5 Field recording mistakes (and how to fix them) 

Not pressing record, is haunting me! How many times it happened to me, even when I was pretty sure to check! And now, I developed a severe anxiety about it. Taking a picture is a great trick and practise!

Great advice thanks George. And, not putting your phone on aeroplane mode to avoid digital interference....and untimely calls!

Great video George, hope you're doing well. In the interest of discussion I would also add: - Not properly slating recordings that are difficult to distinguish on audio alone. - Not double checking limiters or filters (either not turning on or turning off) Really nice to hear from someone like yourself that proper levels really is just a trial and error skill developed with experience.

Thank You Mr. Vlad! Nicely done.

Thank-you George.

Thank you so much. Have learnt so much from your videos. Im always trying to improve my recordings for my own soundscape channel. Looking at building my own blimp.

Amazing sound of nature

I personally obsessed with the Real Spacial Recording. I bought a few 6027 mic capsules (spent less than 2$), soldered them to a 3.5mm earphone wire (by replacing the speaker), put the two capsules in my ear channel entrances, and recorded with a sony icd-ux540 recorder, and I just recorded a really fascinating result: I can hear the sound in front of me! All the sound direction is just perfectly reoccurred! I know the spacial result doesn't suit everyone because of the individual HRTF difference. But I wish you could record some sound with using a human head model and place the mics in its ear channels. In this way, at least audience could have some more realistic spacial feeling.

Good info! I'm trying to get my foot into this field and videos like yours keep me going. Stay well my friend!

Thanks for your generosity!

Thank you for all your good advices, I'm starting and this information is very helpful 👌

Great thoughts George, thanks for sharing. I especially like the idea of taking a photo of the device recording, just to reassure yourself. Subscribed to see what you have to share in the future Good luck out there!

I loved your first reminder about remembering to press the RECORD button. I only feel slightly less stupid now. And your advice to just go out into the field and experiment was excellent. Thanks again.

Really appreciate this video George!

Your videos and field recordings are very nice George. Thank you for sharing

Thanks a lot for reminding all the stupidious stuff we tend to do in field.. In Bagamoyo, Tanzania a whole morning with Zoom H5 getting back to lodge to find one of the XLR-plugs barely stuck in creating only scratchy sounds on that channel. Up in the Norwegian mountains far of cell-phone coverage doing Dotterels finding out when I came home that the one and only spot had coverage and my iPhone disturbed the recording every half minute with interference. Used a 12V motorcycle-battery with a 12>5V cigarett-plug on my H6 and it created a 16Khz noise/sound for all the 48h recording! Guess list is endless of things could go wrong, but you do get some good stuff home!! Stein, Norway in one meter of snow this week...

Great video. Thanks heaps. I’m getting into field recording and love all the advice, especially the last point. Just get out and have fun. Thanks heaps. :)

Thanks for the upload. Great advice

great video george! thank you for all these suggestions. i’m so guilty of not reading the manual too.

Good info, George. With equipment readily available and reasonably priced, wildlife species still plentiful (for now), and the environment steadily getting noisier, you are probably working during the “golden age” of field recording. Do all you can.

thank you for this most wonderful and useful reminders.

I've used the "hold" button like you mentioned, good tip!

Great advice! Thank you for the video

Really helpful tips thank you George

Really excellent information. Thank you.

Thanks for the upload George!Obsessing over gear!!It comes at just the right time for me. At the moment I'm exactly as you describe it!! But your words are the inspiration I need right now! The last recordings didn't go so well for me. Nevertheless, you learn from such mistakes. Go out record and have fun!!True words.Thanks for everything George.Wish you all the best✌

New term learned Soundscapes

"There is no easy answer to de-noising soundscapes." This is exactly what I needed to hear.

Thank you!

This video is 100% spot on. Have done all mistakes before...

Great advice George

Great video- Thanks for the info!

Spot on, very very few people are using their existing equipment to maximum performance.

You're so right about knowing your equipment. I still haven't read my zoom h4n manual and I ended up recording a load of nice forest sounds with the wrong settings 🤦🏻‍♀ I'm going to spend a day watching tutorials and reading the manual!

Just found your channel! Thank so much yep did the not pressing record after checking my levels and placement . Never thought about the picture tip. I also stopped audio and forgot to restart it later.

Excellent tips. Subscribed

Not pressing record happens often, so I've learnt before I leave my eyes and body away from recorder, I check if the time is running, because sometimes it is easier to see the running time like the circle simbol of recording.

the first mistake made me LOL, as it totally has happened to me.

Some good tips from experience 👍

First off, I'm a big fan of your work, George. Your Borneo recordings in particular are just stunning. So thank you for sharing with the world. Life is richer with your audio captures in it. For field work, I have a MixPre-6 II and a Zoom F6, and while both have their maddening limitations, they each have two things I really appreciate that (IMO) directly address two of the points in the video: not hitting the record button properly and not getting one's record levels right. (I know these are features you're aware of, George - I'm really just noting them here for other viewers...) First, re: making sure the units are actually recording, I have found the iPhone Bluetooth apps for each are great for double (or triple) checking once dropping the bag and walking a few paces away. I can even take a screenshot if it lowers my anxiety later. :-) Secondly, re: record levels, I am finding myself surprised at how much I like recording 32-bit float files. I thought at first the feature might be a bit gimmicky, but I'm discovering it's a wonderful way to have (virtually unlimited) headroom and not have to fret too much about clipping the converters. Obviously not an excuse to practice poor gain staging, but it's remarkable what each of those recorders can pull off. Like yourself, I eschew using limiters whenever possible. Thanks for your content, George!

Thank you George, great advices! Also, i'm willing to buy a field recorder and i was looking at some insights. In an A/B comparison between the Zoom F6 and the MixPre II series I've heard a difference in the low end between the two preamps (same sound source, gain level, mic and mic placement). I don't know how it was "meant" to sound "naturally" and this raised the question whether the one or the other was more natural, whether a "more natural" preamp would be preferred in the majority of the cases and whether a pre with boosted highs would cope for the use of a blimp/windscreen better (or maybe other situations like distant traffic and whatnot). Since I do not have prior experiences in the field recording world, neither with those nor with other machines, I'm finding hard to wrap my head around the topic and I would love if you could share your experience with me. Either way, great content and thank you very much.

you realy do a great work sound

1:35 I don't know if this was an intentional joke but it made me chuckle :)

Thabk you !

Thank you so much for sharing these very helpful tips. I really want to improve my field recording skills, and your tips will help.

That stuff ..about forgetting to press the Record button, it s even worse when you record people. :) You can go back in nature, and the forest won t mind...but in our work (as a radio reporter) it s horrible embarrassing to find, after the enthusiastic interview, after the person opened himself, that you didn t press the button. Or that the slight wind blew up your perfect conversation...It happened a few times to everyone, but surely, after that, you become addicted to check all the time if the recording is on.

Thank you!!!

Everybody adding mistakes, as if what you said was not enough. But it's fun, so I'll add forgetting that it gets freezing when you freeze after starting to record. My recording-related flu count is about four I guess, which makes roughly 1.6 flus per 1000 files in the library. :D

Worst "mistake" I've had was long time ago when using rechargeable AA batteries inside a recorder and they were not from a known brand (the brand was Vapex). What happened was that one overheated and melted and got stuck in the recorder causing the battery cover to melt too. Luckily I was fast enough to figure out the reason why the machine didn't boot up and there was enough air inside the machine, so the internals survived, but the battery holder didn't. Not pressing record is nowadays solved by recorders with Bluetooth. It is really handy. Another mistake is to use the latest firmware on the recorder. If the previous one worked fine, then it wouldn't be always wise to update the machine. On MixPre with one certain firmware, it created silent files on multiple occasions.

6. Forgetting your equipment at home only to realize after arriving in middle of nowhere.....

Some sound advice ? How about a small tag " Recording " which could be clipped to the bag - any ritual or habit that defines or highlights a key stage in the process - it presents an independent visual element that signifies an event or action......or a mnemonic that ends with an R for record - H.I.P.R. - Have I Pressed Record.Whoops,i'd better press the Stop Button !

Thank you ! i'm new in this not owning a recorder ;) . . . if you have to buy one recorder wish one do you recommend Zoom F6 or the Mixpre 3 II ?

Hi George, could you tell us how to DIY stereo recording rigs with two lav mics. Also, how to DIY windscreens?

hi..thanks for this informations. is there anyway you can make an tutorial on the various recording modes in Zoom recorders.

Thanks youtube for this recomendation

Hi, Nice video! Weird question: As I’ve heard many use the quote “the best microphone is the one you have on you at the time”, do you think I should cancel my order of the Sony PCM A10 as my pocket recorder when otherwise being accustomed to a Sound Devices MixPre 6 II + plus a number of high-end mics for use when capturing audio for sound design? Mention worthy note is that I spontaneously hit purchase on the Sony recorder because of the mics which record up to 40000hz (which comes in handy for when modulating pitch in that context - which otherwise is unheard of in that price region/form factor )

thank your advice, I brought a zoom h5,and will go outside to record one day for my channel.

I use a Zoom H6 and DT 990 Pro headphone to monitor. My microphone is a NTG5 with a Rode Blimp and the dead cat wind filter. It does a great job but I can not seem to get away from all the noise. I drive for miles and miles yet there seems to always be a plane or a semi truck there just to screw up my audio.

What's the best way to set up the H4N outdoors? I am having a small speaking event (one person at a time) and was thinking of propping this up on a tripod with a windscreen to record their speeches. Would that work?

thanks

Nice 👍

Hello George, Great advice for a beginner sound recordist. I’ve been taking out my Zoom H5 and Lom Uši Pros to try my hand at nature soundscape recording. I’m slowly getting the hang of it, but there is still so much to learn. I still haven’t gotten using the levels quite right, and am having quite a lot of trouble with background noise, especially since the sound of the city below the mountains were I hike and record, gets into every recording. My question today has to do with the wind shielding. I use the Bubblebee Wind Bubbles on my Lom Uši Pros, and they work well. However I am often in quite strong winds, and would like to know if you use a second windscreen with your Uši Pros, and if so, which models. Do you ever use blimps with you Uši Pros? Thanks for your time and help.

Just watched this video today. Swear to god I put the recorder in the dry bag tonight, attached it to the tree and then had to take it back out and press the bloody record button 😒

Hi George i can see how easy it is to miss pressing record when one is multi tasking setting up a recording session and the phone idea sounds great - even more reassuring possibly could be to video it with the phone - watching the levels respond to your voice before exiting the location maybe ? Having a ritualistic approach by say having a mantra - have i pressed record,have i pressed record ? and finally a label on the equipment bag such as Dymo Tape on leads or the bag itself might help.PRESS RECORD ! I have some words that can't be ignored So never forget You must press RECORD .... and PS - If only the best birds sang - the woods would be very silent ! Cheers from the UK

I only have a Zoom H1n but i do have a Rode NT1 from the 90s but xlr, i want to record tree leafs in Aitum in the wind but am not sure if the kit is up to it, i heard someome say a shotgun mike is good for that but i only have one input on the H1n , am i asking to much from this little device i wonder ? Thanks.

What can recommend as a recorder for field records as you do.. i currently use the ZOOM H2N.

What's your opinion on using S/N 100dB? Do you keep it on by default? I just read an interesting article by Paul Virostek and started wondering whether it is really such a good feature when it comes to recording quite ambiences or nature sounds. What's your opinion about it? And another question - have you ever tested how far can you move from your recorder using the remote control?

Would it be possible to give the exact names/models of two windshields that you use with your Sony PCM-100? And what do you think about using Sony PCM-100 in a blimp? Will it be a good solution for wind protection?

Awesome advice! I am a filmmaker.. not sound person at all.. .I know the very simple basics... I am going to be doing some wildlife filmmaking soon. don't know if i will have a sound person... hope I do, but I will be ready just in case I don't. Just bought the H6 Zoom... I k ow if not the best of the best out there fro docus.. but is what I have now... I went through some technical aspects and the like... but I haven't found any video out there that explain how to use the menus... the levels of thr low cut filter..or the autolimiter... also for ambient capture, i've been told to use the MS capsule not the XY... I might pair it with the NTG5 Rode... any suggestions where to find this info.. any tips?! thank you!!!!!

Bro, great video. But be more happy in your videos. Doesnt need to be over the top but show some enthusiasm and joy. I just discovered you and already love your style but cant stop thinking you are insecure when there is noo reason for that. I learned so much in one video its amazing.

I have to ask what selection of Microphones do you use? Cheers

hey Vlad, great advice, but i am a uneducated in the world of sound, were would a good place to start to learn how to record High quality, Assets, (like what you would typically see if in video games) would you be willing to make a video on this, as if the viewer is complete noobie to sound engineering, id defo watch

The lock key, why I did not think of that???? Thank you!

What Mics are good for the h6 for wild nature such as waves, crows, rooks?

What power source did you use for your Zoom? I just bought an H2 and want to use a power bank like you.

great advice for everyone....btw. do you know any solution to power an Sony D-100 with an Powerbank ? It's a pitty that it can't be powered over the usb port, right?

Hi George, Thank you for your usefull advices. I'm a beginner in "Field recordings". I have two NT1 (rhode) and a tascam DR-100 mkIII, do you think I can have a nice stereo effect with this setup ? I thought that with these two mics, as they have a flat frequency response and good sensitivity, they could do the trick even if large capsule are firstly designed for vocal records but I see a lot of field do not use this kind of mic. Could you tell me what kind of issues do you think i'm going to deal with ?

What's the quietest preamp recorder? No noise floor.

Hi, I'm planning to create a youtube channel - Cooking in the forest and I would like to know what kind of MIC Setup do you recommend me? I Already have the zoom h5.

What windscreen do you use on your Sony A10 at 0:52 ?

Hi. I am a newbie to photography and videography. I enjoy taking videos of streams, rivers and other nature scenes. I want to increase the quality of audio to my videos but dont really know where to start. I would like to keep the budget at less than $2000. I have read suggestions that I need to add two microphones to create stereo sound and input them into my Sony A7iii camera via something like a Sony XLR-KM3 or an H6 . Do you have any suggestion on how I can start this project ? I have noticed there is a lack of resources on this topic for newbies. Thank you.

How do you protect the audio recorder from Rain without change the sound quality? I need a cheap solution

Things don't always go well in the field. Sometimes your equipment is attacked by fire ants! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ADbBSchsI_g.html

Another issue sometimes record time change after changing lense 20 min to 6 min😞😞

Ya 1 st mistake happening often with me when my friend ask me to act but he didn't press record ☹️☹️☹️

When i read "dont press Record" i laugh so much 🤣

How do you avoid the ....press record, and then the instant dog/car/aeroplane/shout/drilling happening? :)

8:50 The Zoom F6 does not stop recording when the the power supply changes.

Another mistake is trying to do it yourself when there are much better recordists who have already created libraries with the perfect sounds.

I feel cheated. The title of this video is "5 Field Recording Mistakes (and how to fix them)," but then you say there is NO FIX for number 4. Maybe the title of the video should be fixed. ;)

1) Not pressing Record. 2) Not formatting Cards. 3) Not setting correct levels. 4) Not using wind protection. 5) Not knowing your equipment.

You talk slow and have absolutely no emotion. I wanna do field recordings but you make it seem boring as hell. Wake up man. It's ok to smile and be entertaining.