Hello,
I am shooting wildlife with a HV20, but mainly the not talking things like butterflies. I need good background sounds for the footage. I was trying this with the Zoom H2 (seperate from the camcorder) but if you want to hear something from the surrounding (singing birds or crisping crickets, grasshoppers etc) you need to turn om maximum recording volume and maximum gain, which adds a lot of noise to the recording. Can't use it. So I am searching for an alternative. I was thinking of buying a sort of shotgun, which can be aimed to the loudest sound source in the field, and the gain can then be on medium maybe, which gives a clearer sound. Any other suggestion?
Thanks,
Rob

Read:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/all-things-audio/209527-best-way-record-sounds-nature.html

All been thrashed to death, ad nauseum.


CS

You will find the website of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society (http://www.wildlife-sound.org/) helpful.

Rob, there are times when it is very difficult to record high quality clear sound without interference from wind, nearby roads, etc. or simply when you haven't got the time available or can't reach a good location for on-site recording before the deadline.

On these occasions you can use pre-recorded background sounds of nature. Quite a lot of reputable companies sell high quality Royaly Free 'sounds of nature' CDs or DVDs. As long as the sounds of birds etc match the local fauna in your area it will work perfectly. Simply rip the tracks from the CD disc directly into your editing software panel and then drop clips into the extra audio timeline. Adjust sound levels to how you like them and place anywhere to match any size of video clip.

Ok, thanks for any of the recommendations. I have studies it all, but still cannot come to a decision. I would like to use the recorder(s) for:

1 voice recording in the field. I want to use 2 recorders not to have an expensive wireless set up (on camera) to be able to record a conversation while filming and observing nature. I do not even really need the wireless set up, because many times I do not want to be filming when recording voices.
2 wildlife sound recording

In case 1 I use external lav mics, which add noise when gain on mid (when noise has OK level) and vol on 100. This produces a sound just not enough load. Setting to high gain or increasing mic volume increases noise considerably. So for voice recording the Zoom H2 is not the best, but wildlife sound recording with an external mic will presumably give worse results. The lavs I use are Hama LM-09. I wonder if the basic sound of other (more expensive) mics would be louder.

So I seek a recorder for voice recording, that could also be used for wildlife sound. I have studied the recorders on Wildlife Sound Recording Society, but those reviews do not tell what happens with the recorded volume when using external mics.
Maybe my main concern is about the use of external mics in general with such recorders. I just did a test. If I keep internal mics and external mic at the same distance of sound source the meters show ONLY half levels with external mic compared to internal mics. I sthis an issue related to Zoom H2. Would this be different in other recorders or is it because of the HAMA's. Can somebody do as simple a test with the zoom H2 and abetter quality mic. And see if that gives comparable sound levels?

Many thanks,
Rob