Topic: Condenser Mics outside in the freezing cold

[Life In Rewind]

Haven't really taped much, but I've had these CAD C9s on this pole since early November braving the South Central PA winter. A cool 4 degrees this morning.

I use them for my YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/live/Ao1f9KN6qRU?si=2ZsJnpKvZ-3CS22U

[heathen]

That is very cool (no pun intended).  Do you leave them out there 24/7? 

[Life In Rewind]

That is very cool (no pun intended).  Do you leave them out there 24/7?

Yep 24/7, I'm using the Behringer FLOW 8 as the interface.

They seem like they ran noisy at first, but today, in this single digit cold, they are surprisingly quiet.

[heathen]

Out of curiosity, why do you have the mics configured as shown in that photo? 

[Gutbucket]

Looks to be the most practical way to arrange them on the pole.

I'd suspect moisture in the form of dew, condensation, melting snow, rain or whatever to be a bigger challenge than cold.  ..and eventually torn up windscreens from bird feet, covered with droppings.  If you intend to leave them up long term, you might rig up some kind of small visor type roof directly over them to provide a little bit of shelter.  Camera has its own little roof built in already.

[anodyne33]

I'm a fan of this idea. I should be do that and combining with a remote controlled airsoft gun to keep the fucks away from my bird feeder. Trail flagging is of no use

well that fucking rotation is annoying

[Life In Rewind]

Out of curiosity, why do you have the mics configured as shown in that photo?

I was going for something approximating XY hoping it would center the bird tweets more. The bird feeder is actually to right of the mics, a little off axis.

But also as Gutbucket said - just working with what I had.

There is a little rooflet for the camera and mics - so keeping them tight on the pole keeps the weather off and some of the animals...a little.

[Life In Rewind]

Looks to be the most practical way to arrange them on the pole.

I'd suspect moisture in the form of dew, condensation, melting snow, rain or whatever to be a bigger challenge than cold.  ..and eventually torn up windscreens from bird feet, covered with droppings.  If you intend to leave them up long term, you might rig up some kind of small visor type roof directly over them to provide a little bit of shelter.  Camera has its own little roof built in already.

I do have a little shed roof thing to cover the gear. What I need to fabricate is - a little cage of galvanized mesh screen to keep them from landing on the mics. You'd think under that roof would not be that attractive - but it doesnt stop them.

[admkrk]

If you hang, stretch, a piece of wire or string an inch or two over the mics, it will prevent birds from landing on them.

[Life In Rewind]

Low Filter on the FLOW 8 is set to 380hz on both channels. And I have the lows rolled off on the mains and per channel.

Audio is a little early. Software is limited to 950ms delay. Might have to try a DAW or a hardware solution

But, I generally turn them off its windy at all. Today is pretty decent, a few little breezes.

I get a lot of deer at night, so I take the feeder down, and use that PTZ cam to follow the deer.

I have two other camera shots. All of this is brought together in OBS.

I use .gov info sources/feeds for content.

Mostly everything is automated. Although I have to intervene to get things moving with the videos.

Im going for a localized hybrid of C-SPAN and "Weather on the 8s"  - but just for fun now. An experiment. I like this OBS software.

[commongrounder]

Really nice setup! I watch/listened for a while this evening. Great image quality in low light.

The attached (I hope) photos show my outdoor microphone that has been in operation 24/7 for several years in extreme temperatures (+90 to -30 degrees F) and humidity. The screened-in enclosure acts as both weather/insect protection and as a semi-binaural stereo baffle for the pair of Audio-Technica U851 conference room omnidirectional boundary mics. These have really nice sounding AT omni lavalier capsules inside that have performed flawlessly. The mics are phantom powered from a Shure FP32a mixer that in turn feeds a pair of headphones, a pair of powered speakers, and a Tascam DR-100mkiii. The recorder can be powered directly into record mode in about six seconds to capture interesting audio events. Otherwise, the system allows us to be alerted when wildlife approaches our feeders. Electret condenser mics can be incredibly durable out in the elements.

[Gutbucket]

Very nice! Dig that baffle setup inside the screening. And you just know the birds and squirls are looking at that thing with nesting envy

[rocksuitcase]

I dig both these set-ups. So creative a use for older taping gear. I would have never thought about this type of idea. Years ago, I would put my mics up outside on a covered porch for major rain events to capture thunder and rain sounds.
Thanks for sharing the images

[commongrounder]

Very nice! Dig that baffle setup inside the screening. And you just know the birds and squirls are looking at that thing with nesting envy

I had a robin build a nest and raise a brood on top of it one year. The sound of the babies cheeping was cute. Birds will sometimes land for a moment Thankfully, it’s out of reach for the squirrels. 

[fotoralf.be]

There's a set of Roland WPM-10 ear mics, wrapped in pieces of faux fur, dangling from their cables in front of my street-side window. Have been there for over four years and working fine. Only had to exchange them once because one of the cables broke. They're on the East side of the building and hence not exposed to rain, but they've endured everything from temps between +37 and -15 deg c, fog, wind, you name it.

These mics were originally meant for a Gopro cam and Thomann had them on sale for a time at only 9.95 euros. One only had to cut off the mini USB connector (this wasn't a USB interface anyhow) and mount a 3.5 mm jack instead. They work with the usual plug-in power from most cams and audio recorders. I have them connected to my trusted MOTU traveler 3 and the Macbook and whenever something interesting happens outside I only have to hit the record button.

Here's a recording of storm Eunice in February '22.

http://www.fotoralf.be/audio/Eunice.mp3

Ralf