Recording Log - 9/26

Recordings

1. Location - Hawthorne Glen park, wauwatosa. sitting on a log, the trees/woods form a half moon dome around me on the side i am facing, to my back is smaller brush and then an empty soccer field. time 5:38 pm. September 26th.
Rode NT3 plugged into only input 1. Cloudy but with sun shining through.
44.1 / 16. stereo 1 and 2, audio recording at 100.
NT3 - only could get audio in left ear. starts with plane going by and then consistent birds chirping, you hear a little thump at 40 seconds, must have been losing my grip on the zoom. then hear train blowing horn around 1:05. birds chirping throughout, train comes back at 1:50 onward.

2. 5:45 pm. HGLEN, 9/26. more in the little patch of woods. NT4, at 100 recording level. 44.1/16. 1 and 2 input reading. very distant traffic slightly heard. plane flies by soaring noise, is pretty cool and powerful. birds heard in the distance shortly afterward. you can hear ones from the right and left, as if talking to one another. someone hocking lugee at 1:15. hear steps starting at 1:45. heavy but distant and quiet. go from left to the right, and then it ends.

3. 6pm HGLE, 9/26. same spot as recording 2. rode NT4 and MIC board from zoom. levels at 48/24. at 100 level then lowered it to 75 and 82. 4 channel.
you can hear my steps and movement around the place until 25 seconds. then quiet, with kids talking at 20 to 40. hear movement at 48 seconds, sniffle at 56 - don't like. hand on the zoom at 1:10. breathing at 1:20. loud self produced/unwanted noise at 1:35 to 1:40. I like this recording if it weren't for my own faults. sirens throughout and get louder and louder. wind heard around 2:10 or so, not too bad. 3:05 don't like because of my movement of the cords, you can hear them too loud. but afterward it's something good - kids playing. decent recording if it weren't for the movements and adjustments with the sound recording levels. kept hearing the cords.

4. 6:05 HGLEN 9/26. on board zoom mic only. same spot as 2 and 3. wave 44.1/16 bit. the kid and sirens are decent noise. I am facing now 90 degrees different, then back to where I was, then 180 degrees turn around to face the field more so, then toward 90 degrees west, where the kids were. The kid is hollering over the sirens. switched the zoom to 120 as the kid was talking which disrupted the sound - a lot.

5. 6:20 HGLEN, RODE NT4 only. 44/24 recording at 100. this is a decent recording of constant closeup noise of feet on the leaves and twigs from the left to the right. water falling from the bottle onto the ground below. focusing on the brush below my feet, close up on that. don't like the sticks braking the sound barrier (sound clips), the ones that don't are good.

6. 6:23 HGLEN same as 5, more in the woods like it was. On board zoom mic, this mic picks up more noise than the NT4. 44/24 recording, at 100 recording level. I get the a zipper going on my jacket included in this one. And do the left foot right foot movement, which you can hear pretty well. Unfortunately a problem area are the bumps along the way, the zoom appears to be not as quiet (and handy) as the Rode NT4.

7. 6:30 HGLEN. Moving through space mic and feet moving. Little breezes from the wind caught by moving the mic around. Don't like it that the NT3 only is picking up left noise, also don't like my hand movement heard at . start to hear crickets here.

8. 6:45 PM HGLEN. Using the NT4 at 44.1 /16 bit. I moved the mic in a circular way here, then left and right at the end where the wind picked up with the faster mic movement. hand movement heard at beginning =don't like. I have to keep my movement slower, and then even more slower.

9. 7- 8 pm. Washington Highland's, Wauwatosa, creek closeup, just south of southern bridge. 44.1/16 bit. NT4 only. 1 & 2 stereo. at 80 record level in 1 and 2. Except for the sound clipping once or twice, I feel this is nice recording, probably due to minimal, if any, movement. highest audio levels are at -2 db, but most are hovering around -6 or little lower.

10. 7-8 creek 12-18 inches from source. audio levels are at -6 highest, and usually between -15 and -13. same settings as number 9, with NT4 again. Another solid recording, but i can hear more of the background noise, as the movement away from the water source would suggest.

11. creek background noise. 7-8pm. NT4. records level kept the same as previous 2. This is another decent recording. I've found the better recordings are usually ones where i don't have to move, at all. kids heard far away - footsteps and little people voices. you can hear cars drive by at 39 seconds, and constant lawn mower farther away is more audible than previous two creek takes. audio levels are around -24.

12. creek closeup with the 44.1/16bit, same settings as before but in addition to the NT4, the zoom on board mic attached as well, and 4 channel switched on. The sound hear is a little louder than before, especially the on board mic, which is picking up higher readings than when using only the nt4 at stereo.

13. creek midrange. NT4 and on board zoom mic. same settings as number 12. 12 -18 inches from the creek water source. On all of these there are rocks surrounding the little stream, and theres a 5 foot wall this is a decent one as well, and am picking up some more background lawn mowing going on, cars driving by, and kids again.

14. creek background. about 7 feet from the source. same settings as 12 and 13. Rode NT4 and on board zoom mic. This is very quiet so I adjusted the noise from recording levels at 80 to recording them at 95 at 1 minute, for both the NT4 and the on board zoom mic. I've found it's best not to adjust these levels while in the process of recording, cause you're gonna get that self inflicted cracks when you touch the zoom, of course.

15. Wind recording. This one was difficult but with the screen in the bag given it worked out nicely. there was very little wind going on at HGLEN. so I went to the lake - bradford beach, about 30 ft from shore. and got some decent noise, but still muffled, one hears the muffled wind/waves/seagulls all over the place. Used Rode NT4, with the on board zoom mic at 4 channel, at 85 recording level. about 10pm at night. Okay recording, could use less roughness; it was almost all or none for the wind, need to find the good sound between.

15. backyard of folks house. It's a garden yard, with a nice patch of grass. about 8:15 pm. Crickets are heard. The settings are only with the Rode Nt4 mic, at 44.1 and 16/bit. I was moving too fast, and I could my breath sometimes along with my steps. got to work on being stealth. hand movement heard, plane throughout. crickets heard constant, footsteps-dont like. loud laughter at 35 seconds. steps - don't like. hand on the wires is making noise - this occurred frequently, how do i limit that noise. when I stop its better sound. constant crackling of the wires heard throughout the piece. after i adjusted the audio levels the sound is more clear, but i hear myself making movement louder- of course.