Stan Courtney, Author at Stan Courtney

Field Recorders – Pt 3

My main technique for recording is to leave the recording gear in the woods overnight. The amount of quality sounds I have been able to obtain with this method has far outdone what I could gather if I were only recording when I was hiking. Overnight recording does require more recording space and larger batteries.

Last time we looked at a recorder that was listed under $360. The next step up is:

Field Recorders under $450.

In the mid-priced range is the Sony PCM-D50.

The manufacturers website:

Sony PCM-D50

The user’s manual can be found at:

Users Manual

Excellent reviews can be read at:

f7 sound and vision

O’Reilly digitalmedia

Brad Linder’s blog

Forums discussing this recorder are:

The Taperssection Forums:

Thread one

Thread two

There are several videos posted on YouTube.

Sony PCM-D50 video review

Sony PCM-D50 Backs Up Heftier Price With Heftier Features

Sony PCM-D50

Recording media – 4Gb internal flash memory (accepts additional 4 GB Memory Stick)

Maximum recordable time – Using both the internal flash and external memory stick the record time in .wav at 44.1kHz 16bit CD quality mode is almost 13 hours.

Batteries – uses 4 AA batteries – Sony claims 14 hours record time

Recordings:

Sound file courtesy of f7 sound and vision

Sound clip – Woodpecker

Conclusion – I have not used this particular unit but those who have appear to think it has many advantages over others in this price range.

Pros:
– great sound quality
– long battery life
– sturdy build quality

Cons:
– no xlr microphone ports unless you purchase an expensive adaptor box
– records only in .wav and compressed .wav

By Stan Courtney|2008-10-23T00:16:00-05:00October 23rd, 2008|Recording Gear|Comments Off

Field Recorders – Pt 2

New small digital recorders are coming onto the market all of the time. It is nearly impossible to keep up with all the new advances. Other than the quality of the sound, record time and battery life are of high importance in nature recording. This new recorder is very good on both of these aspects.

Field Recorders under $300.

A great new entry into the lower price range is the Sony PCM-M10â€.

The manufacturers websites:

Sony PCM-M10

The userâ€™s manual can be found at:

Users Manual

Excellent reviews can be read at:

Brad Linderâ€™s blog: Sony introduces PCM-M10 handheld pro audio recorder

Brad Linderâ€™s blog: Sony PCM-M10 handheld audio recorder reviewed

Broadcast Engineering: In review: Sonyâ€™s PCM-M10 handheld digital recorder

Everything Audio Network: Home Recording Review! Sony PCM-M10

Sony PCM-M10:A palm-sized, professional recorder with full-sized performance.

Wingfield Audio: Sony PCM-M10 Review

Forums discussing this recorder are:

The Taperssection Forums

Sony PCM-M10 audio recorder

Sony PCM-M10 (Part 2)

There are several videos posted on YouTube:

Sony PCM-M10 â€“ Summer NAMM â€˜09

NAMM â€˜10 â€“ Sony PCM-M10 Recorder & Digital Wireless Rackmount Systems

Recording media:

4GB of internal flash memory.

An additional 16GB of memory can be added with a Memory Stick Microâ„¢ (M2â„¢) or microSDHC (FAT32) card.

Maximum recordable time â€“ In any card not all of the stated capacity is available for data. Using the 32 gb card the record time in .wav at 44.1kHz 16bit CD quality mode should be nearly 25 hr.
20 min.

Batteries

Using two Sony LR6 (SG) (size AA) alkaline batteries up to 46 hours.

Recordings:

I hope to add field recordings to this review.

Conclusion â€“ I think this is a very good recorder and gets researchers into a nice, reasonably priced unit that has great battery life and recording times. Early reviews state that itâ€™s sound quality is excellent and the unit retains the best features of its bigger siblings the Sony PCM-D1 and PCM-D50 while adding the versatility of mp3.

Pros:

– built-in microphones
– easy to use
– great sound
– great battery life
– great recording time
– reasonable price

Cons:

– no xlr ports

By Stan Courtney|2008-10-22T22:59:00-05:00October 22nd, 2008|Recording Gear|3 Comments

Field Recorders – Pt 1

Nature recording is a very difficult pursuit. Weather conditions are always a consideration. Then the ever present noise from trains-planes-automobiles always tends to happen just when something interesting is going on. And to that list add wind and water sounds. Our brains filter out those extra sounds when we are in the environment but on a recording they are very noticeable.

I am frequently asked what equipment I would recommend. I am certainly no expert but I have used a variety of recorders and can share my thoughts. So I will post a series of 4 articles, each dealing with a different priced recorder. I will not do much of a review, as that material has been thoroughly covered by others and you can follow the provided links.

Field Recorders under $160.

On the lower end of the price range is the Samson – H2 – Handy Recorder.

The manufacturers websites:

H2 Handy Recorder

Samson Zoom H2

This website also has 3 videos describing its operation.

The user’s manual can be found at:

Users Manual

Excellent reviews can be read at:

Ron’s Tech Blog

O’Reilly digitalmedia

Brad Linder’s blog

Forums discussing this recorder are:

Zoom Gear & Home Recording

The Taperssection Forums

There are several videos posted on YouTube:

Zoom H2 Digital recorder

Zoom H2 Tutorial

Quick guide to Zoom H2 MP3 recorder

Use Instructions for Zoom H2 Recorder

Recording media: SD card

I’ve been using a Transcend 16GB class 6 card (TS16GSDHC6) for some time now with my H2 and it works flawlessly.

Maximum recordable time – In any card not all of the stated capacity is available for data. Using this 16 gb card the record time in .wav at 44.1kHz 16bit CD quality mode is 23.5 hours.

Batteries

Using two Energizer L91BP-4 AA Lithium Batteries I was able to record for 14 hours 5 minutes.

Recordings:

I recorded this recently in the woods near my home in Central Illinois.

Sound Clip 1

Conclusion – I think this is a very good recorder and gets researchers into a nice, reasonably priced unit and away from the voice-only models so many purchase when they are just starting out.

Pros:
– reasonable price
– great sound
– easy to use
– built-in microphones

Cons:
– light weight plastic

By Stan Courtney|2008-10-22T20:36:00-05:00October 22nd, 2008|Recording Gear|Comments Off

Old Hag vs Infrasound vs Unknown

The 21st of September 2008 I spent the night in a remote campground in the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana. This is one of my brother’s favorite campgrounds and I had camped here with him in 2005.

I arrived at the site about an hour after dark. There was one other camper, in a motor home on the other loop. Normally it would make me a little nervous pulling in and sleeping in a strange area but I had camped here before and I remembered the surroundings. The campground is along a creek nestled in the bottom of a little valley. Recording conditions were going to be perfect. I got out of my car and looked around. There was no wind and the creek was dried up, obviously only running during the winter and spring. The air was perfectly still.

I placed my microphone outside on my car’s driver side mirror and ran the cord through the window to the recorder which I placed on the dash.

I woke up four or five times during the night and looked around but seeing nothing quickly went back to sleep. At about 4 a.m. I woke up and just felt like something was very close to my car. I started to sit up and look around but couldn’t. Even though my mind said sit-up my body did not respond.

I quickly went back to sleep.

So what was this feeling I had? Was some animal close to my car? Was I paralyzed, why couldn’t I move? Was it just a bad dream or the old hag syndrome. Was it infrasound?

To read about the old hag syndrome see:

The ‘Old Hag” Syndrome

What is sleep paralysis

Starting at about 4 a.m. the recordings do show that something was close to my car. Now I can not say whether it was a deer, perhaps a black bear or some other unknown visitor.

Click here to listen to sound clip:Â Â Â Grunt 2

Waveform View

Spectral View

Click here to listen to sound clip: Â Â Rock Hitting Glass 1

Waveform View

Spectral View

The campground was very quiet and what was outside my car was very quiet also and although you can hear rustling the only sound of sufficient volume is this one sound clip. I do not know the maker of the sound. So did I record the Old Hag or something else?

By Stan Courtney|2008-09-30T08:53:00-05:00September 30th, 2008|My Research|4 Comments

Singing Coyote

At 2 a.m. on Sunday the 31st of August, 2008 I recorded several groups of coyotes. I had placed three different recorders at different locations within a half mile of each other. My best recording was of a single male coyote. It was so close to the microphone that it almost overpowered the unit. I won’t ever record a better single coyote than this one. The first clip is the original and in the second clip I filtered out the cicadas.

Lone coyote with cicadas

Lone coyote without cicadas

These sounds may not be my desired target species but they are still wonderful sounds to hear and record. Hopefully I am increasing my recording skills and learning techniques to record other animals as well.

By Stan Courtney|2008-09-01T19:35:00-05:00September 1st, 2008|Audio Recording|Comments Off

The Weed Eater – Pt. 2

On the 12th of July 2008 I recorded a very unusual sound here in Southern Illinois. Since that time I have played this sound to hundreds of people, asking them what it sounds like. Eventually one person said it, “It sounds like someone trying to start a weed-eater”. Â That initial report can be found here “The Weed Eater”.

Later that summer I made several visits to the same general location, however not on the witnesses property. We did have to explain to the local authorities why we were sitting out in the woods in the dark at midnight.

The only unusual sound recorded was the following. You can listen to it both as original and how it sounds filtered to try and eliminate some of the katydids and crickets. This sound was coming from about 150 feet of us, deep in the woods, and not towards any highways. Once again I come up with the same conclusion, “It sounds like a weed-eater, only this time it is already started.” The following was recorded on the 25th of August 2008.

Click here to listen to sound clip:Â Weed Eater 2

Waveform View

Spectral View

By Stan Courtney|2008-08-26T11:06:50-05:00August 26th, 2008|My Research|2 Comments

Who’s that knocking at my door?

On the 15th of August, 2008 I camped in a campground in Colorado where I heard screams earlier in June of this year.

At the time of the recording the campground had a lot of pine trees, today because of bark beetle destruction all the pines have been cut down and only leave aÂ desecratedÂ campground.

I placed the microphone next to my mirror on the drivers side and ran the cord inside the car and had the recorder on the dash. I covered the little red light with a piece of paper so it hopefully couldn’t be seen. I fell asleep immediately and I had a rather restless night, which is unusual for me. I did not hear anything unusual in the night and took off for Oregon the next day.

1 – at 4 sec and 7 sec you hear me moaning in my sleep.

2 – at 23 sec you can hear the latches on my car door being tried

3 – at 25 sec you hear a mumble or grumble from outside the car. This sound appears to be very similar to some other sound clips I have heard. This is the first recording I have of this type.

And now you know why I sleep in my car instead of a tent.

Click here to listen to sound clip:Â Â Grunt 1

Waveform View

Spectral View

By Stan Courtney|2008-08-23T09:13:00-05:00August 23rd, 2008|Audio Recording|5 Comments

Colorado Screamer

The evening of Tuesday, the 22nd of July 2008 I was in Colorado where I was invited to join a fellow researcher as part of my 48 in â€™08 project.

One of the many small lakes in the area.

It was almost dark when I arrived at the site on Tuesday evening. I was concerned about driving down the rutted dirt road with my Toyota, not knowing for sure if I was at the correct location. So I drove back down the road and slept in my car at a small gravel pit. These sounds were picked up at 0330 a.m. I am not quite sure if they are coyote or not.

Click here to listen to sound clip:Â ScreamÂ 1

Waveform view and spectral view of Scream 1.

__________________________________________________________________

And then two nights later picked up these distant screams.

Click here to listen to sound clip:Â Scream 2

Waveform view and spectral view of Scream 2.

By Stan Courtney|2008-08-19T13:27:30-05:00August 19th, 2008|My Research|4 Comments

Oregon – 48 in ’08

Oregon was my fourteenth stop squatchin’ in all 48 contiguous states in 2008. I was invited to go squatchin’ with Rick Rogers. Rick is a local researcher in Eastern Oregon.

On the 16th of August, 2008 we camped in the Blue Mountains of North-eastern Oregon. Rick shares his recollections from 1967 of a possible encounter he had near Springfield, Oregon. He also talks about when he viewed the Minnesota Iceman at a carnival back in the late 1960’s.

Thanks for allowing me to tag along Rick!

To listen to a complete audio recording of this segment click here:
Oregon – 48 in ’08

Are you interested in being part of this project?

By Stan Courtney|2008-08-17T11:17:00-05:00August 17th, 2008|48 in '08|Comments Off

Wyoming – 48 in ’08

Wyoming was my thirteenth stop squatchin’ in all 48 contiguous states in 2008. I was invited to go squatchin’ with Brooke Raser. Brooke is a member of the BFRO .

On the 12th of August, 2008 several local researchers accompanied Brooke and myself to an isolated mountain range in Eastern Wyoming. Although no reports have come this specific area the habitat appears to have everything required for at least a transient population of squatches. We saw many mule deer, elk, rabbits and jackrabbits in just the short drive to the location.

We used woodknocks and vocalizations in an attempt to illicit some type of response from animals in the area. It was extremely quiet. The only sounds being heard were the distant calls of great-horned owls.

Thanks for allowing me to tag along Brooke!

To listen to an audio recording of this segment click here.
Wyoming – 48 in ’08

Are you interested in being part of this project?

By Stan Courtney|2008-08-13T11:09:00-05:00August 13th, 2008|48 in '08|Comments Off

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