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Bird recording equipment setup

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My complete bird recording gear setup.

Equipment summary

This is the current equipment setup I am using with my shotgun microphone. The basic idea of components remains the same regardless of specific equipment.

Component

Equipment

Notes

Microphone Sennheiser ME67 No longer available. Consider MKE600 or look on eBay

Recorder

MixPre-3 II  
Peripherals K6 Power Module Optional but saves battery draw on the recorder
Rycote Shock Mount Grip  
Rycote Softie Windscreen The fuzzier the better
Over-the-ear headphones Optional with this kind of microphone
Angled XLR cable  

Microphone

I originally selected this shotgun microphone after reading a guide from Audubon on recording bird songs. They have a fleet of these microphones in use. I like it for its directional sensitivity. It does a good job of filtering out ambient noise but not so much that a pair of headphones are required. The microphone can be powered by phantom draw (taking power from the recorder) or by using a K6 Power Module.

Shotgun microphone

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Sennheiser ME67 and K6 power module
Type Shotgun
Brand Sennheiser
Model ME67
Accessory K6 Power Module

Recorder

Sound Devices MixPre-3 II (a 32-bit float recorder)

This MixPre-3 II recorder by Sound Devices is an amazing piece of technology. 

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