Parabolic Sound Recording Rig with Verdi Microphones (Part 1)
I have recently been experimenting with a parabolic reflector which I purchased from https://www.parabolicmicrophone.co.uk/ . The simple explanation of a parabolic microphone is that it allows the the recordist to ‘zoom’ in on a sound source with a very focused focal point. This is because the shape and angles of the dish bounce the sound into the microphone which is placed at a calculated point away from the centre of the dish, facing inwards.
This set up is frequently used by wildlife recordists, when recording a single mono source, like vocalisations.
Because the microphone must be omni-directional when used with a parabolic reflector, I thought I would use a Verdi microphone as the microphone of choice.
The raw dish from Parabolicmicrophone.co.uk. Photo credit: Parabolicmicrophone.co.uk
As you can see from the image above, the dish comes a bright white colour, with no clips or attachments for microphones. Although they do sell extra’s on the site, I wanted to build my own custom solution. I 3d printed a small clamp which attaches to the bar on the dish, one side would grip the bar, the other would grip the Verdi microphone. I also drilled a small hole for the cable to go though and sprayed the dish black so it would be a bit more inconspicuous out in the field.
My custom parabolic microphone rig with a Verdi microphone
As you can see it’s looking pretty smart. I designed and 3d printed a very small blimp which slots over the microphone, this stops the wind interfering with the microphone. I bought some synthetic fur and glued it onto the blimp.
Initial tests on the rig are that it is sounding good. The 3d printed blimp does a really good job at stopping small to medium gusts of wind, but would struggle with anything more. I think this area could do with some improvment.
In part two of this blog I will post recordings from the parabolic rig and also the 3d print files, so hopefully will enable people to do a similar project if they so wished.
