Dawn Chorus (1) 17 July 22 - 5.25am - Willow Copse Atmosphere by Fintan O'Brien published on 2022-07-17T18:36:25Z 17th of July 2022. Got out of bed at 2.55am, left for Ballinvally woods at 4.01am, arrived at 4.30am. Before going down to set up I went to see how much of the beehive sound could be heard from where I usually set up one lot of equipment, because when processing the previous days recordings, I thought the noise level was a bit high, but it occurred to me that it was not noise but rather it was the sound of the bees in the hives only a few metres away. That hive is new and only appeared there a few weeks ago. After this I went down to Set up the Tascam and the WA84’s at the edge of the Willow copse area opposite the farmhouse and set the gain at 52db. Then I went over to the other side of the copse and set up the MixPre3 and the NT2A’s at the end of 30 meters of cable. The morning sounds, I can’t call it a chorus, is very weak, mainly sounds, birdcalls and doves cooing, but I think very beautiful. Stood about till I felt it was over. It was beginning to look like one of my Rode NT2A’s was becoming faulty, but then I have had them for maybe 16 or 17 years, fantastic mics, with regard to humidity I have found them the best non-radio frequency mics, it has to be really awful damp air before they will even begin to give trouble, the NT1A’s are a bit sensitive to moisture in the air, these new Warm Audio mics are a bit sensitive to moisture in the air too. So I was surprised that they gave trouble in such warm dry conditions. Looks like I will have to buy a new pair of mics. I was a fair while packing up all the gear, then I cut some branches to make a short-cut out to where I parked the car. Left for home at 7.43am, home at 8.11am. The weather was beautiful, mostly clear, mild, dry, and calm. Recordings were made in Ballinvally woods north-west of Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland. Recording 3885. MixPre3 and a pair of Rode NT2A‘s-set to Omni.