Nature Sound Recording: A Beginner’s Guide

It is a special time of year when the birds start singing again. Here in central Michigan, that time is here! For several weeks, I’ve heard American Robins singing in the early mornings, but now they are joined by the whistles of Northern Cardinals and the eclectic songs of Song Sparrows, among many other melodies.

For about ten years now, off and on, I’ve had the pleasure to be able to record the vocalizations of birds and other animals. While I very much enjoy just listening in the moment, forgetting about the future, it is also fun to be able to capture a sonic moment that I can come back to later. I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned about recording Nature sounds—a very brief beginner’s guide—just in case you are interested in giving it a try.

Let’s start with recording equipment. Thus far, I’ve been a ‘birder on a budget.’ My recording equipment reflects that fact, but for me it has been sufficient to make some nice recordings. My impression is that the microphone is the most important piece of equipment that you can invest in as a recordist. I use a ‘shotgun,’ unidirectional microphone that focuses on the sound in front of it, rather than sound all around (so, not ‘omnidirectional’).

A parabolic microphone uses an omnidirectional microphone in concert with a dish to amplify a sound of interest, which can do a great job at pulling in distant sound. If I had more funds available for this hobby, I’d probably use a parabolic microphone, like this one:

However, I’m happy with the shotgun microphone for now. This requires me to get closer to the animal I’m recording, which is a fun challenge. Even a little wind can cause a lot of noise in recordings. I’d recommend getting a windscreen for your microphone, like this ‘DeadCat’ one:

There are many digital recorders to choose from. Economical Tascam and Marantz recorders have worked well for me. I’d suggest choosing a recorder with an XLR cable input that your quality microphone can plug into (you’ll often need to buy an XLR cable separately from your microphone). Within recorder settings, I’d recommend choosing the .wav format if you want to capture high-quality recordings. This increases file size, but also best represents the sound, which could be important if you want to contribute your recordings to science (more on that below). I have been using headphones when I record, which is an effective approach for knowing what the microphone is picking up. Over-ear headphones work best for me and provide a great way to experience Nature sounds; it is always amazing to be able to clearly hear the song of a quiet bird like a Brown Creeper as if I were right next to it, when I’m wearing headphones and in good position with my shotgun microphone. Be aware that your microphone can pick up feedback. So, if you have your headphones around your neck, the microphone might pick up on the sound coming from your headphones and produce a terrible, high-pitched screech. If you do decide to try to wear headphones when recording, be sure to be aware of your surroundings. Take off the headphones periodically so that you don’t miss an interesting sound somewhere other than where you are pointing your microphone. It also will keep you safer to be aware of your surroundings. This can be especially important given that walking around with a shotgun microphone can look suspicious! When others are around, do your best to be respectful of their privacy and potential tendency to suspect the worst.

Once you are done recording, I’d suggest using the program Audacity to visualize your recordings and perhaps filter out noise (be careful filtering; avoid degrading the sound you are interested in). Audacity is free and quite accessible for beginners. You might also want to check out Raven Lite, another free program which provides tools for measuring characteristics of sound, particularly bird vocalizations. Here is what a spectrogram of a Red-winged Blackbird call looks like in Audacity, with time on the x (horizontal) axis and frequency (pitch) on the y axis:

I’d recommend making a database overviewing what is in each recording. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet that includes the recording name, what species are present in the recording, where the recording was made, what time the recording was made, and what equipment were used. If you record this information, you can come back to your recordings months or years later and have knowledge of its meaning. Having this information could help you share valuable information with others.

For example, you might want to upload your recordings to a website like Xeno-Canto, where people from around the world upload bird recordings. It helps to have detailed information about recording details if you submit your recordings in this way. The Macaulay Library is another place where you can upload your recordings, especially if they are .wav files (the best way to represent sound). Sharing what you record could provide not only joy to other Nature sound enthusiasts, but also opportunities for scientists to use the recordings to better understand and conserve the organism(s) that you recorded.

If at all interested, I hope you give Nature sound recording a shot. You could even start by using the recorder on your phone and then try using the approaches I’ve described here if you enjoy that. Focusing on something like a bird song during an early morning, when it is just you and another part of Nature, is a fantastic way to forget about what may be troubling you. I certainly look forward to getting out to the woods with my recording gear soon.