New Audio recorders

[Rusty2]

There's some new audio recorders in town and they're around $750 each .
https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/produ ... ageJan2015

[David]

On my wish list.. looks great!

[Rusty2]

Versatile recorder Dave and no more screwing around with phone chargers .

[Pertys80]

There's some new audio recorders in town and they're around $750 each .
https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/produ ... ageJan2015

G'day Rusty, I'm contemplating purchasing one of these in the coming weeks, I think this would suit the limited time of boots on the ground work I have.
Do you have any idea what the most efficient analyzing software is currently available?

[Rusty2]

Hey Pertys80 , Izotope rx7 is the best one I've used and would recommend it to anyone . It is computer intensive so make sure you check the specs before buying .
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rep ... rd_iZotope
Below is an overview of what it can do . It is meant for music but it's a repair tool which means it has tools that willl come in handy like noise reduction . Ultimately it's the spectrogram view that will help you the most .

[Slats]

Hey Pertsy
If you're on a budget I use Wavepad Sound editor. It's available as a free download and was recommended to me by Yowiedan and it's used by a few other guys aswell.
It covers the basics including the spectogram. You can amplify and remove noise etc. It to is very computer intensive for bigger files i.e. 24hr long audio files but if you split them into 6hr files it should be better (I'm yet to try it).
Izotope does look like a better program with a better spectogram it depends on how much you want to be able to do.
Cheers

[Pertys80]

Hey Pertys80 , Izotope rx7 is the best one I've used and would recommend it to anyone . It is computer intensive so make sure you check the specs before buying .
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rep ... rd_iZotope
Below is an overview of what it can do . It is meant for music but it's a repair tool which means it has tools that willl come in handy like noise reduction . Ultimately it's the spectrogram view that will help you the most .

Thanks for the info Rusty, that is some awesome software there but probably overkill for what I would need, ill definitely shop around though..

Hey Pertsy
If you're on a budget I use Wavepad Sound editor. It's available as a free download and was recommended to me by Yowiedan and it's used by a few other guys aswell.
It covers the basics including the spectogram. You can amplify and remove noise etc. It to is very computer intensive for bigger files i.e. 24hr long audio files but if you split them into 6hr files it should be better (I'm yet to try it).
Izotope does look like a better program with a better spectogram it depends on how much you want to be able to do.
Cheers

Thanks Nick, I've heard of Wavepad before, ill check that out as well..
I'm sure after some trial and era i'll find what best suits me..
I'm definitely set on getting an SM4 after one of my last trips out I caught a sound on my camcorder, very strange to say the least.. check it out.

[Dion]

I'm definitely set on getting an SM4 after one of my last trips out I caught a sound on my camcorder, very strange to say the least.. check it out.

Hey Pertys80

Its the 6:25 mark in the video, does almost sound like a speech of AHHrooooo, strange noise indeed, at first listen I thought it sounded like a pigeon, but after multiple listens it sounds deeper than that and it wasn't to far away from you either.

Best put in the interesting basket for future reference.

Cheers.

[Rusty2]

Hey Pertys80 , if you'd like I could enhance the sound for you . If so , send the 1 or 2 seconds of video to me .
rusty@farsouthcoasthominoidevidence.org

[Pertys80]

I'm definitely set on getting an SM4 after one of my last trips out I caught a sound on my camcorder, very strange to say the least.. check it out.

Hey Pertys80

Its the 6:25 mark in the video, does almost sound like a speech of AHHrooooo, strange noise indeed, at first listen I thought it sounded like a pigeon, but after multiple listens it sounds deeper than that and it wasn't to far away from you either.

Best put in the interesting basket for future reference.

Cheers.

I'm lucky I just happened to be recording, not to mention pointed in the right direction at the time.
It's pretty hard to judge accurately, but it sounded around a few hundred metres away and clearly from something of substantial size.. I now have the sound recording bug, lol.. Thanks for the location btw mate

Hey Pertys80 , if you'd like I could enhance the sound for you . If so , send the 1 or 2 seconds of video to me .
rusty@farsouthcoasthominoidevidence.org

I'd really appreciate that Rusty, ill send it through now.. Cheers

[Dion]

Hey Pertys80 , if you'd like I could enhance the sound for you . If so , send the 1 or 2 seconds of video to me .

I'd really appreciate that Rusty, ill send it through now.. Cheers

Thoughts Rusty after hearing it?

I now have the sound recording bug, lol.. Thanks for the location btw mate

No problem Pertys80 glad you got something out of it.

[Rusty2]

Hey Dion , it's definately an odd recording .
It's at about 300Hz which is an area that is usually occupied by trucks , droning planes and helicopters so it's an unusual place to be .

The enhanced recording sounds louder and clearer and sounds like aaooogah . ???????????????
I'm sure Pertys80 will share it somewhere online .

[Dion]

Hey Dion , it's definately an odd recording .
It's at about 300Hz which is an area that is usually occupied by trucks , droning planes and helicopters so it's an unusual place to be .

The enhanced recording sounds louder and clearer and sounds like aaooogah . ???????????????
I'm sure Pertys80 will share it somewhere online .

Good to know you got something out of the recording, I'll take your word for that its in an unusual place to be, as I havnt played around with audio software for quite some time, I look forward to hearing it.

Cheers.

[Pertys80]

No better place to share it than here, see if this works.
I will be definitely going back at some stage for a better look around, and maybe try out that SM4..

Enhanced.mp4

[Dion]

No better place to share it than here, see if this works.
I will be definitely going back at some stage for a better look around, and maybe try out that SM4..Enhanced.mp4

Cheers for that Pertys80

Rusty did a good job cleaning it up, nice and clear now, I cant put my finger on it as to what it might have been, certainly strange?

Good luck with the SM4.

[Pertys80]

Well I never ended up getting the SM4 unfortunately, still on the wish list.
On the plus side I did figure out how to get my Tascam DR05 working properly, so I've started to have some fun with that.
Hey Rusty, Is there much of a difference between 16bit Wav files and the highest quality MP3 available? There is a considerable difference with the file size..
Here is my latest video what I captured last weekend..

[Rusty2]

Hey Rusty, Is there much of a difference between 16bit Wav files and the highest quality MP3 available? There is a considerable difference with the file size..

Hi Andrew !
The highest quality recordings from a songmeter are 16bit 96000 Hz , 3072 kbps .
My old mp3 recordings are 16bit 44100 Hz , 256 kbps .

If you want to put it in photographic terms the songmeters have much better resolution .

Hope this helps .

[Pertys80]

Hey Rusty, Is there much of a difference between 16bit Wav files and the highest quality MP3 available? There is a considerable difference with the file size..

Hi Andrew !
The highest quality recordings from a songmeter are 16bit 96000 Hz , 3072 kbps .
My old mp3 recordings are 16bit 44100 Hz , 256 kbps .

If you want to put it in photographic terms the songmeters have much better resolution .

Hope this helps .

Thanks for the comparison Rusty, although it was in regards to my Tascam. I have the option of recording Wav 16 or 24bit at a sample rate of 44.1k up to 96k in Stereo or Mono, or I can record with the highest MP3 setting of 320K at 48k.
Obviously a huge difference with the file size, and with a 32GB memory card I don't have a great deal of recording time with the Wav setting.
My last settings were Wav 16 bit at 44.1K in mono, 32GB would give me 103 hrs of continuous recording..
My highest quality MP3 setting in stereo, ill get just over 232 hrs of recording. Not sure how long my battery pack will last, I'm guessing 5 or 6 days.
Generally speaking, will there be much noticeable difference with the sound quality?
I'll be deploying my recorder again some time this arvo, and pick it up at the end of the week

[Rusty2]

My last settings were Wav 16 bit at 44.1K in mono, 32GB would give me 103 hrs of continuous recording..

Same here with my Sony recorders . I'd get 110 hours . Same thing by the sounds of it .

Generally speaking, will there be much noticeable difference with the sound quality?

Yes there will , always go for quality not quantity . Use the highest quality settings you can , you may just catch the most amazing piece of audio ever recorded .

The songmeter uses around 184 Gb in 144 hours .
I don't have any original 6 hour files from the Sony but remember it was something like 12 Gb for 144 hours .

I'll be deploying my recorder again some time this arvo, and pick it up at the end of the week

Good luck , I hope you catch something really cool !

[Pertys80]

My last settings were Wav 16 bit at 44.1K in mono, 32GB would give me 103 hrs of continuous recording..

Same here with my Sony recorders . I'd get 110 hours . Same thing by the sounds of it .

Generally speaking, will there be much noticeable difference with the sound quality?

Yes there will , always go for quality not quantity . Use the highest quality settings you can , you may just catch the most amazing piece of audio ever recorded .

The songmeter uses around 184 Gb in 144 hours .
I don't have any original 6 hour files from the Sony but remember it was something like 12 Gb for 144 hours .

I'll be deploying my recorder again some time this arvo, and pick it up at the end of the week

Good luck , I hope you catch something really cool !

Thanks for the advice Rusty, I tried a 64GB card but it won't work, most likely limited to 32GB?
Drove all the way to the park entrance, to see its been closed since thursday due to the current fire situation..
On the subject of the Wildlife Acoustics gear, I found two meters that were deployed in a not so concealed manner..lol
One was an older model, the other looked more like the current model. Who put them there, and what for, I have no idea.. They're just lucky I'm an honest bloke..lol

[Rusty2]

Yeah , a lot of electronics won't accept anything over 32gb , not sure why . Bugger about the fires .

Oooo , you are a honest guy , I bet you were tempted , lol .