I looked up at bat detector, a device that converts ultrasonic signals into audible sounds.
Most bats produce high frequency calls which are often higher than a human ear can pick up. A bat detector picks up the frequencies and then converts the sound into a lower, audible frequency. I was thinking if I could get a bat detector, I use it to capture the ultrasonic sounds.While bat detector could pick up these high frequencies, it would be interesting to see how it will pick up the faintly heard, to human ears - sounds of the industrialised areas/city or even at isolated/quiet areas.
The bat detector I want to use is this - http://www.magenta2000.co.uk/acatalog/Bat_Detector_Bat4.html
I’m thinking of hooking up the bat detector to a digital recorder and a contact microphone and capture the sound through those equipments.
I would greatly appreciate your suggestions/opinions on this matter.
it would be interesting to see how it will pick up the faintly heard, to human ears - sounds of the industrialised areas/city or even at isolated/quiet areas.
…So I can take them to court for the noises they’re making?
You should be careful to pose the question so it doesn’t sound like you’re building up to a lawsuit. Many people who complain about not being able to record both sides of a cellphone have that problem. "Help me record my ex-wife… "
If the sound presented is in the Audible range, then Audacity should work just fine. You may have an interesting time getting the sound into Audacity, because a Headphone-Out (for example) will not directly interface with the Mic-In of most Windows Laptops.
You will have a simple physics problem as well. No matter what you’re recording, all microphone and microphone amplifiers make their own noise. The object is to make the performance louder than the noise. When you start recording nature, it’s certainly possible that the noises are going to be completely below the microphone’s ability to deal with it.
Generally, the microphone and amplifier goes down as the cost goes up. I have a field sound mixer reputed to have excellent noise levels. It’s $1300 USD.
Koz