Freesound Forums

Hello friends, next spring (March through May, south Spain) I'll be recording sounds for a research project and I would greatly appreciate advice from all of you. What I to record are the buzzings of bees and other insects foraging on flowers. Usually you can get quite close to foraging insects (1-2 m) and from a few tests done with the gear I have now I'm sure it can be done. I do not intend to record ultrasonic frequencies (20-20000Hz is ok) but some extra stuff would help and I don't have a lot of money to spend.

Microphone: my choice is a relatively inexpensive condenser shotgun (Rode NTG2, can be battery or phantom powered) enclosed in a windshield. Focusing in a single insect is allimportant, so the hypercardiod pattern may help (?).

Recorder: I am lost here, the only thing I know for sure is that I cannot expend thousands and that, for convenience, should be a single box without external power or preamp.

Hope you can give me some advice! Thanks !

Hi,

geeezzz... the crew of pollination biologists is becoming sort of a 'crowd' here ha ha. Just kidding.
But it's funny because I happen to live in S Spain and during the last years I recorded many bees and other insects at flowers (check this pack http://www.freesound.org/packsViewSingle.php?id=2237 ) while trying to develop a system of automated censuses of pollinators arriving at the flowers (which proved impossible as the buzz of, say, a honeybee cannot be distinguished with ease from that of any medium-sized wild bee species. A number of other methodological problems plagued my design as well).

Anyway, soundwise I guess you are ok with the NTG2 but I'm afraid the shotgun polar pattern won't help much to focus in a single insect (been there, done that). For a real 'single-point recording' approach a parabola would be better (but on the other hand, parabolas are not particularly good at recording low frecuencies). Even better, you could record caged insects... Just a suggestion!

As for the recorder, anything from the Olympus LS5 to Zoom H2 will suit, the recorder won't be a problem. Send me a personal message if you wish, I'll gladly help if I can

D

Josphy
Hello friends, next spring (March through May, south Spain) I'll be recording sounds for a research project and I would greatly appreciate advice from all of you. What I to record are the buzzings of bees and other insects foraging on flowers. Usually you can get quite close to foraging insects (1-2 m) and from a few tests done with the gear I have now I'm sure it can be done. I do not intend to record ultrasonic frequencies (20-20000Hz is ok) but some extra stuff would help and I don't have a lot of money to spend.

Microphone: my choice is a relatively inexpensive condenser shotgun (Rode NTG2, can be battery or phantom powered) enclosed in a windshield. Focusing in a single insect is allimportant, so the hypercardiod pattern may help (?).

Recorder: I am lost here, the only thing I know for sure is that I cannot expend thousands and that, for convenience, should be a single box without external power or preamp.

Hope you can give me some advice! Thanks !

Oh yes, thank you for the advice !

(I had to reply myself...)