Field report—Tivoli Bays wetlands... take III
I decided to make a third attempt to capture the ambience of the Tivoli Bays wetlands. On my past attempts to record this habitat, locating the microphones out in the open allowed noise from cars, trucks and trains to reach them over a long distance, so I positioned them a little way back from the riverbank in the surrounding forest in the hope that the trees and foliage would help isolate them. It worked somewhat, particularly in the higher frequency range, but there is still a low rumble from the nearby train line.
For this drop rig I used a Zoom F3 recorder coupled with a stereo pair of DPA 4060 microphones. I wanted to try this setup to see if the low-end noise I had captured in my previous sessions was coming from the microphones (it wasn’t). Also, it was raining when I went out and the DPAs have better resistance to moisture than the EM272 electret capsules used in the Clippys which struggled in a high-humidity environment. I attached the mics to small branches underneath a fallen tree to provide them with some shelter—they did get quite wet (there was a heavy downpour not long after I left the site), but continued to capture audio without a hitch.
I was able to set up this rig much more quickly as I can operate the Zoom recorder through the F3 Control iOS app. This meant I could prepare my kit beforehand and all I needed to do on site was to choose a position for the mics—once they were in place, I could adjust levels and hit record on my phone, without needing to remove the recorder from the dry bag. This is a big plus when working in the rain or in situations when pressed for time. The downside is that it doesn’t allow for monitoring of the signal coming in, as the F3 doesn’t transmit audio to the app through bluetooth. This could be worked around using a small wireless transmitter attached to the line out of the recorder, but will need some experimenting with to find a setup that works reliably.
So still no luck capturing the Tivoli Bays wetlands. I was interested in this location as it is a freshwater intertidal marsh, globally recognised as a rare habitat, but I think I’ll move on for now and try again when I have some more experience with recording in difficult environments.
Report notes
- Date:
- 2024-08-27
- Time:
- 19:30-07:30
- Location:
- Tivoli Bays wetlands, Tivoli, NY
- Recorder/settings:
- Zoom F3
- Sample rate/bit depth:
- 96/32
- Microphones:
- DPA 4060s, spaced omni setup
- Comments:
- Low frequency rumble from nearby train line still present—not a result of Clippy mics or Sony M10. DPAs continued to capture audio in heavy downpour where the Clippys struggled with high humidity. Less interesting soundscape at this location than at the edge of the river, maybe less wildlife activity due to rain.