Good microphone for nature and street sounds

E2009

New member
Hello,
Using a digital recorder (which I am planning to buy) I want to record street sounds (people walking and talking, cars driving,...) , and nature sounds (birds, crickets, sea waves,...) in good quality. I have the Rode M3 mic/condenser. Is it good enough for that or I need something else ?
 
The best way to go is a portable recorder...I have a Zoom H2...you will really want a good windscreen...the one provided is OK...but there is much better.
 
As Darrin says, the Zoom H2 is a great little recorder.

If however you want a microphone, the best is a Sennheiser ME80, it will come with a K3U power supply (body).

They are very quite, very natural, and can run on phantom or via a internal battery. I have 2 of these and have used them for ambience recording and spoken word. You see a lot of TV stations use them when doing outside interviews.

They are no longer made but they come up on eeeebay for under $150 often. The new price was about $700 to $800.

If you can get one with the ME40 (Cardioid) and ME20 (Omni) interchangeable heads (you will pay a bit more for this) as well you will have a very useful set up.

I found this article with the image below of what it looks like with all 3 heads:

Cheers

Alan
 

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I appreciate your replies. DeadCats wind protector is a good advise. Also a shock absorber might be useful.
Regarding the portable recorders like: the H2, H4N, Microtrack II, do the internal mics make the work well, or is it necessary to a buy an external mic ? what about the Rode M3 mic I asked about?

to darrin_h2000:
About the ZOOM H2, is it a better value (sound of recording, internal mic quality, recording noise, gain of external mic) than the micro track II?
 
Zoom H4 would probably be the better option. H4n actually. You want access to external mics, even if you don't use them. Dead cats and shockmounts just work better when they're not part of the recorder. Lower wind profile, better weight distribution, and other perks.

My Avenson STO-2's do well for ambience. But they have a high noise floor. Good for traffic and useless banter, not so much for crickets. Pretty immune to handling noise too, so no shock mounts. Given the winds in these parts, that's a good thing.

You definitely want a stereo image. Mono ambience is so uninspiring. No depth, no space, just blah. The Telinga option is supposedly good for birds and the likes. A parabolic dish to aid in that regard. Not a flat enough response for music ensembles IMO. But it does give a stereo image.

For most things the H4 is good enough. You can even cut a significant amount of wind noise by covering the thing with a pantyhose. Or so I've heard.
 
I appreciate your replies. DeadCats wind protector is a good advise. Also a shock absorber might be useful.
Regarding the portable recorders like: the H2, H4N, Microtrack II, do the internal mics make the work well, or is it necessary to a buy an external mic ? what about the Rode M3 mic I asked about?

to darrin_h2000:
About the ZOOM H2, is it a better value (sound of recording, internal mic quality, recording noise, gain of external mic) than the micro track II?

Well first off I wouldnt buy a dead cat...they cost like $2 to make....and if you use a schedule 40 PVC 1 1/2" to 3/4" bushing...you can make that H2 work with most shockmounts...using the handle that comes with it.

I think the microtrack is a pretty good piece itself.
 
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