Tips for field recording

Hey guys,

I'm about to go outside to do some field recordings with my Boss BR-600.

It's a lovely day outside, so I figured I'd make the most of it.

Has anyone got any tips? These will be my first ever field recordings, so I have very little experience in it.

Thanks,

Calum

a few tips to get started. When doing any recoding outdoors it's always smart to use a windscreen or to have one ready in case of strong winds. Or in case of REALLY strong winds you can get a 'dead' cat' for portable field recorders for about $15

Yeah a wind shield is a must, for my Zoom H2 I've got one of these (meant for a Rode Mic)

When used with the H2 it looks like this cute thing -

Ahhhh, just look at it !

^You should give it googly eyes & film a song "making of" video.

  On 3/15/2010 at 2:15 AM, ieafs said:

as you don't have people wondering what you're doing.

Haha, I did it yesterday and got a lot of strange looks. The recording didn't even play back in the end ¬_¬ but it was a good experience. Thanks for all the tips on windshields guys!

Don't take anyone with you. You'll have "you recording?" all over your recordings.

about 10 years ago i used to have a pair of sony over-ear headphones that made really great stereo recordings if you plugged the 1/8th inch jack from them into a minidisc recorder. It was one of the best methods of 'stealth' recording i've ever done, almost no one questioned a dude wearing inside out headphones, most people would just assume i was listening to music.

another tip i recommend is a little bit of EQ can go a long way in a field recording. IF you make a recording of something and listening back to it the quality isn't exactly what you were hoping for, before you give up on that particular section, throw it through an equalizer and play with it. You can compensate for using a not so good microphone this way sometimes.

Found some good tips for Foley work here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeo5dGh8bnU