>>1191981>Was wondering what you all would recommend in terms of recording settings.Well, 24-bit and 44.1kHz is fine. I use 48kHz only because i can make videos for them easier at 48k. sound quality is the same. you don't have to bother with 96kHz or any of that fancy stuff.
NO limiter, compressor, NO auto level controls. Bypass all that shit and set your recording level so the loudest sounds are about 2/3 of the way up the level meter (the little arrows that Tascam puts on the meter are helpful). You shouldn't need the high pass (low cut) filter if you're using the windmuff, but if it's really windy you might use it.
Make sure to remember headphones so you can hear what the recorder's hearing while you're setting up.
Lower to the ground is good because there's less wind, but you have to remember the mics are directional so thing of it like a flashlight. If you aren't "shining" it on what you want to record you'll have to adjust for that. Generally avoid putting the recorder near cliffs or other reflective surfaces, it sounds weird when you get reflections. Again though, the recorder won't pic up much from behind (except low frequencies), so you just point it away from anything troublesome.
The single biggest thing is placement! Spend your time choosing a great placement. You want a good stereo balance (i.e. not just getting birds all the way on the left and nothing much on the right) and recording more than one thing at a time makes for a great soundscape. For example, you might have a pond about 10m away to the left of the recorder with frogs, a trickling creek 2ma way on the right of the recorder, and an old creaking tree in the middle 5m away. That's how you get a really vivid sense of place, and how the recording ends up being better than "being there" in many ways.
Now if that's for ambience, if you're doing close-up recordings you kind of just point and shoot, but still you have to consider recording levels and stereo balance
Also, have fun
