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research:field_recording_in_south_east_asia [2017/10/27 05:56] – 183.182.110.253 | research:field_recording_in_south_east_asia [2017/10/27 12:21] – mrkva | ||
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I've been a regular backpacking recordist since 2004, after spending decades in recording studios and concert halls. I have typically spent around three months per year since 2004 running around Nepal, India, Tibet, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Borneo and similar places recording music and sounds. I've used all kinds of stuff in all kinds of places. Right now I'm in the 10th month of what will hopefully be a never-ending recording journey - it will end when I die, if all goes to plan! I'm currently in Bangkok making refinements to my latest recording rig. Here are some thoughts regarding putting a recording rig together for South East Asia. | I've been a regular backpacking recordist since 2004, after spending decades in recording studios and concert halls. I have typically spent around three months per year since 2004 running around Nepal, India, Tibet, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Borneo and similar places recording music and sounds. I've used all kinds of stuff in all kinds of places. Right now I'm in the 10th month of what will hopefully be a never-ending recording journey - it will end when I die, if all goes to plan! I'm currently in Bangkok making refinements to my latest recording rig. Here are some thoughts regarding putting a recording rig together for South East Asia. | ||
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===== Microphones ===== | ===== Microphones ===== | ||
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For capturing immersive sound fields, such as a swamp late at night, a stereo or multichannel microphone array that captures a wide area of the soundfield is appropriate; | For capturing immersive sound fields, such as a swamp late at night, a stereo or multichannel microphone array that captures a wide area of the soundfield is appropriate; | ||
- | Capturing sounds for sound effect libraries, sampling and similar applications requires microphones with the ability to focus on a specific aspect of a sound field or object. For stereo work, I'd suggest an MS pair with cardioid or hypercardioid M capsule. For sampling and sound libraries for movies and games, where the sound is often required in mono and extraneous sounds are unwelcome, some field recordist | + | Capturing sounds for sound effect libraries, sampling and similar applications requires microphones with the ability to focus on a specific aspect of a sound field or object. For stereo work, I'd suggest an MS pair with cardioid or hypercardioid M capsule. For sampling and sound libraries for movies and games, where the sound is often required in mono and extraneous sounds are unwelcome, some field recordists |
There are three microphone designs in common use throughout the audio industry: ribbon mics, dynamic mics and condenser microphones. The latter are the most sensitive and most accurate of the three, which makes them the primary choice for field recording. However, the climate throughout South East Asia is generally hot and humid, and humidity can cause noise, crackling, popping and rumbling sounds with some condenser microphones. I have lost a number of good recording opportunities due to microphones being upset by humidity. My expensive Schoeps MS pair is just as prone to humidity as my budget Rode omnis. ‘RF condensers’ are the best choice here, because the RF capsule technology offers far greater immunity to humidity (it also offers low self-noise relative to the size of the diaphragm, which is another great advantage for field recording). Sennheiser' | There are three microphone designs in common use throughout the audio industry: ribbon mics, dynamic mics and condenser microphones. The latter are the most sensitive and most accurate of the three, which makes them the primary choice for field recording. However, the climate throughout South East Asia is generally hot and humid, and humidity can cause noise, crackling, popping and rumbling sounds with some condenser microphones. I have lost a number of good recording opportunities due to microphones being upset by humidity. My expensive Schoeps MS pair is just as prone to humidity as my budget Rode omnis. ‘RF condensers’ are the best choice here, because the RF capsule technology offers far greater immunity to humidity (it also offers low self-noise relative to the size of the diaphragm, which is another great advantage for field recording). Sennheiser' | ||
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I'm not going to make any recommendations for specific recording machines. If you consider the analogue part of the recording chain as consisting of microphone, preamp and AD converter, the microphone itself represents about 80% of what you'll hear. The preamp and AD converter (both inside the recorder) contribute such a small amount that differences between contemporary machines from a tonal point of view are quite insignificant compared to differences between microphones. So make sure you spend much more on the mics than the recording machine. If you had, say, $5k to spend on mics and recorder, I'd recommend allocating about 80% of that on the mics and the remaining 20% on the recorder - 80/20, in accordance with what I wrote above about the contribution of those things to the captured signal. A pair of expensive mics into a cheap recorder is going to sound way better than a pair of cheap mics into an expensive recorder. | I'm not going to make any recommendations for specific recording machines. If you consider the analogue part of the recording chain as consisting of microphone, preamp and AD converter, the microphone itself represents about 80% of what you'll hear. The preamp and AD converter (both inside the recorder) contribute such a small amount that differences between contemporary machines from a tonal point of view are quite insignificant compared to differences between microphones. So make sure you spend much more on the mics than the recording machine. If you had, say, $5k to spend on mics and recorder, I'd recommend allocating about 80% of that on the mics and the remaining 20% on the recorder - 80/20, in accordance with what I wrote above about the contribution of those things to the captured signal. A pair of expensive mics into a cheap recorder is going to sound way better than a pair of cheap mics into an expensive recorder. | ||
- | [Having said that, in some types of field recording (e.g. nature sounds) very low noise is the primary goal - which requires microphones with very low self-noise. Some of the quietest microphones on the market are not necessarily the most expensive, e.g. Rode quotes a low self-noise of only 4dBA for their affordable NT1. It’s not the greatest microphone on the market, but it’s certainly one of the quietest! You’d be hard pressed to follow the 80/20 rule if 80% of the budget was spent on a pair of NT1s.] | + | [Having said that, in some types of field recording (e.g. nature sounds) very low noise is the primary goal - which requires microphones with very low self-noise. Some of the quietest microphones on the market are not necessarily the most expensive, e.g. Rode quotes a self-noise of only 4dBA for their affordable NT1. It’s not the greatest microphone on the market, but it’s certainly one of the quietest! You’d be hard pressed to follow the 80/20 rule if a pair of NT1s (at around $500 US the pair) represented 80% of your budget!] |
===== Tech support and powering ===== | ===== Tech support and powering ===== | ||
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Everything in my new rig is USB powered, except the Nagra 7 field recorder which uses an AC adaptor. In Bangkok I was able to buy a solid little power board/ | Everything in my new rig is USB powered, except the Nagra 7 field recorder which uses an AC adaptor. In Bangkok I was able to buy a solid little power board/ | ||
- | That combined power board and multi-port USB charger replaces a much larger separate power board (six sockets) and a handful of different USB adaptors (one for my phone, one for my iPad, one for my camera, one for my powerbank, etc.) with something that is 1/3 the overall volume and 1/3 the overall weight. The reduction in volume and weight is considerable and, because it was purchased locally, it plugs straight into the wall sockets found throughout South East Asia without needing an adaptor plug - unlike the powerboard it replaced! That’s another small weight saving and one less bit of messing around when setting up a home base... | + | That combined power board and multi-port USB charger replaces a much larger separate power board (six sockets) and a handful of different USB adaptors (one for my phone, one for my iPad, one for my camera, one for my powerbank, etc.) with something that is 1/3 the overall volume and 1/3 the overall weight. The reduction in volume and weight is considerable and, because it was purchased locally, it plugs straight into the wall sockets found throughout South East Asia without needing an adaptor plug - unlike the powerboard it replaced. That’s another small weight saving and one less bit of messing around when setting up a home base... |
- | One more thing I really like about that particular combined power board and multi-USB outlet is that it has a long AC power cord. Power outlets in SE Asia are often higher up on the wall, 60cm to a metre is typical, so you need a decent length of power cord if you want to sit the power board on the floor - otherwise you find yourself trying to jam a chair into some cramped space between the bed and the wall to sit the power board on. Power points in SE Asia are often very loose fitting, so anything with a bit of weight to it (wallwart, cable with power board hanging off the end of it, etc.) will keep falling out. | + | One more thing I really like about that particular combined power board and multi-USB outlet is that it has a long AC power cord. Power outlets in SE Asia are often higher up on the wall, 60cm to a metre is typical, so you need a decent length of power cord if you want to sit the power board on the floor - otherwise you’ll find yourself trying to jam a chair into some cramped space between the bed and the wall to sit the power board on. Power points in SE Asia are often very loose fitting, so anything with a bit of weight to it (wallwart, cable with power board hanging off the end of it, etc.) will keep falling out. |
Also, it's important to realise that South East Asia is prone to blackouts, which can be a real bummer if you're planning on recharging something over night and there' | Also, it's important to realise that South East Asia is prone to blackouts, which can be a real bummer if you're planning on recharging something over night and there' | ||
- | If your powerbank can provide recharging power to your USB devices at the same time as it is recharging itself, consider recharging your most important USB devices from the powerbank //while// it is recharging itself. In the event of a blackout the powerbank will continue to charge your USB devices (assuming it has some charge onboard) during the blackout so that hopefully they’ll still be charged when you’re ready to use them. (I learnt that trick from spending many winters in Kathmandu, where they have regularly scheduled blackouts of up to 8 hours at a time and up to 16 hours per day.) | + | If your powerbank can provide recharging power to your USB devices at the same time as it is being recharged, consider recharging your most important USB devices from the powerbank //while// it is being recharged. In the event of a blackout the powerbank will continue to charge your USB devices (assuming it has some charge onboard) during the blackout so that hopefully they’ll still be charged when you’re ready to use them. (I learnt that trick from spending many winters in Kathmandu, where they have regularly scheduled blackouts of up to 8 hours at a time and up to 16 hours per day.) |
On the topic of charging, I like to have two battery packs for my crucial gear and I try to keep them both fully recharged whenever possible. | On the topic of charging, I like to have two battery packs for my crucial gear and I try to keep them both fully recharged whenever possible. | ||
===== Cables ===== | ===== Cables ===== | ||
- | Field recording in South East Asia means sometimes working in hot and dusty environments, | + | Field recording in South East Asia means sometimes working in hot and dusty environments, |
I use Neutrik XLRs with gold-plated pins for all of my cables. Contrary to popular belief, gold is not an amazing conductor (it's equivalent to copper) but it has the wonderful benefit that it doesn' | I use Neutrik XLRs with gold-plated pins for all of my cables. Contrary to popular belief, gold is not an amazing conductor (it's equivalent to copper) but it has the wonderful benefit that it doesn' | ||
===== Data storage ===== | ===== Data storage ===== | ||
- | Data storage is always an important consideration, | + | Data storage is always an important consideration, |
- | Avoid bringing any mains-powered hard disks. Although they offer good value for money compared to portable drives, they are much larger and heavier. Furthermore, | + | Avoid bringing any mains-powered hard disks. Although they offer good value for money compared to portable drives, they are much larger and heavier. Furthermore, |
My new rig has moved away from disk drives altogether, favouring a combination of SD cards and cloud storage. My recorder and camera both record to SD cards, so I have purchased a number of large capacity SD cards that ought to be enough to cover my storage needs during my forays away from wifi. The free wifi in many cafes, guest houses and hotels in the bigger cities of South East Asia is often ridiculously fast, so I plan to upload the most valuable stuff to cloud storage as an additional backup. It’s an experiment for now, but I’m sure in a year or two I’ll look at pictures of my portable hard disks in the same way I look at dot matrix printers today. | My new rig has moved away from disk drives altogether, favouring a combination of SD cards and cloud storage. My recorder and camera both record to SD cards, so I have purchased a number of large capacity SD cards that ought to be enough to cover my storage needs during my forays away from wifi. The free wifi in many cafes, guest houses and hotels in the bigger cities of South East Asia is often ridiculously fast, so I plan to upload the most valuable stuff to cloud storage as an additional backup. It’s an experiment for now, but I’m sure in a year or two I’ll look at pictures of my portable hard disks in the same way I look at dot matrix printers today. | ||
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===== Readily available ====== | ===== Readily available ====== | ||
- | Don’t fuss over things that you can get anywhere, such as USB cables, USB chargers, SD cards, USB sticks and similar. South East Asia is very switched on in that respect and you'll find it easy to get replacements for all of those things, often in roadside mobile phone shops and similar. Likewise with mains adaptor plugs. Anywhere in South East Asia that has a healthy tourist industry will have those things readily available. For example, Pantip Plaza in Bangkok is a five story shopping mall entirely dedicated to computer and mobile technology; if you can’t find the right cable, charger or storage medium there, it probably doesn’t exist... | + | Don’t fuss over things that you can get anywhere, such as USB cables, USB chargers, SD cards, USB sticks and similar. South East Asia is very switched on in that respect and you'll find it easy to get replacements for all of those things, often in roadside mobile phone shops and similar. Likewise with mains adaptor plugs. Anywhere in South East Asia that has a healthy tourist industry will have those things readily available. For example, Pantip Plaza in Bangkok is a five story shopping mall entirely dedicated to computer and mobile technology; if you can’t find the right cable, charger or storage medium there then it probably doesn’t exist... |
Certainly bring backups of any specialised cables, of course. | Certainly bring backups of any specialised cables, of course. | ||
===== Itinerary ===== | ===== Itinerary ===== | ||
- | It is //usually// more cost-effective and time-effective to keep moving forwards rather than backtracking (i.e. returning to a 'home base' after each foray). Also, it is //usually// cheaper to go overland rather than flying from one country to another if you can afford the time. Another advantage of land crossings is that border officials rarely check your bags, and, when they do, they' | + | It is //usually// more cost-effective and time-effective to keep moving forwards rather than backtracking (i.e. returning to a 'home base' after each foray). Also, it is //usually// cheaper to go overland rather than flying from one country to another if you can afford the time. Another advantage of land crossings is that border officials rarely check your bags, and when they do they' |
- | I try to plan itineraries like doing those challenges where you have to draw the picture without taking the pen off the map (that means flying) and without going over the same line twice (that means backtracking). For South East Asia, an extensive itinerary that goes overland as much as possible with no backtracking would start in Indonesia, head west to Malaysia, north to Thailand, west (from Bangkok) to Myanmar, north then east of Myanmar and across the top of Thailand (via Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai) to Laos, south to Cambodia, south east to the bottom of Vietnam then north up to the top of Vietnam. | + | I try to plan itineraries like those challenges where you have to draw the picture without taking the pen off the map (that means flying) and without going over the same line twice (that means backtracking). For South East Asia, an extensive itinerary that goes overland as much as possible with no backtracking would start in Indonesia, head west to Malaysia, north to Thailand, west (from Bangkok) to Myanmar, north then east of Myanmar and across the top of Thailand (via Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai) to Laos, south to Cambodia, south east to the bottom of Vietnam then north up to the top of Vietnam. |
===== Security ===== | ===== Security ===== | ||
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A final thought on the topic of security. There is a trend happening among travel bloggers now to avoid mentioning where their next destination is going to be until ater they have left it. In other words, they are always one country ahead of where they say they are. There are people who follow travel bloggers on line with the intention of stealing their gear or similar, so the idea is to not give any advance notice of where you're going next in order to avoid an unwelcome welcoming committee. Be wary of the driver standing outside the airport or train station holding up a piece of cardboard with your name on it when you didn’t arrange to be picked up! | A final thought on the topic of security. There is a trend happening among travel bloggers now to avoid mentioning where their next destination is going to be until ater they have left it. In other words, they are always one country ahead of where they say they are. There are people who follow travel bloggers on line with the intention of stealing their gear or similar, so the idea is to not give any advance notice of where you're going next in order to avoid an unwelcome welcoming committee. Be wary of the driver standing outside the airport or train station holding up a piece of cardboard with your name on it when you didn’t arrange to be picked up! | ||
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