Recording Parrot Whistles?

A

afqueen

New member
I am a breeder of African Parrots, and do lectures around the country. I am trying to make a CD of their whistles. They have loud melodeous whistles.

I have a omnidirectional dynamic mic, 100 feet of cable (from computer, to outside, to aviary), a down step plug into my PC, and I am using CoolPro. There mic is hanging from the ceiling in the center of the 20x40 aviary with approx 40 parrots singing in a wave fashion from one end to the other.

I do not have a clue of what I am doing. Once in the computr to get any volume, I have to either record on high, or add volume in CoolPro. This causes a horrid hiss, or humm. Outside noises are not a problem.

I set this up on the advice of the "big" music store. Can someone put me on a better track.
Thanks,
Jean
 
Make sure the parrots are using proper mic technique when they whistle. :)

Are you running the mic directly into the soundcard with just an adapter, and what type of soundcard are you using to plug the mic into? If it's just a cheapo usual soundcard that comes standard on most PCs, then that could be your problem. Getting a better card could cut down on the input noise, and going into some type of mic preamp before the soundcard might help to boost the signal without increasing the noise so much. Also, it seems to me that the area is rather large to try covering with a single dynamic mic. That 100' of cable also definitely needs to be balanced because of the length. Somebody else help me out here: Even on an XLR mic cable, if she is connecting an adapter to convert it into an instrument plug on one end, then that adapter needs to be TRS (balanced) too in order for the cable run to be balanced. Is that right?

Just my thoughts on this though, and probably not completely correct.
 
:) yep, they have had mic/whistle lessons.

Yes I am running the mic directly into the sound card, with the step down adapter. The cable plug (into the adapter) is also an add on, the big lock on type-3 prong

Sound card is the one that came in the PC, so what sound card would be best, but also not the most expensive? $100.00-$150.00?

I am totaly lost on how to balance a cable, or what that even means. Sorry, and thanks a bunch for helping me.
 
Yo BIRDLADY:]

I have an African Senegal parrot and for whatever reason, he loves to make noise when I'm recording in my studio. Of course, his whistles go right through the walls and into my mic an onto the tape. So, I usually give him a shot of CC before I record; then, he just burps once in a while.

You should not have much trouble recording your flock if you have things working correctly. The intensity of parrot squawks should reach a good connected mic from afar. Maybe a store techi can correct whatever it is you are not doing correctly.

Love those parrots.

Green Hornet

[This message has been edited by The Green Hornet (edited 03-13-2000).]
 
You can't just 'adapt' a balanced line to an unbalanced line and not get some of the interefence. A lot of adapters just short the common and the 'cold' line together, which gives you signal, but non of the benefits of the balanced line concept.

To balance a line properly, the cold line needs to phase shifted 180 degress to the hot line, thereby cancelling out the common noise on the line (giving you a nice clear signal).

The easiest way to do this is to get a reasonable preamp (it wouldn't have to be an expensive one) which has balanced inputs (XLR or 1/4") and unbalanced outputs (almost definitely 1/4"). Then run a short lead from the preamp to your soundcard. Should improve the quality nicely. Also, be a bit wary of the 'mic in' socket on your sound card - they are generally pretty average. Use the preamp into the 'line in' instead.

- gaffa
 
You should probably get a pre amp for best results...you can cheat a bit if you have a tape recorder by running the microphone into it, and then from the recorder to the computer, into the Line In on your sound card. (NOT the place marked Microphone). And you can also control volume by right clicking on your little speaker icon on your computer screen, then options, and then find your recording levels (not playback) and adjust them. I hope this makes sense, I'm not very descrptive about this stuff...good luck...and have fun with the cracker fiends....gibs
 
Wow, this takes the cake for the most unusual audio project so far - and I thought Hongtech was pushing it trying to record his 6-month-old daughter on toy piano...

I'm no expert on soundcards, but my understanding is this: computer soundcards are crap, and you can get a decent Soundblaster card for less than $150. Okay, Soundblaster users, what's the cheapest good one? Calling Slackmaster, come in Slack.
 
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