A little over two ears ago, Thomann reduced the Roland WPM-10 ear mics
from over 100 to a mere 9.95 euros. I bought a few to play around with
them and since August 15, 2020, a pair of them has been dangling at
their cables in front of my street-side window, protected by just a
little faux fur and connected to a MOTU traveler Mk3.
Admittedly, the window is facing to the East, so the mics aren't
directly hit by rain but they've been through high humidity, fog and
morning dew, storm-force winds as well as temperatures ranging from -15
to almost +40 deg c.
And, to my own surprise, they're still working flawlessly. I'd never
have expected them to last this long, out there.
I've made a lot of recordings, from fireworks and thunderstorms to birds
in the early morning, road construction works and posers with awfully
loud bikes and cars at night. I'd never had made any of them if I had to
set up mics each time.
I call them the greatest fun to be had for 9.95 euros.
Unfortunately, they're sold out at Thomann's. But if you get hold of a
pair just cut off the USB plug, this isn't a USB interface anyway, and mount a
simple stereo jack plug instead. They work with the usual plug-in-power from all
portable recorders.
Here's today's blog post on the subject. It's German but you can still
look at the photos:
https://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com/2022/08/der-grote-spa-schon-zwei-jahre.htmlHere's a few sounds:
https://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com/2020/10/allegro-vivace-opus-3.htmlhttps://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com/2020/10/kurz-aber-heftig.htmlhttps://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com/2021/01/frohes-neues-allerseits.htmlhttps://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com/2022/02/eunice.htmlEnjoy
Ralf