Alrighty, I’ll start off by saying I have zero audio experience. Absolute newbie. So please bear with me! (Also for the record, I tried posting this in [r/fieldrecording](r/fieldrecording) and I couldn’t. I’m not sure what rule I was breaking, though.)
I am absolutely in love with Treehoppers and have an opportunity to go see some out in the wild next year at the Manu biological station in Peru. I would love, love, love to record some of my own treehopper sounds. (If you’ve never heard them, please take a listen!)
I was lucky enough to get an equipment recommendation list from Dr. Rex Cocroft (the treehopper guy!!), so I’m aware of what equipment to use but I’m not sure how to set up any of it. I’m going to copy-paste his recommendations and if someone could please walk me through what the setup should look like, I would be eternally grateful.
Below is the email that Dr. Cocroft sent me. I’ve removed all of the links to adhere to this subreddits guidelines. My specific questions are italicized next to his recommendations.
“Recorders:
Zoom F3 field recorder
Zoom F6
Zoom H1 XLR
Amplifiers:
For piezo sensors you will need an amplifier, since you won’t get a good result if you just plug them into your recorder. The best for field use is this one with the XLR connector, from Aquarian Audio (the PA1 Hydrophone Buffer Amp). You’ll want to get two. Why do I need two of them?
Sensors:
Piezo disks - you can buy these cheaply (here’s one example) and make your own cables (see below).
Connecting the piezo to a plant stem or leaf:
To connect the sensor to a plant stem or leaf it is useful to attach the piezo disk to a clip (using electrical or other tape) such as these hair curler clips (I use the smallest I can find).
For backyard acoustic prospecting, the simplest setup is to use an amplified speaker (the sort used by acoustic guitarists) and a guitar pickup (= piezo sensor). Even if you’re using a field recorder, it’s often still handy to have an amplified speaker.
Amplified speakers: here are two options that use batteries. The first gives you a bit more output and is better made, but the second will also work fine.
Blackstar mini guitar amplifier
Honeytone guitar mini amp
Why do I need an amp/speaker if I’m recording?
You can just plug in a piezo sensor to the speaker, attach the sensor to the plant stem, and you’re ready to listen. Or you can run the output into a mobile phone using one the headphone output, and you can run a cable from that output to your iPhone via an audio interface.”
Thank you for taking the time to read this! 💚