Good question.

My first thought is to have a DAW with Spectral Editing capabilities for isolating and amplifying the frequencies of the insects themselves.

You may also find this topic https://recording.o…

The main trouble you will have is finding a microphone whose response covers the audio frequency range you are hoping to capture. As well as upper frequency response, sensitivity is the other factor to consider, as the insect sounds are usually much quieter than the human voice or a musical instrument. After selecting a microphone, audio interfaces and processing software are a secondary problem.

There are some types of USB microphones available that may be suitable for this work. It's a case where a direct USB interface is actually a major advantage, as it by-passes the need for a conventional audio interface with its intentionally limited high-frequency response. I suggest you take a look at the Ultramic384K BLE. That one even has an option to install a micro-SD card, meaning that it can act as a self-contained recorder. Whether it is acoustically sensitive enough for your purposes is something you would have to determine for yourself.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on, as it's an interesting topic.

Boswell wrote:
There are some types of USB microphones available that may be suitable for this work. It's a case where a direct USB interface is actually a major advantage, as it by-passes the need for a conventional audio interface with its intentionally limited high-frequency response. I suggest you take a look at the Ultramic384K BLE. That one even has an option to install a micro-SD card, meaning that it can act as a self-contained recorder. Whether it is acoustically sensitive enough for your purposes is something you would have to determine for yourself.

 

Thought I just replied, but don't see my note. Thanks. I will look into that mike and let you know if I get it and what the results are.

audiokid wrote
My first thought is to have a DAW with Spectral Editing capabilities for isolating and amplifying the frequencies of the insects themselves.

You may also find this topic https://recording.o…

Thanks. I'm following that thread for ideas.

The trouble with this is that assuming you find a mic that can record stuff above the range of human hearing, you won't know what it sounds like and nobody in the audience live or on YouTube will hear it? Bat finders might be useful, they capture the bat's radar and then convert it to a lower frequency so we can hear it. Is this the sort of thing you want to record?

I don't see that as a "trouble", as acoustic waves do not need to be heard in order to be useful. There is a huge amount of research work done involving sound waves that reach above or below the frequency range of human hearing, just as there is a need for infra-red and ultra-violet photography.

If you had a good reason to need an acoustic impression of the sounds, you could speed up or slow down the recordings, but generally you keep them at the frequency range that you recorded and perform whatever analysis is required on them.