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email:   tempjez (at) hotmail (dot) com

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18 comments:

Sally Bartel said...

Has anyone recorded the sounds of dolphins or whales with your hydrophone? I did not see any examples of these in your blog. I am trying to find a hydrophone that I can attach to my underwater video housing in order to record marine mammal sounds while I film them.

Jez riley French said...

Hi,
yes indeed they have - there are a couple of samples on the soundcloud player at the top of this page for example. ta.

Fissures said...

Hi,
My name is ludovic Medery from Belgium. I am interesting by the hydrophone (5m), the Contact microphone C-series, a coil pick-up and a 1/4 inch (female) to XLR ( male)impedance transforming adaptor.
How much with the shipping to my country?
I have a paypal accont.
Thank you
Ps:sorry for the bad English.

Jez riley French said...

Hi Ludovic,

thanks for your interest. You can order from this website & the prices are shown in the drop down menu for each item. Select 'rest of world' postage for the cost to Belgium inc p&p.

you can contact me by email if you have any further questions.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jez,

i'm interested in your c series contact mic(s)...i have fostex fr2le, will i need xlr adapter for mic's too, or i can just straight plug them in?

also another question: is it safe for contact mic to be in water(ice melting recordings)? somehow i found that some recordists use contact mics and not hydrophones for this purpouse...also will there be any damage to contact mic, if i put it in water?

Jez riley French said...

Hi,

thanks.

you can plug the mics directly into the FR2LE but you might get a low level cycling noise in the background - this is one reason for the impedance matching adaptor.

my contact mics are 'shower proof' & can be used in ice for example, but they don't have full waterproof coatings like the hydrophones. As I say they can be used for non-submerssive applications but be careful & they won't last as long as hydrophones if used a lot in these situations.

ta.

Anonymous said...

Hi - not sure where you're based, but would love to pick up a contact mic this week in London - is that possible? need it for recording in New Zealand next week!

Jez riley French said...

Hi Noel,

i'm based up north, but I can dispatch an order as soon as its placed right now as I have all mics made up & ready to post. With 1st class post it should get to you in time.

ta.

Anonymous said...

Hey,
Is there any chance you'll start making JFET pre-amps?
You could make a little box with a mono jack in/out, a few resistors and a couple of capacitors as well as the JFET. People may be interested in buying the little box to improve sound quality a little.

Jez riley French said...

thanks for your comment on pre-amps.

the issue of pre-amps is a complex one & there are some basics:

1) a diy JFET pre-amp won't improve the sound quality, it will just boost the signal.

2) pro quality pre-amps (either separate or in pro recorders) cost a lot - but for a reason. They boost the signal & can add some warmth to the tone, without introducing additional much additional noise - unlike most diy & jfet designs.

3) getting good results with contact mics & hydrophones is about a lot of elements, one of which is getting to grips with the settings of ones recorder. If one is using a recorder at the entry or prosumer level then its true that the built0in pre-amps might not give top results but adding in a JFET pre-amp isn't always the answer as it introduces more noise to already noisy inputs. Its often better to set the recorder well & then increase gain in post if needed. That said adding in a well designed, quiet pre-amp is for some the next step up. I remain convinced that simple JFET designs aren;t good enough.

4) I am looking at pre-amp designs & have been working for some time on this. If I find one that works well & improves on the standard JFET designs i'll list them, but for now anyone needing any advice on this aspect of field recording is welcome to email me & i'll do what I can to offer some options.

ta.

Fabrizio said...

Hello.
I am looking for an external mic to add to my custom underwater housings for camcorders. I mostly use Canon camcorders, and they do not supply power through the external mic socket, so I'd like to know if and how well the hydrophones work without power, and if you supply them without the jack (I need about 40 cm only of cable to pass through a watertight cable gland, I can solder the jack myself).
Thank you

Jez riley French said...

Hi,
the Canon camcorder should supply some power to the socket (plug in power) unless it is only for line level inputs, in which case you'd need some sort of external power supply as the hydrophones are passive. No problem supplying one without the jack & with shorter cable - send me an email to discuss further. ta.

Mat Handleu said...

Hi Jez,

I'm thinking about buying a couple of your contact mice and intend to use them with a Tascam DR-07 mk 2 in order to make filed recordings for later manipulation on my mac. Would this pairing be suitable and compatible?

Mat.

Jez riley French said...

Hi Mat,
yes - contact mics will work ok with the tascam - obviously the better the pre-amps the better the signal but you'll get some decent results even with the tascam. ta.

Mat Handleu said...

Thanks for the reply.... To get better results... What should I be looking at recorder-wise?

Jez riley French said...

well, thats a 'how long is a piece of string' type question ! depends on your budget etc. but if you want to send me an email I can give you some suggestions at different price points. ta.

sounDReceived said...

Hello Jez

Im new to field recording and a friend recommended you for advice.
I was given a Edirol R-09 and want to get hydrophones and contact microphones. You say 'can be supplied with standard ¼ inch jacks or 3.5mm mini-jacks' which one do I need? also would you recommend any other portable handheld recorders? Cheers James

Jez riley French said...

Hi James, probably best to send me an email so I can go into a bit more detail. tempjez@hotmail.com