My Recording Equipment
In one of the Internet forums, I followed a discussion about which computer programs are the best for recording music. My comment was: "All this computer stuff in relation with music recordings is highly overestimated. The most important thing for making sound recordings of good quality are the MICROPHONES. Don't save money on the microphones, just to be able to buy better computer equipment or other recording equipment. Instead, buy the best microphones you can afford… By good quality, I mean something between 2,000 and 3,000 ringgit (€500-600), AT LEAST…" My musician friends were shocked… (Professional quality microphones go up to €6,000.) And I promised to tell them a little bit more about my own experiences…
Okay… sige na lang… Let's talk a little bit about recording equipment. First, I have to stress that I'm not an expert on this topic. There are others, like my friend Greg Simmons from Australia who is a professional sound engineer and who knows much more about these things... I'm sure that he will also read this and join in with some comments… Myself, I'm looking at things from a practical point a few. As an ethnomusicologist, I know what I have to do and what I need for doing it, and when I have some good equipment, I won't care for any other technologies until my own equipment does not provide me the results that I need…
In this album, I will present you some of my experiences with different kinds of equipment that I used, in the course of time. My machines should accomplish two things: firstly, they should be portable and easy to set up and, secondly, they should provide the best possible quality for the money I was able to spend. Therefore, I would always select my equipment from the lower price segment of professional machines offered on the market, which I still could afford.
On the following pictures, I will present you some of the equipment that I used, and I will write about my experiences with it. While this is a personal account, it also gives a short glimpse on the history of ethnomusicological recording since the 1970s and on the development of portable recording equipment in general. Please, read the captions of the following pictures one after the other, because they are in chronological order…
NOTE: This compilation might make you believe that I keep on buying new equipment, all the time. This, however, is not at all the case. The last time I bought some new audio equipment was in 2003, when I acquired my Neumann microphones and my Zoom multitrack recording studio; my Sony video camera is still from 1997 and does NOT even have high definition, etc.
Original posting: https://www.facebook.com/hans.brandeis/media_set?set=a.10207271093368863.1073741851.1630415598&type=3
Okay… sige na lang… Let's talk a little bit about recording equipment. First, I have to stress that I'm not an expert on this topic. There are others, like my friend Greg Simmons from Australia who is a professional sound engineer and who knows much more about these things... I'm sure that he will also read this and join in with some comments… Myself, I'm looking at things from a practical point a few. As an ethnomusicologist, I know what I have to do and what I need for doing it, and when I have some good equipment, I won't care for any other technologies until my own equipment does not provide me the results that I need…
In this album, I will present you some of my experiences with different kinds of equipment that I used, in the course of time. My machines should accomplish two things: firstly, they should be portable and easy to set up and, secondly, they should provide the best possible quality for the money I was able to spend. Therefore, I would always select my equipment from the lower price segment of professional machines offered on the market, which I still could afford.
On the following pictures, I will present you some of the equipment that I used, and I will write about my experiences with it. While this is a personal account, it also gives a short glimpse on the history of ethnomusicological recording since the 1970s and on the development of portable recording equipment in general. Please, read the captions of the following pictures one after the other, because they are in chronological order…
NOTE: This compilation might make you believe that I keep on buying new equipment, all the time. This, however, is not at all the case. The last time I bought some new audio equipment was in 2003, when I acquired my Neumann microphones and my Zoom multitrack recording studio; my Sony video camera is still from 1997 and does NOT even have high definition, etc.
Original posting: https://www.facebook.com/hans.brandeis/media_set?set=a.10207271093368863.1073741851.1630415598&type=3
CHAPTER 1: Field Trip to the Philippines in 1976/77
I made my first field trip to the Philippines, visiting the Higaonon of Agusan del Sur, during wintertime 1976-77. I still had no recording equipment of my own, at that time. Therefore, I had to borrow a tape recorder and two microphones from the Institute for Comparative Musicology at the Free University of Berlin, where I studied ethnomusicology. I had to make a contract with the university that I would pay for all the necessary repairs, if some of the equipment would break down. Borrowing the equipment from the university also meant that all my recordings from my field trip to the Philippines would go to the archives of the Institute.
The usual equipment for students like me, at that time, were a portable reel tape recorder UHER Report 4200 Stereo (see picture). The recording material was magnetic tape of 1/4 inches width of the brands BASF or AGFA. The recordings were made on two tracks so that the tape could only be recorded on one side. (The university staff would usually use much more expensive equipment, a NAGRA tape recorder and NEUMANN microphones.)
(For those who are interested in this topic, the magnetic tape technology was developed in Germany and reached other countries only after Germany lost World War II and the Allied Forces confiscated German recording equipment. More on this interesting story can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape)
The two microphones were dynamic microphones SENNHEISER MD 421, which were both screwed on a so-called "stereo bar" (see the lower picture, which does not show the Sennheisers, though).
I was not really happy about the quality of my recordings made during this field trip:
First, they sounded a little bit dull, not very transparent.
Second, there was a lot of hiss, as most musical instruments in the Philippines, like flutes and jaw's harps are very soft so that I had to set the recording level quite high, which produces more hiss.
Third, the recording time was rather limited: with LP tape, it only recorded 22.5 minutes of music, with the much thinner and, therefore, more fragile TP tape, it was 45 minutes.
The usual equipment for students like me, at that time, were a portable reel tape recorder UHER Report 4200 Stereo (see picture). The recording material was magnetic tape of 1/4 inches width of the brands BASF or AGFA. The recordings were made on two tracks so that the tape could only be recorded on one side. (The university staff would usually use much more expensive equipment, a NAGRA tape recorder and NEUMANN microphones.)
(For those who are interested in this topic, the magnetic tape technology was developed in Germany and reached other countries only after Germany lost World War II and the Allied Forces confiscated German recording equipment. More on this interesting story can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape)
The two microphones were dynamic microphones SENNHEISER MD 421, which were both screwed on a so-called "stereo bar" (see the lower picture, which does not show the Sennheisers, though).
I was not really happy about the quality of my recordings made during this field trip:
First, they sounded a little bit dull, not very transparent.
Second, there was a lot of hiss, as most musical instruments in the Philippines, like flutes and jaw's harps are very soft so that I had to set the recording level quite high, which produces more hiss.
Third, the recording time was rather limited: with LP tape, it only recorded 22.5 minutes of music, with the much thinner and, therefore, more fragile TP tape, it was 45 minutes.
Recording session among the Higaonon of Agusan del Sur showing the typical setup of the recording equipment. On the table, the reel tape recorder UHER Report 4200 can be seen. For the microphones, I used the same tripod as for my photographic camera (just to avoid additional weight of my luggage). On top of the tripod, a stereo bar is screwed, on which the two SENNHEISER MD 421 microphones are mounted. On the right side, in the foreground, part of the aluminum case for my equipment can be seen.
This photograph was taken at Barrio Tagbalili, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur on February 27, 1977.
This photograph was taken at Barrio Tagbalili, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur on February 27, 1977.
CHAPTER 2: Cassette Tape Recorders Used During the Field Trips 1982 to 1986
For my second field trip to the Philippines (1982/1983), I wanted to improve my equipment, first of all, the sound quality of the recordings, but I also wanted to have my own stuff. This was the time when the first cassette tape recorders of good quality came out on the market, which, however, were not considered the "state-of-the-art," among my colleagues in ethnomusicology. They always thought that whatever kind of reel tape recorder you would use, it would always produce better results than any kind of cassette tape recorder.
At that time, my advisor for my master of arts, Prof. Max-Peter Baumann showed me a cassette tape recorder, saying that he only used that for making interviews and that this, of course, as he said with a smile, would not produce high-quality recordings suitable for music. Myself, however, I was very interested in that machine. I took a look at it, and I bought it. This was a SONY TC-D 5 Pro II (with professional balanced inputs), which I complemented by an additional recorder SONY TC-D 5 M (with unbalanced inputs).
The reason for using two tape recorders was the fact that the capacity of the reel tapes was so limited. It just did not suit long performances, like epic chants, which usually go on for several hours, and it was just awful to have a musical performance interrupted, just because the tape was not long enough. I usually used chromium dioxide (CrO2) tape (Type II), with tape length C60 (30 minutes per side). This required changing the tape every 30 minutes. Therefore, my idea was to connect two tape recorders (from the line-out jacks of the first recorder into the line-in jacks of the second recorder). Before I would stop the main recorder to change it tape cassette, I would switch on the second recorder, which then recorded the "missing link," i.e. the part of the respective performance that otherwise would have been missing. This was possible, because even if the first recorder did not run anymore, the signal from its microphone inputs was still passed through directly to the line-out jacks and from there to the line-in jacks of the second recorder. I could take as much time as I needed, and it worked quite well. Later on, in Berlin, I assembled all the parts together in one tape and was thus able to record performances of several hours, in a row.
At that point, my ethnomusicologist colleagues in Germany still simply ignored that technology so that I was probably the first German ethnomusicologist who made field recordings of music performances with a cassette tape recorder. Maybe two years later, everybody else used this kind of machines.
I should add that I had the reel tape buffs listen to some recordings for comparison, recordings made with the UHER reel tape recorder and with the SONY tape cassette recorder. In the end, they had to admit that the recordings of my SONY tape cassette recorder were of much better quality. However, this improvement mainly depended on the right combination of microphones and recorder.
At that time, my advisor for my master of arts, Prof. Max-Peter Baumann showed me a cassette tape recorder, saying that he only used that for making interviews and that this, of course, as he said with a smile, would not produce high-quality recordings suitable for music. Myself, however, I was very interested in that machine. I took a look at it, and I bought it. This was a SONY TC-D 5 Pro II (with professional balanced inputs), which I complemented by an additional recorder SONY TC-D 5 M (with unbalanced inputs).
The reason for using two tape recorders was the fact that the capacity of the reel tapes was so limited. It just did not suit long performances, like epic chants, which usually go on for several hours, and it was just awful to have a musical performance interrupted, just because the tape was not long enough. I usually used chromium dioxide (CrO2) tape (Type II), with tape length C60 (30 minutes per side). This required changing the tape every 30 minutes. Therefore, my idea was to connect two tape recorders (from the line-out jacks of the first recorder into the line-in jacks of the second recorder). Before I would stop the main recorder to change it tape cassette, I would switch on the second recorder, which then recorded the "missing link," i.e. the part of the respective performance that otherwise would have been missing. This was possible, because even if the first recorder did not run anymore, the signal from its microphone inputs was still passed through directly to the line-out jacks and from there to the line-in jacks of the second recorder. I could take as much time as I needed, and it worked quite well. Later on, in Berlin, I assembled all the parts together in one tape and was thus able to record performances of several hours, in a row.
At that point, my ethnomusicologist colleagues in Germany still simply ignored that technology so that I was probably the first German ethnomusicologist who made field recordings of music performances with a cassette tape recorder. Maybe two years later, everybody else used this kind of machines.
I should add that I had the reel tape buffs listen to some recordings for comparison, recordings made with the UHER reel tape recorder and with the SONY tape cassette recorder. In the end, they had to admit that the recordings of my SONY tape cassette recorder were of much better quality. However, this improvement mainly depended on the right combination of microphones and recorder.
CHAPTER 3: The Microphones Used During the Field Trips 1982-1997
During my first field trip in 1976/77, I had noticed that the bad hiss on my recordings resulted from the fact that I had been forced to set the recording level too high, during many of my recordings. Because the pre-amplifiers of tape recorders are usually not really good, this produced the strong hiss. I thought that the best solution for this problem would be to look for microphones with a higher output.
I was lucky to run into the so-called "Telemike System" produced by SENNHEISER. The microphones of this production line were electret condenser microphones, i.e. they needed a small voltage of 5.6 Volts provided by a small battery inside the handles (not to be confused with the "real" condenser microphones, which require a so-called "phantom power" of 48 Volts). SENNHEISER offered the following components:
K3N -- Handle and battery compartment
ME 20 -- omnidirectional microphone module (recording all the sounds around you)
ME 40 -- supercardioid microphone module (focusing on the sounds coming from the front)
ME 80 -- hypercardioid / shotgun microphone module (even more focusing on the sounds coming from the front)
ME 88 -- shotgun microphone module (focusing on a very small area in front, e.g. for recording the sounds of birds that are far away)
For my second field trip to the Philippines (1982/1983), I acquired the following components of the "Telemike System" (to be used together with the cassette tape recorders SONY TC-D 5 Pro and SONY TC-D 5 M; see the preceding picture):
2x battery compartments K3N that could be connected to:
2x microphone modules ME 40 (supercardioid) or
2x microphone modules ME 80 (supercardioid/hypercardioid shotgun)
I did not acquire the omnidirectional and shotgun microphone modules ME 20 and ME 88, simply because I did not need them. For soft sound sources (human voices, jaw's harp, boat lute, spike fiddle etc.), I used the sensitive modules ME 80, for recording loud sounds (gong, drum, bamboo slit drum, women's choir etc.), I used the less sensitive modules ME 40. The ME 80 were especially useful, because they produced an output almost double as high as the ME40. This considerably reduced the hiss in the recordings :
ME 40: Sensitivity at 1000 Hz = 0.3 mV/µbar
ME 80: Sensitivity at 1000 Hz = 0.5 mV/µbar
I was quite happy with these microphones, and I used them from 1982 until including 1997. When I started making video recordings, I ran into other problems that required a one-point stereo microphone. But although I'm hardly using these microphones anymore, they still work perfectly. Only the plastic foam of the windshields for the very long ME 80 modules has desintegrated, in the meantime, because of old age...
The manual of the SENNHEISER microphone models K3N / ME 40 / ME 80 can be found here for downloading (It only seems to work if you will copy the following link and paste it to your browser): https://www.madooma.com/onTEAM/pdf/181269019382.pdf
Today, these microphones are not produced anymore, but they are still quite often offered for sale on eBay -- good quality for relatively little money!
I was lucky to run into the so-called "Telemike System" produced by SENNHEISER. The microphones of this production line were electret condenser microphones, i.e. they needed a small voltage of 5.6 Volts provided by a small battery inside the handles (not to be confused with the "real" condenser microphones, which require a so-called "phantom power" of 48 Volts). SENNHEISER offered the following components:
K3N -- Handle and battery compartment
ME 20 -- omnidirectional microphone module (recording all the sounds around you)
ME 40 -- supercardioid microphone module (focusing on the sounds coming from the front)
ME 80 -- hypercardioid / shotgun microphone module (even more focusing on the sounds coming from the front)
ME 88 -- shotgun microphone module (focusing on a very small area in front, e.g. for recording the sounds of birds that are far away)
For my second field trip to the Philippines (1982/1983), I acquired the following components of the "Telemike System" (to be used together with the cassette tape recorders SONY TC-D 5 Pro and SONY TC-D 5 M; see the preceding picture):
2x battery compartments K3N that could be connected to:
2x microphone modules ME 40 (supercardioid) or
2x microphone modules ME 80 (supercardioid/hypercardioid shotgun)
I did not acquire the omnidirectional and shotgun microphone modules ME 20 and ME 88, simply because I did not need them. For soft sound sources (human voices, jaw's harp, boat lute, spike fiddle etc.), I used the sensitive modules ME 80, for recording loud sounds (gong, drum, bamboo slit drum, women's choir etc.), I used the less sensitive modules ME 40. The ME 80 were especially useful, because they produced an output almost double as high as the ME40. This considerably reduced the hiss in the recordings :
ME 40: Sensitivity at 1000 Hz = 0.3 mV/µbar
ME 80: Sensitivity at 1000 Hz = 0.5 mV/µbar
I was quite happy with these microphones, and I used them from 1982 until including 1997. When I started making video recordings, I ran into other problems that required a one-point stereo microphone. But although I'm hardly using these microphones anymore, they still work perfectly. Only the plastic foam of the windshields for the very long ME 80 modules has desintegrated, in the meantime, because of old age...
The manual of the SENNHEISER microphone models K3N / ME 40 / ME 80 can be found here for downloading (It only seems to work if you will copy the following link and paste it to your browser): https://www.madooma.com/onTEAM/pdf/181269019382.pdf
Today, these microphones are not produced anymore, but they are still quite often offered for sale on eBay -- good quality for relatively little money!
CHAPTER 4: Accessories
However, what's the use of having a super quality tape recorder and microphones, if the accessories do not match with them.
TRIPOD (used during my trips 1982-85) -- While, during my trip of 1976-77, I used my photo tripod, I finally bought a new tripod that would offer more flexibility for use. Made of steel, its construction was very similar to the one of a foldable music stand. It could be extended to a height of about 2 m, was very light and even cheap. I bought it in a shop for photographic cameras, and it was originally intended as a stand for lighting equipment.
STEREO BAR (used during field trips 1982-1998) -- As long as I still used my SENNHEISER ME 40 and ME 80 microphones, I used the stereo bar shown on the photograph to attach them to the tripod.
PIONEER STEREO HEADPHONE SE-650 (used during field trips 1982-1993) – This closed headphone served me well and for a long time. It was a little bit bulky, but had a good sound.
All these things I still use occasionally here in Berlin, but not during field trips to Southeast Asia anymore.
TRIPOD (used during my trips 1982-85) -- While, during my trip of 1976-77, I used my photo tripod, I finally bought a new tripod that would offer more flexibility for use. Made of steel, its construction was very similar to the one of a foldable music stand. It could be extended to a height of about 2 m, was very light and even cheap. I bought it in a shop for photographic cameras, and it was originally intended as a stand for lighting equipment.
STEREO BAR (used during field trips 1982-1998) -- As long as I still used my SENNHEISER ME 40 and ME 80 microphones, I used the stereo bar shown on the photograph to attach them to the tripod.
PIONEER STEREO HEADPHONE SE-650 (used during field trips 1982-1993) – This closed headphone served me well and for a long time. It was a little bit bulky, but had a good sound.
All these things I still use occasionally here in Berlin, but not during field trips to Southeast Asia anymore.
AUDIO SAMPLE of a kutiyapi (boat lute) player: http://www.alice-dsl.net/brandeis/Publications/Brandeis_Akkulturation_Higaunen_kutiyapi.mp3
The setup of my two SENNHEISER microphones during my field trip in 1982/83. During this recording session, the long hypercardioid microphone modules (ME80) were used, with windshields, both mounted together on a stereo bar. This picture was taken in Guilang-Guilang, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.
The setup of my two SENNHEISER microphones during my field trip in 1982/83. During this recording session, the long hypercardioid microphone modules (ME80) were used, with windshields, both mounted together on a stereo bar. This picture was taken in Guilang-Guilang, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.
Recording session with a ritualist (baylan) and epic chanter, the late José de la Mance. For the recording, a SONY TC-D 5 Pro II is used in combination with two microphones SENNHEISER ME 80 on the tripod, covered by black windshields.
At the time of the recording session, the singer was still suffering from the aftereffects of a coldness so that he had problems in hearing himself, while singing. I offered him to use the headphones so that he could hear himself better, and this worked perfectly. My late brother-in-law, José Bosch, is sitting on the bench in the foreground.
At the time of the recording session, the singer was still suffering from the aftereffects of a coldness so that he had problems in hearing himself, while singing. I offered him to use the headphones so that he could hear himself better, and this worked perfectly. My late brother-in-law, José Bosch, is sitting on the bench in the foreground.
CHAPTER 5: Field Trip to the Philippines in 1983/84
The combination of a tape cassette recorder SONY TC-D 5 Pro II with a SONY TC-D 5 M during my field trip in 1982/83 proved quite successful (see CHAPTER 2). However, I would have been happy about the possibility to reduce the weight of my luggage. At that time, SONY brought a new tape cassette recorder on the market, which was much smaller and h...ad, more or less, the same quality as the recorders above. This was the SONY Walkman WM-D6C.
For my third field trip to the Philippines in 1983/84, I bought such a little machine, which I connected to the SONY TC-D 5 Pro II in just the same way as I had done with the SONY TC-D 5 M before. Again, this enabled me to make continuous recordings, without having to stop during the changing of tape cassettes. |
Basically showing the same setup as on the previous picture, this picture shows a recording session among the Higaonon of Claveria, Misamis Oriental, taken early in 1984. On the left side, the headphone can be seen lying on the floor and part of the aluminum case for the equipment.
CHAPTER 6: Field Trip 1993
Getting ready for my field trip in summer 1993, I thought that the time might now be ripe to "go digital". The most promising option seemed to be buying a DAT Recorder AIWA HHB 1 PRO, with a sampling frequency of 48 kHz. For being able to burn the recordings on CD, later on, I had to convert them down to a sampling frequency of 44,1 kHz. Again, I used my SENNHEISER microphones: two battery compartments K3N, together with two microphone modules ME80 (hypercardioid / shotgun).
Basically, the recordings I made among the Tigwa Manobo of San Fernando, Bukidnon, sounded pretty good. However, there was a problem with the recorder, which I don't remember anymore, in detail. I think the recorder did not get along with a high humidity in the Philippines and stopped working, at times. When I was back in Berlin and sent the device to the producing company, they were not able to fix it and finally agreed to return the money to me. This recorder also consumed an incredible lot of batteries.
During this trip, I also changed my tripod for the microphones, now using a much smaller tripod that was actually intended for a camera. This tripod as well as the whole setup during a recording session in 1993 can be seen on the following picture.
Basically, the recordings I made among the Tigwa Manobo of San Fernando, Bukidnon, sounded pretty good. However, there was a problem with the recorder, which I don't remember anymore, in detail. I think the recorder did not get along with a high humidity in the Philippines and stopped working, at times. When I was back in Berlin and sent the device to the producing company, they were not able to fix it and finally agreed to return the money to me. This recorder also consumed an incredible lot of batteries.
During this trip, I also changed my tripod for the microphones, now using a much smaller tripod that was actually intended for a camera. This tripod as well as the whole setup during a recording session in 1993 can be seen on the following picture.
AUDIO SAMPLE: http://www.alice-dsl.net/brandeis/Publications/Brandeis%20-%20Bukidnon%20und%20Tigwahanon_Ex28.mp3
The setup during a recording session among the Tigwa Manobo, during my field trip in summer 1993. The DAT Recorder AIWA HHB 1 PRO can be seen on the table. Behind the recorder, there is an extra pack of four big batteries, because t...his recorder consumed a lot of energy.
My two SENNHEISER microphones can be seen mounted on a small camera tripod that I'm still using, up to now (2015). During this recording session, the long hypercardioid microphone modules (ME80) were used, with windshields, both mounted together on a stereo bar. This picture was taken in Kisayab, Bonacao, San Fernando, Bukidnon.
The setup during a recording session among the Tigwa Manobo, during my field trip in summer 1993. The DAT Recorder AIWA HHB 1 PRO can be seen on the table. Behind the recorder, there is an extra pack of four big batteries, because t...his recorder consumed a lot of energy.
My two SENNHEISER microphones can be seen mounted on a small camera tripod that I'm still using, up to now (2015). During this recording session, the long hypercardioid microphone modules (ME80) were used, with windshields, both mounted together on a stereo bar. This picture was taken in Kisayab, Bonacao, San Fernando, Bukidnon.
CHAPTER 7: Field Trip 1997-98
I have always been highly interested in the boat lutes of the Philippines. However, during my previous trips to Bukidnon province on Mindanao, in the 1980s, I had only found two players of the Bukidnon kutiyapì, and I thought that boat lutes in the Philippines might almost have died out. Therefore, it came to me as a surprise when I visited the Tigwa Manobo of San Fernando, Bukidnon, and I saw many boat lutes kuglung played there. As a result, I decided to go deeper into this topic, and I started planning a field trip exclusively dedicated to the research on the boat lutes of the Philippines, which finally happened during wintertime 1997-98.
As a new chapter in my research endeavors was about to start, I thought that I should better switch to video documentation now, especially because things like the playing techniques of the lutes could only be studied with the help of video recordings. This made me almost completely change my recording equipment. First of all, I bought a SONY Digital Handycam DCR-VX1000E, which produced videos of broadcast quality (for the standards of that time, when there was no high definition video standard yet).
When I was back in Berlin, I extracted the audio track from the videos. I played the audio track and the DAT version of the same music piece to some audio buffs and asked them which was which... They could not tell... The music from the video was so good that, during my following field trips, I did not make separate DAT recordings anymore, but just always used the extracted audio tracks from the videos.
A NOTE for those who would like to follow the same procedure: You will only succeed to record good audio in your videos, if you will use an external high-quality microphone, which you will set up close to the musicians.
As a new chapter in my research endeavors was about to start, I thought that I should better switch to video documentation now, especially because things like the playing techniques of the lutes could only be studied with the help of video recordings. This made me almost completely change my recording equipment. First of all, I bought a SONY Digital Handycam DCR-VX1000E, which produced videos of broadcast quality (for the standards of that time, when there was no high definition video standard yet).
When I was back in Berlin, I extracted the audio track from the videos. I played the audio track and the DAT version of the same music piece to some audio buffs and asked them which was which... They could not tell... The music from the video was so good that, during my following field trips, I did not make separate DAT recordings anymore, but just always used the extracted audio tracks from the videos.
A NOTE for those who would like to follow the same procedure: You will only succeed to record good audio in your videos, if you will use an external high-quality microphone, which you will set up close to the musicians.
My problems with the DAT recorder I had used during my trip in 1993 now made me buy another model, this time a SONY TCD-100, the so-called "DAT Walkman." It had a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz, with 16 bits per sample. However, Sony offered an additional A/D converter called SONY SBM-1 that would increase the sample size from 16 bits to 20 bits and, thus, co...nsiderably improve the recording quality. I bought both items, DAT recorder and A/D converter, together in a set.
During this trip I used the same SENNHEISER microphones I had been using since 1982, with hypercardioid microphone modules ME 80. I usually started my recording sessions with shooting videos and, after this, I told the musicians: "And now, please, play all the same once again!" This time I recorded their playing with my DAT recorder in much better audio quality. For the musicians, it was a little bit confusing to play the same things twice but, at that time, I just thought that this is the best way to make the documentation. During my subsequent trips, I confined myself to just making video recordings. |
The fact that, during my trip in 1997/98, I made video as well as audio recordings meant that I had to bring along a lot of additional equipment with me. Therefore, I tried to make it as small and the least bulky as possible. The PIONEER headphone that I had used during my previous trips was one of these bulky things so that I exchanged it for a much smaller ...gadget, a KOSS Porta Pro I. Of course, the PIONEER had its advantages, because it was a closed headphone so that you only could hear what was actually in the recordings, while the KOSS was an open headphone so that what you heard was a mixture of the sounds coming from the headphone and the sounds of the environment, which still could be heard at their natural volume as well.
The KOSS Porta Pro I was not only smaller, but it was also foldable, which made it very convenient for packing. On the picture, you can see it in its folded (left side) and unfolded state (right side). |
CHAPTER 8: Field Trip 2004
After a long break of six years, I made my second research trip that was exclusively dedicated to researching on the boat lutes of the Philippines. Again, there was a slight change in my equipment. During my trip in 1997-98, I had made audio as well as video recordings. This had proved to be a little bit too complicated, firstly, because I had to bring along too much equipment, secondly, because the musicians felt a little bit disturbed by playing the same music twice. Aside from that, processing my video files from 1997-98 had clearly shown that the quality of their audio tracks was excellent. Therefore, I decided to exclusively focus on the video recordings and get my audio from there.
Later on, in Berlin, I transferred the video files from the small Digital Video Cassettes (DVC or MiniDV) to the computer. I extracted the audio track by means of the program Sound Forge 4.0 (now, there is already version 10 on the market), with which I converted the audio data from 32 kHz to 44.1 kHz sampling frequency to be able to burn them on CDs.
Another device that had proved to be rather bulky were my SENNHEISER microphones mounted on a stereo bar, which usually also took a long time to set up. For that reason, I bought a one-point stereo condenser microphone AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-822, which provided a similarly good sound quality as my SENNHEISER microphones. Instead of a windshield made out of foam, I bought a professional windshield made out of cat skin for it.
Later on, in Berlin, I transferred the video files from the small Digital Video Cassettes (DVC or MiniDV) to the computer. I extracted the audio track by means of the program Sound Forge 4.0 (now, there is already version 10 on the market), with which I converted the audio data from 32 kHz to 44.1 kHz sampling frequency to be able to burn them on CDs.
Another device that had proved to be rather bulky were my SENNHEISER microphones mounted on a stereo bar, which usually also took a long time to set up. For that reason, I bought a one-point stereo condenser microphone AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-822, which provided a similarly good sound quality as my SENNHEISER microphones. Instead of a windshield made out of foam, I bought a professional windshield made out of cat skin for it.
This picture was taken during my research trip to the Philippines in wintertime 2010/11. I am videotaping an Ubo player of the boat lute faglung. I am using the same equipment that I have been using since my trip in 2004 until my trip to Borneo last year, in 2015: a SONY Digital Handycam DCR-VX1000E, a one-point stereo condenser microphone AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-822, with windshield out of cat skin, and a headphone KOSS Porta Pro I.