How To Record Audio - The Basics

Recording wildlife is an invaluable way to contribute to our understanding of the natural world and to document observations.
This video walks you through the basic steps you need to know for making a good wildlife recording. Though one might be tempted to think “everything has been recorded,” nothing could be further from the case. Aspire to a place in history! There are many sounds, even of common species, for which well-made recordings are still needed.
Want to record but don't have the full setup? Check out our tips on how to make recordings with just a smartphone: www.allaboutbirds.org/how-to-...
The Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library has the largest collection of animal sound recordings in the world, and provides training, equipment, and technical resources.
Find out more here: macaulaylibrary.org/field-reco....
Curator - Greg Budney
Film by Chris Foito

[@ozgurcemg]

this was the best relaxing video i've ever seen on youtube.

[@TooManyCats77]

I was thinking the same thing. He's very good--articulate and calming.

[@ericscott6786]

Instablaster...

[@senibekleyenbirivar]

Özgür bunun online indirme sitesi var mı bu seslerin

[@Grigoriy1996]

Wow. This is a kind of channel I've been looking for for quite a while. As a sound designer I just need to get some grasp on ornithology.

[@anthonymetcalf660]

I’m an amateur sound designer myself for music, but now that I have recording gear I am getting really interested in doing it for more purposes. I’m curious to know how it has gone for you since your comment. Are you still doing sound design?

[@DougGrinbergs]

6:21 recording equipment Nagra 7, Telinga Pro universal parabola, Sennheiser ME62 mic.

[@paintedbunting123]

Nice job, Greg. Watched the video again to refresh my recording knowledge from your June workshop. Finally bought my parabola/recorder setup from Stith but the actual parabola is on backorder from Telinga.

[@SanjayMaharishi]

Such a lovely cool video, relaxed pace. Loved it.

[@WilHershberger]

Terrific instruction. Very nice demo in getting all the gear on correctly. Interestingly, that is how I wear my headphones in the field. Excellent video.

[@HMohr]

Yeah! Greg rules! awesome guy

[@tarjei99]

Most would start out using cheaper equipment. Perhaps an USB microphone with a smartphone. Mid level might be a Røde mic. Sennheiser is a bit higher. I think beginners might want tips on reasonably priced equipment that can get them started.

[@kbruff2010]

Thanks I love this video

[@kbruff2010]

Excellent / thank you

[@ritupabankotoky]

Wonderful

[@SajidTasveerography]

amazing

[@user-kg3lc7xe9z]

Thank you for your cooperation and sorry for the inconvenience

[@SebastianPerez-jz9tk]

Very cool

[@delaylaylay]

thank you!!!!)

[@adri.s]

Hello, I wanted to ask you for information. I saw you mount the microphone facing forward, as I saw that there are models that have the microphone facing the parabola, they record the sound reflected by the parable and not the one from the sound source. What changes and what do you think? Thank you and sorry for my English.

[@Grigoriy1996]

Not that much changes in respect of frequency response but the area from which the sound is gathered is rather narrower that even for long shotgun mics. It's a great way to record some far away sounds without getting too much of the surrounding ambiances

[@familiaranomaly1645]

Greg, I use the Cornell smartphone app religiously, love you guys, thank you. Hope all the birds I'm identifying on the app are helping you. I live on the Columbia river in WA and have an entire eco-system in my backyard. If I'm shooting video with a Canon eos 1dx mk ii do you have any recommendations on what shotgun or parabolic mike I could use with that? I like to "over" engineer things. ;) I will often go deep into the woods (normally around st helens or adams or in the Indian heaven wilderness) and just sit under a tarp and read all day while I record timelapse, waiting for wildlife to show up, but I'm preparing to make an expedition of sorts into northern canada this summer. Also, one final question: Is making bird call myself, or from the smartphone, ever disruptive to birds? Like, if one of them is an endangered species looking for a mate am I disrupting the search by making calls or songs at them?

[@kelcritcarroll]

I have the cornell lab bird app on my iphone..it was free and the fun ive had with that app is unmeasurable…..yesterday i was trying to locate a bird I heard singing..so I recorded it then played it back loud……here he came out to check out the competition….it was a scarlet tananger….ive pulled many birds out to where I could see them from this app……and once ive found them I can look them up and hear all the calls they make….basically by a man like the man on this video…..its just the best , most interesting app ive ever used and the most used app on my phone……..I give it a five ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ rating and higher if I could…..a million star star rating would be appropriate! Ps….ive used the record button which will pick up all the birds singing or making any vocal noise and it will tell u in real time what bird/ birds are singing and its amazing…….I had NO idea the birds I have just around my house….some ive never heard of…..for instance at the end of the day about forty min before dusk I hear this eastern pee wee…a little woodland flycatcher…every night , and if I play a recording of an eastern pee wee I hear him get closer and closer…this is just and example..I just cant say enough about how wonderful this app is!

[@pol2835]

Hi, very interesting video!! what do you thing are the best headphones to record a bird? I'm in a dilemma with.. Sony MDR7506 and Audio-Technica ATH-M50x or......... ??????

[@Photoeye65]

I have the Zoom Field Recorder. Where do I find info on this parabolic mic and supplier? Jeff Waldrop

[@aleks0180]

Wow! Nice tips! :)

[@johnmurphy4522]

Wondering if I wanted to record the sound of howling wind ie storms which mic would be most suitable

[@stijnvandrongelen5625]

4:43 Doesn't halving the distance quadruple the loudness? As you say earlier, it's a 6 dB increase.

[@TLMuse]

Thanks to the inverse square law (which probably holds to a good approximation here), halving the distance quadruple's the audio power or intensity at the mic (this is consistent with conservation of energy), and doubles the pressure amplitude of the sound waves reaching the mic (power, or energy per unit time, is proportional to wave amplitude squared). However, "loudness" is a technical term in psychoacoustics referring to subjective human perception, and it's related in a complicated way to audio power. Roughly, doubling the sound amplitude (increasing power by x4 = 6 dB) increases perceived loudness by about x1.5 to x1.6. Greg was probably referring to the amplitude when he referred to a factor of two, or maybe approximately to loudness. These may clarify further: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness and www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/voltageloudness.html

[@stijnvandrongelen5625]

Thank you, TLMuse, I forgot about that distinction.

[@donniumar767]

what your reference for audio recorder for good quality respon speed , i have audio recorder when recording hight speed sounds it’s not good receive from recorder ,i need good audio recorder.sorry my bad english hope u understand

[@dallasacuff9335]

I leave out my digital recorders overnight. I place them in a cheap plastic soap box and use an external mic. I have a horrible time with bugs chewing on my external mics. It completely destroys my audio ... any suggestions ? Thanks DA

[@soacker25]

Where to get exactly this parabola? I wanna buy one...

[@paintedbunting123]

www.stithrecording.com

[@leemilica]

Are those Sennheiser HD25s?

[@yustinayasin5539]

Does anyone knows the tools name?

[@sweetnature9331]

Which mic are you using ?

[@danielaargandonalowe9764]

For people in Southamerican countries, we are poorer and equipments are much more expensive to import, which kind of small equipment can we use to upload to Xeno-Canto?

[@NPatel-ov2es]

Good

[@balkce]

Why -12 dB? Is there a theoretical reason or was this decided empirically?

[@jamesburton1050]

I think -12 is a fairly standard starting point.

[@Grigoriy1996]

-20 dB would be more common as -20 is where it is zero for analog dBu scale which was used frequently for anolog recordings. But as birds sounds usually don't have very big dynamic range you can easily start at -12 dB of digital scale

[@francklhermet8352]

Nagra Seven ;)

[@UmbrellaforensicIPTVsetopbox]

Umbrella radio 📻 human voice broadcast

[@UmbrellaforensicIPTVsetopbox]

Frequency 0.33

[@shanemaritch]

So instead of being a shotgun mic its a sniper mic.

[@aghaggett]

we

[@sarahwaters4448]

can everyone hear afford a parabolic? (plus the shotgun audiovtecnica at8-?? $17O! and field recorder. . zoom h4n pro! . fanny pack and $20 sennheiser "22O" heaphones-plus beef/soy jerky and fruit maybe and a quart ish of water and toilet paper! . . where? can i get a parabola to reach thirty feet for $250? and where? B&H?

[@paintedbunting123]

to get this quality of equipment (parabola, digital recorder, microphone, case), you're talking about ~$2,500. But once you use it, you'll be blown away.

[@HarpreetSingh-iz8em]

U r George Lucas

[@adamaj74]

Basics? I came here expecting to learn some tips on how to capture decent recordings on my iPhone. This dude's decked out with pro gear, lol.

[@JUMBOpin]

This is pretty basic.

[@KandiKlover]

Yeah you not going to get anything remotely decent using an iPhone.