Freesound Forums

would love to experiment in the ultimate in stealth recording

so what are the best wearable binaural mic's?

I'm just starting my search now - mostly interested in catchin discreet ambiences for film projects- ie streets and cafes with out people saying "oooh look - there's a microphone...."

M

ahem!!!

would like to add the word "budget" in there too!!!

check the High End Binaurals from Core-Sound, made of DPA4060 capsules. I have had them for a while now and I am very satisfied, great dynamic, great overall response, good gain, decent noise floor... very surprising for the size, price around 1000 US...

martian
ahem!!!

would like to add the word "budget" in there too!!!

If you check out my sounds many have been made with Sound Professionals SP-TFB-2 mikes.

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/searchText.php?search=sound%20professional&start=15&searchDescriptions=1&searchTags=1&searchFilenames=0&searchUsernames=0

$USD 69

Sound fantastic.

digifish

hey digifish

thanks for the recomendo - I'd stumbled on them myself on the web and was humming n arring...

I see you also got the rc09 -

I'm waiting for that to come in stock at my local this week!!!

so back to the sound professional's - do u stick em in ya ear - or use the clips to clip em onto ya glasses or something?

How they cope with wind noise?

they on sale at the mo USD$ 49!!!!!!

it's almost enought to push me over the edge hehehe!

thanks

martian

martian
hey digifish

thanks for the recomendo - I'd stumbled on them myself on the web and was humming n arring...

I see you also got the rc09 -

I'm waiting for that to come in stock at my local this week!!!

so back to the sound professional's - do u stick em in ya ear - or use the clips to clip em onto ya glasses or something?

How they cope with wind noise?

they on sale at the mo USD$ 49!!!!!!

it's almost enought to push me over the edge hehehe!

thanks

martian

They are a perfect match for the R-09 as the R-09 also supplies plug-in power for them, is small and light. Great combo. The only issue I have with the SP binaurals is they can act like antenna and pick up electrical interference from noisy sources, nearby. If for example you are in a room with a dimmer on a light switch you may pick that up from ~2 meters away. A digital camera within 50 cm may also pick up. However, it may be common to this type of mic as they are ver small and sensitive.

You put them in your ear. Takes 2-5 minutes to learn how to do...but once you know, it's straight-forawrd. There are instructions and indeed a pic on the site...

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/mas_assets/full/SP-TFB-2.jpg

The sale, are you looking at the same mic, I see $69

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-TFB-2

Wind noise: you can order separate wind-socks, but I have found that just like any mic there are no magic solutions...if it's windy you will get wooshes and pops. Quite a few of my recordings are out-doors, have a listen for wind noise (no covers used)

digifish

does anybody uses Soundman OKM binaural mics?
I read something about it - seems special as all Soundman's products.
the price is high, from 150 to 300 euro.

http://www.soundman.de/usa/usa.htm

http://www.nnyman.com/soundman/

(being a newbie I can't compare technical features between OKM and the others,
only see that frequency response is the same 20Hz - 20 kHz)

Well, I use them a lot, because they are so easy to carry.

A lot of my recordings on freesound are done with them and all I can say is, that they are brilliant.

To me they are the most sensitive ones, ideal for field recording. There is a rock version, too.

Inchadney

I like the OKM's, they sound great, but... they're a bit flimsey. You have to be really careful with them. Next to the mini-jack plug the copper wire is already showing (had to tape it up ) and one of the plastic earbuds fell apart the other day (glued it back together).

- bram

i never trust anything that has those automatic coiling device thing ..... but the mic's look interesting - maybe can bypass?

how much are they? having a look at the page now.. can't see it... mind u they gonna have to be budget

.............I just bought a r09 - wow talk abouit convenience!

I enjoyed humphries article on here btw -

I thought the bit where he said - it's catching something rather than nothing is what it's all about -

I just missed the most beautiful truck reversing sound this morning...

this afternoon I was trying to record discretely and about a thousand ppl said hey wow look a microphone -

really need the binny's!!!

thanks inchadney & Bram for info about OKM

I've found other info here:
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1749&highlight=

How is the construction of the Soundprofessionals mics? and... is the battery box needed with the R-09?

I just got an Edirol R-09 last month and am shopping around for some binaurals. So far I like the recorder so I'm looking for a good match. I've used the Soundman OKM mics before which sound great but they do seem rather fragile.

I'm thinking to make a suggestion to the Freesound crew include metadata tags on the sound files that tell what equipment was used for uploaded recordings. There is something like this on Flickr, where you can search for a specific model of camera and see what kind of photos people take with it.

I give equipment descriptions on my files anyway...

jgrzinich
How is the construction of the Soundprofessionals mics? and... is the battery box needed with the R-09?

I just got an Edirol R-09 last month...

Delicate. Just like any binaural I have seen. You just need to be gentle when you use them, I wrap mine around a credit-card when not in use and slip them in a front pocket of my R-09 case (camera case). This travels everywhere with me.

I will guarantee that the R-09 and SP mics are a perfect match, the R-09 supplying plugin power and is amazingly sensitive with the high-gain ones, and very low noise. Troll my sounds for demos of this setup.

EDIT: That I just noticed I have said about 100 times in this thread

On the other hand these mics are so cheap, who cares if you need to replace them every 3 years?

digifish.

I've got an ihp-140 I've been using to record. The mic I've got now is this http://www.minidisco.com/SoundPro-SP-BOOSTER-1 . . . it works well, but it's just so cumbersome to hold and record stuff. I'm looking at getting the ones digifish uses (Sound Professionals SP-TFB-2 mikes). If I were to get these would I need a preamp or any sort? If so, can anyone recommend me a decent preamp?

Anyone?

I have a set of Sennheiser Noise Cancelling headphones that someone modified to break out the microphone signals as an output - by far the best wearable binaural mics I've used - and it just looks like you are wearing headphones.

I don't know the model number.

I don't know whether you can modify current sennheiser noise cancelling phones or not. You can probably modify any noise cancelling phones that exist to get access to the microphones, as long as the mics are located at the ears.

-Scott

I've got an ihp-140 I've been using to record.

At highest possible gain, some HP120/140s have some noise from the hard drive motor that creeps into the recording. Some have it, some don't. Hit or miss. I think there's some manufacturing variation coming into play. I can hear it on mine, but it's EXTREMELY faint. You wouldn't hear it over anything except silence.