Beautifully done from a scientific perspective! Also, sounds like your backpack rig is working great!!

The European fire-bellied toad is, in fact, a frog. (No fire, either.) However, this is more than compensated by its satisfyingly fun-to-say Latin name: Bombina bombina. They also produce antimicrobial peptides in their skin secretions – the even more fun-to-say ‘bombinins’. 

Native to eastern mainland Europe – recorded here in the protected land of Poland’s Barycz Valley Landscape Park – they use their internal vocal sacs to produce their “whoop” call: the mournful, slow-motion honk immortalized here. Imagine the sound that clowns might make when they cry and you won’t be far off.

Bombina bombina mysterious call

Rooftop Morning Seagulls And Crows, Istanbul, Turkey

Street Vendor On Megaphone, Da Nang, Vietnam

Northwestern University Library - Vent

Rotary Gas Meter

Recorded on the land of the Peramangk people.
Deep, slow, careful listening required.
Read the Playlist description for more information: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/sets/2023-iron-curtain-autumn-and-summer

2023.03.16 Iron Curtain. Early Autumn.

An hour before sunrise in a secluded valley mire in Dartmoor National Park. Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) are performing their "winnowing" courtship display, flying up and diving downwards so their tail feathers vibrate with a distinctive thrumming sound. Tawny Owls and Cuckoo call across the valley.

Recorded on 1st May 2023 with 2 x AT4022 microphones in an Olson stereo array (www.trackseventeen.com/mic_rigs.html) and a Sound Devices 722 recorder.

May Day Snipe

This is a very high-gain recording, the forests are so quiet in this part of Sweden, I like the idea of really opening up the gain.  MixPre3 the gain set to 74db, with a pair of Lewitt 440's.  Recording 4000.

Stream (1) -  12 May 23 - 11am - Dalsvallen

At the crossroads of day and night, diurnal birds meet nocturnal animals for a precious hour. Thus the black-crowned night herons, doves, ducks meet the roar of the deer, the fleeting bats and the tawny owl, in a unique and precious soundscape in the heart of the forest of Orléans, the biggest forest in France

Crépuscule Automnal À L'étang Du Ravoir (Automn Nightfall At Ravoir's Pound)

Recording I made while waiting in a parking lot to get out until the rain shower was over.

Rain on the roof of a car - interior

PodCast

Rain on the roof of a car - interior (September 21st, 2023)

I wanted to test whether the Primo EM258s (same capsules used for the Lom mikroUsi) have low enough self-noise for recording in a quiet, natural environment. I recorded the following clips in the middle of winter in a relatively quiet local wood. I set the gain so that when played back at maximum volume on a computer or phone, the clips should be approximately the same volume as the sound was in reality. That meant setting the gain lower for the EM172s, which are a bit more sensitive than the EM258s.

The first section presents first the EM258s and then the EM172s without any gain added. This was a very quiet environment, so even at this very low playback volume, the noise of the EM258s (clip 1) is pretty noticeable, whereas the the EM172s sound pristine.

The next section presents the same two clips again with 12dB of gain added, which is probably a bit of a more 'typical' playback volume. The EM258s are very noisy now, with the EM172s still sounding great. There is a small amount of noise, but really very little.

The third section presents the same two clips again still with the 12dB of gain, but also with some noise reduction (Izotope RX8 spectral de-noise). Despite the noise reduction, the EM258 self-noise is still pretty noticeable. There has also been quite a loss of high frequency content meaning the birds are harder to hear now. The EM172s however fare much better. The self-noise is completely inaudible, and the high frequencies although attenuated, are still sufficiently present. In fact, you could say it makes them a bit more flat and natural sounding, in line with higher-end mics like the Audio Technica AT4022s, or Sennheiser MKH 8020s. 

Probably a bit of an obvious outcome based on the specs of the microphones, but it has confirmed for me that I should always have my EM172s with me for recording in quieter environments. They are more sensitive and have lower self-noise than the EM258s. In addition, they naturally have a boost in the high frequencies compared to other microphones, meaning you can apply significant noise reduction but without drastic loss of high frequency content. 

Apologies for my swallow, and the odd little crackling sounds throughout. I was wearing the microphones on the straps of my backpack and picking up some human self-noise!

EM258 And EM172 Self - Noise Test In A Forest

Stereo soundscape recordings. Sometime nature, sometimes people, sometimes machinery. Sometimes quiet things like a single branch creaking in the wind on Dartmoor, sometimes odd moments in the city. Mostly local, but sometimes travelling. 

EM258 And EM172 Self - Noise Test In A Forest

Douglas Langley

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Jared Blake

Douglas Langley

Douglas Langley

Douglas Langley

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