Soon I will have to make some decisions. As well as fine suitable locations where to carry out my plans. When I was recording these Spring Peepers, they were close to an intersection with traffic coming and going all ways. It was not very busy, but this was a spot where I could find Spring Peepers.
Spring Peepers are tiny tree frogs, making a very specific sound in spring.
But that was not all. When I arrived they were happily peeping, despite traffic going by from time to time. The fact that the temperatures were only +2°C, they were kind of quiet. I have recorded them last year at this location and promptly overloaded my Zoom H6. The dynamic range from these creatures is enormous and I had left it on the quieter side.
This time, The Zoom H3 didn’t suffer from the same problem. However, when I set up the mics and the recorder, the frogs changed their tune. At first, all was quiet, then one of them started “singing” a tune I hadn’t heard before. The rest stayed quiet. I recorded that, it’s the first part in the clip below. This time I was using my Rode M5 cardioid mics, way more capable of recording the subjects while “ignoring” the traffic. Up to a point.
Then I came back and reduced the height of the setup to about 30cm (1ft) and walked away again. Then the lonely singer was gradually joined by more of the frogs.
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So the decisions I have to make are the following: will I be brave enough to leave my gear in a spot all by itself so that nature can sing its heart out without me disturbing it?
Or will I be too chicken and stay close to the gear and make sure it remains in my possession?
Another question is to find suitable spots where I can leave out my gear without the risk of someone picking it up. I will certainly not be recording here on this intersection without supervising the gear. If I did, I might as well throw it in the water.
So what shall it be? Remain close to the gear or leave it unattended for some period?
Until next time…
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