd suggest that simulation is very often better, as explained above - real sounds often sound less real than they should?

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Originally Posted by Annie Haycock

I, too, have been on one of Chris's courses as a complete beginner, and certainly learned a lot of useful stuff. He does trips to India with Wildeye which may be of use to you. Sound Recording in India with Chris Watson

Some advice I heard when I started doing video (all my stuff is wildlife) was to listen to the camera soundtrack, then replace it. So, although you can't retake the sound track, you can try to reproduce some sounds later on, as Foley sounds, so that you get cleaner versions of the sound. I've just invested in a shotgun mic, and I'm hearing all sorts of sounds that I didn't hear before, and it's far more portable than the parabolic reflector that is now sitting on top of a cupboard out of the way!
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Annie,
Thanks for the link. I know that place very well. I have been visiting Corbett National Park for a number of years and have led still photography tours to those places. I have had some phenomenal experiences there. You may check this one: Tigers in the Dark

I would have loved to join the trip, however my shooting/filming requirements are different and I prefer an exclusive vehicle. That way I not only have control over the disturbance/caused by other shooting partners, but also don't need to bear with the lower level of patience of others. There have been instances when I have waited for more than 3-4 hours for the tiger to show up and have got the desired sightings. The initial part ( one or two day program) would have been ideal for me.

I would be visiting the same Corbett National park, hoping to record some great sounds. Visualising what all I need in terms of equipment.

Which Parabolic microphone you have? Telinga?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Annie Haycock]

Sabyasachi

I meant the trip might be of use to you for an opportunity to learn from someone like Chris Watson. And I do know that combining such a trip with getting specific recordings (or photos or video) rarely works. You need to stay on afterwards to put what you learn into practice.

I would love to visit Corbett myself, but that might have to wait a few years.

I bought the parabolic reflector while I was on the Wildleye course because it was reasonably cheap, and I had a car with me so I could get it home easily. I have only an old cheap microphone to use with it at present, but wanted something to experiment with before deciding whether to get something more professional. I hope to try out both the parabolic set-up and the Rode NTG-3 on birds on the nearby estuary this winter - the biggest problem is the sound of jets going overhead to and from America.