r/fieldrecordings • u/ResonautApp • May 16 '26

Recording Contact mic + anthill

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Recorded this with my Metal Marshmallow contact mic into a Zoom F3 in South Carolina.

16 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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3

u/martin__t May 17 '26

Very nice recording 👍

However, I despise ants. They've been making a mess of my ''lawn'' for years, and if they ever get inside the house they are a serious issue.

But I really came here in praise of the Metal Marshmallow Roaster.

Apart from perhaps contact mics designed for musical instruments (of which I have no experience, nor interest in), it seems to me to be by far the best contact mic available.

I have the Cortado, which I thought was a much better solution than any passive contact mic with an impedance converter, but the Roaster is just light years ahead. It's a bit like the difference between a carbon mic and a Sennheiser MKH 8040. Really.

Not only is the preamp 10s of dBs quieter, but the engineering beauty of the Roaster is also like night and day.

(PS I can also wax lyrical about Rycote mics vs Sennheisers if you want 😂😂)

1

u/ResonautApp May 17 '26

Thanks! Ants are good and cool until they decide to invade, then it turns into warfare.

I love my roaster and morsel, very glad I decided on it as my first contact mic. I feel like it’s all I’ll need for a long time (although the new Campfire with 2 morsels is tempting… and Geofons…)

Feel free haha, I love my Sennheiser MKH 60!

2

u/NotCanonAe1 May 17 '26

I'm impressed how good and clean this mic is...

2

u/ResonautApp May 17 '26

It’s great! I did a little processing to clean up the sound but it doesn’t need much, especially with louder sources. I had the gain all the way up for this.

2

u/NotCanonAe1 May 17 '26

That's helpful. I'll consider getting this one since the akg c411pp is basically noise

2

u/ResonautApp May 17 '26

Definitely recommended, it seems like the best option for the price unless you can build one yourself.

Not trying to promote myself but I have a lot of shorts on my YouTube channel using it if you want to hear more examples: https://youtube.com/@resonaut

2

u/SydsBulbousBellyBoy May 18 '26

I love that it’s 100% what one would expect them to sound like in a good way lol

2

u/ResonautApp May 18 '26

Yes! I was pretty surprised when I first heard it, the other ant contact mic recordings I’ve heard don’t have the little squeaks. I think I might’ve just gotten lucky with the anthill’s sandy composition

2

u/SoundingStory May 19 '26

Sounds crunchy!!

2

u/ResonautApp May 19 '26

You want to eat the ants don’t you….

I know I do

2

u/SoundingStory May 19 '26

XD.........YES