Any good equipment to get better bird song out of my phone? (1 Viewer)

[FlackoWeasel]

Hello!

So far I have used my Android phone to record bird songs (Mainly Thrush Nightingale and Blyth's Reed warbler at night)
but with mobile, there is this super annoying thing that even if there is no bg noise and ONLY bird, the recording still has a "ssssh" during birdsong and it changes volume up and down. (Agc?) Hope i explained well.
I followed this site
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064305-smartphone-recording-tips (only I didnt use paid ver) But the ssssh was STILL on even if I removed the AGc

Only during bird singing, it comes on, when bird is quiet, it dissappears and is silent. No sound. and the louder the bird is, so is the "ssssh".It is like ocean waves going sssSSSSSSssssss...

I have used different programs to record it and none of them seem to remove the "ssssh" during a bird song.

Is there any mic or device beside phone, what I can use where I know the "sssh" wont happen? I am very beginner with these but I desire a better way to record my fav songs without this sudden noise going up and down.

Thank You if You can help me with it or explain why it even happens and what things I need to know so the sssh wont come?

 

[Mr Patience]

Hello!

So far I have used my Android phone to record bird songs (Mainly Thrush Nightingale and Blyth's Reed warbler at night)
but with mobile, there is this super annoying thing that even if there is no bg noise and ONLY bird, the recording still has a "ssssh" during birdsong and it changes volume up and down. (Agc?) Hope i explained well.

I'm also a beginner to birdsong recording, though not entirely un-technical. I think the old adage holds true: 'you get what you pay for'. Phones are not ideal for birdsong. You have no control over the recording at all. The noise you hear is the noise of the mic and the circuits on the phone as they try to amplify the sound so it can be recorded.

I followed this site
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064305-smartphone-recording-tips (only I didnt use paid ver) But the ssssh was STILL on even if I removed the AGc

Only during bird singing, it comes on, when bird is quiet, it dissappears and is silent. No sound. and the louder the bird is, so is the "ssssh".It is like ocean waves going sssSSSSSSssssss...

The variations in the sssshhh, as you say, are almost certainly from the AGC. I doubt you can switch this off on a phone.

I have used different programs to record it and none of them seem to remove the "ssssh" during a bird song.

Some programs, eg. Audacity, enable you to remove some of the background noise. Personally, I'm not always keen on the resulting sound. Sometimes, it has a strange quality about it which I find unpleasant - something akin to the sound of radio interviews conducted by satellite phone.

Is there any mic or device beside phone, what I can use where I know the "sssh" wont happen? I am very beginner with these but I desire a better way to record my fav songs without this sudden noise going up and down.

Thank You if You can help me with it or explain why it even happens and what things I need to know so the sssh wont come?

A dedicated recorder will have less background noise, and you will have more control over the recording settings. For example, you can turn the AGC off. All recorders will have some background noise. Very cheap ones will have more noise than more expensive ones. One which I use, and which seems popular with the recordists here, is the Olympus LS-P4. It's quite good using the built in mics. If you get more serious, you could buy a better and/or more directional mic. This won't reduce the background noise, but the signal (the birdsong) will be stronger compared with the noise. Thus, the noise will be less noticeable.

Regards,
Phil

 

[Rharshaw]

Hello!

So far I have used my Android phone to record bird songs (Mainly Thrush Nightingale and Blyth's Reed warbler at night)
but with mobile, there is this super annoying thing that even if there is no bg noise and ONLY bird, the recording still has a "ssssh" during birdsong and it changes volume up and down. (Agc?) Hope i explained well.
I followed this site
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064305-smartphone-recording-tips (only I didnt use paid ver) But the ssssh was STILL on even if I removed the AGc

Only during bird singing, it comes on, when bird is quiet, it dissappears and is silent. No sound. and the louder the bird is, so is the "ssssh".It is like ocean waves going sssSSSSSSssssss...

I have used different programs to record it and none of them seem to remove the "ssssh" during a bird song.

Is there any mic or device beside phone, what I can use where I know the "sssh" wont happen? I am very beginner with these but I desire a better way to record my fav songs without this sudden noise going up and down.

Thank You if You can help me with it or explain why it even happens and what things I need to know so the sssh wont come?

A lot of pros use the Sennheiser ME 66 shotgun mic with K6 power module. You will need Apple's Lightning to 3.5 mm adapter.

 

[Mr Patience]

Why will he need an Apple adapter for an Android phone?

Will this equipment disable the agc?

 

[Vollmeise]

Hello!

So far I have used my Android phone to record bird songs (Mainly Thrush Nightingale and Blyth's Reed warbler at night)
but with mobile, there is this super annoying thing that even if there is no bg noise and ONLY bird, the recording still has a "ssssh" during birdsong and it changes volume up and down. (Agc?) Hope i explained well.
I followed this site
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064305-smartphone-recording-tips (only I didnt use paid ver) But the ssssh was STILL on even if I removed the AGc

Only during bird singing, it comes on, when bird is quiet, it dissappears and is silent. No sound. and the louder the bird is, so is the "ssssh".It is like ocean waves going sssSSSSSSssssss...

I have used different programs to record it and none of them seem to remove the "ssssh" during a bird song.

Is there any mic or device beside phone, what I can use where I know the "sssh" wont happen? I am very beginner with these but I desire a better way to record my fav songs without this sudden noise going up and down.

Thank You if You can help me with it or explain why it even happens and what things I need to know so the sssh wont come?

FlackoWeasel,

could You tell us which recording app you did use exactly?

I'm using the "Hi-Q Recorder" and "RecForge II" in combo w/ external mics, and there are plenty of adjustments possible (different from what is claimed here). No AGC, you can choose the gain manually to fit your needs.

If you set the app to .wav format, 48 kHz and 24 bit and choose a sensitive mic, the results can be really stunning.

Within the next weeks I will post some sound samples and comparative recordings in my thread "Autonomous field recorder" so that everyone can get an impression of the sound quality of some different setups.

Cheers)

 

[Rharshaw]

Why will he need an Apple adapter for an Android phone?

Will this equipment disable the agc?

Oops--Of course he will not--my mistake, apologies.