While some recordists have dismissed unattended recording as "lazy" or "uninvolved", I believe that there are certain types of recordings that are almost impossible to capture when camping out with a recorder in-hand. At the same time, the process of choosing the right gear, assembling a rig, finding the perfect location, and developing an effective routine for managing and editing the resulting recordings are invaluable skills to master.

Here are some of the key points of why I consider deploying drop rigs an essential field recording practice.

1.) Flexibility

When deploying a drop rig to record unattended, you can be recording more sounds somewhere else or work on other projects as your equipment is recording in a remote location. Similarly, you can capture long-form recordings without having to try and be extremely quiet while lingering in the same spot for hours at a time. It is a great way to maximize the amount of material you can capture during a field recording outing.

2.) Minimizing your Effect on your Surroundings

Most living creatures are keenly aware of our presence and certain sounds will be nearly impossible to record when you're standing in the middle of nature holding a recorder. Many animal species are extremely "shy", territorial, or flighty, making it highly unlikely that they'd want to get anywhere near you. Others may be too dangerous to be around, potentially making field recording a highly hazardous endeavor.

Check out the example below of a lone hyena calling out to its mate seemingly only a yard or so away from my microphones. You can also hear some guinea fowl being scared off by another animal towards the end. This was captured during several overnight recordings with an unattended rig mounted to the porch railing at a hotel in Zimbabwe. I am certain that this would not have occurred had this hyena seen me looming over the railing.

3.) Giving up Control

There is an inherent beauty in capturing nature without having complete control over it. After leaving a rig out for hours, days, or even longer, listening to the resulting recording is an exciting feeling, especially when you end up capturing sounds you never expected. The hyena in the sample above is the perfect example of that.

It is, of course, also an important learning opportunity as it's not unlikely for recordings to end up unusable due to unforeseen circumstances. These can range from a logging taking place in a forest you thought was untouched, or anthropogenic noise (also known as noise pollution) appearing far more prevalent in your recording than you realized when placing your recorder. It's important to learn that sometimes, no matter how prepared you were, you might just end up with no useable material in the end... and that's fine.

To me, this is the definition of "trusting the process" and adopting this mentality will turn each and every recording outing into a learning opportunity.

4.) Practicing active Listening

Scouting locations that would make for ideal drop rig spots will teach you many things. For me personally, it made me realize just how prevalent noise pollution is even in areas that seem untouched and incredibly calm. It teaches you to listen for the specific acoustics of locations, lets you explore the effects of different microphone techniques on the sound of your ambience recordings, and is a very practical way of getting to know the wildlife native to a locale. It strengthens your connection to nature, sharpens your ears, and teaches you valuable recording skills.

5.) Getting Crafty

If you enjoy tinkering with your gear, getting your hands dirty, or assembling things, then putting together a drop rig is probably right up your alley. From finding your ideal power solution to experimenting with different ways of mounting or hiding recorders in challenging locations... Unattended recording can be as simple as throwing a recorder and a power bank into a dry bag or as involved as building a self-contained waterproof rig for extreme weather conditions in a disused ammo tin.

Spoilers: I will be talking about interesting ways to build specialized rigs in a later post!

If you're planning to drop a field recording rig in an outdoor location, you will want to have a couple of items at hand to protect it from the elements, keep it powered, and mount it in a location of your choice.

1.) The Recorder

For unattended recording, having a dedicated recorder is paramount. This recorder doesn't need to be fancy by any means but will have to support connecting external microphones either via XLR or a 3.5mm jack for use cases where the recorder needs to be protected from the elements. If you'll be placing a recorder in a sheltered location, you could use its built-in microphones to capture audio - however, that won't work as well when the recorder has to sit inside a dry bag to be protected against weather and critters.

If you have a handheld recorder already then you won't need to buy a new one just yet. Even low-cost recorders perform exceptionally well these days, and their noise floor can be lowered dramatically by using high-quality external microphones which are available at similarly low prices from independent manufacturers.

if you are still shopping for your first recorder, consider these choices:

• Zoom H1essential - an improved H1n now with 32-bit recording
• Zoom H1n - the go-to low-cost recorder for taking anywhere
• Sony PCM-A10 - amazing value for money and pristine sound quality
• Zoom H4n Pro - great if you want built-in mics and XLR inputs on a budget, neither will blow you away in terms of quality though
• Tascam PortaCapture X6 - built-in mics + preamps + 32-bit recording at a great price, the app-like interface can be clunky for some
• Zoom F3 - no built-in microphones but features excellent preamps, 32-bit recording, and optional remote control via a $30 bluetooth adapter. Sonically identical to the excellent Zoom F6.

2.) The Microphones

If your recorder is contained in a bag or case, you'll of course need some external microphones to capture sound. These will also have the benefit of significantly lowering you recorder's noise floor (since the internal mics are often the culprit here), as well as providing you with better sound quality than most recorder's internal mics can offer.

Over the last couple of years, a number of independent mic manufacturers have started producing incredible quality, compact microphones that are perfect for field recording while not breaking the bank thanks to using off-the-shelf microphone capsules by manufacturers like Primo.

These microphones are generally omnidirectional (with some exceptions) which means they're excellent for capturing natural sounding ambience recordings, while also offering a very wide frequency response that reaches well above the range of human hearing, making them able to capture sounds our ears can't perceive (bats, insects, etc.).

Despite their low price, many seasoned, world-traveling field recordists swear by these mics for the compact form factor, ruggedness, and sound quality.

Arguably the most famous manufacturer of such microphones is LOM from Bratislava, a company revered by field recordists for their innovative and high-quality gear made in small batches that is, regrettably, sold-out most of the time. Their Uši mics in particular are immensely popular for their small size and ability to accept both regular 48V phantom power and the lower-voltage plug-in power (PiP) provided by the 3.5mm microphone jack on many handheld recorders.

The metal construction and tight tolerances mean that these mics hold up extremely well to challenging conditions like extreme cold or humidity. Note however, that these mics aren't officially rated for these conditions.

Fortunately for US-based recordists, the NYC-based company Sonorous Objects creates similarly compact microphones with the same or similar microphone capsules that are comparable in price but use 3D-printed enclosures. SO also sells high-quality low-profile cables, custom mounting solutions, and 3rd party windscreens. These mics are often made to order and more readily available.

In the UK, the company FEL Communications manufactures the MicBooster series of products which includes the so-called Clippy microphones. These mics also utilize Primo capsules in high-quality enclosures and the company offers an assortment of essential accessories. FEL doesn't only offer individual mics and matched pairs, you can also buy a set of 4 matched microphones for building your own surround rig.

Of course, other mics are available, but these three companies in particular are part of an important movement to democratize access to world-class recording equipment and make it accessible to more people than ever.

I will be exploring further considerations when choosing mics for field recording drop rigs in a later post!

3.) Ample Storage

There are few things worse than finding out your recording stopped after just a few hours due to insufficient storage. Making sure you have plenty of room on your SD and MicroSD Cards is essential when recording for hours, days, or weeks at a time. Be sure to consult your recorder's manual to find out what the maximum supported storage size for memory cards is and try to get the largest capacity card(s) your budget will allow for.

Storage will fill up surprisingly quickly, especially when recording at high sample rates. For example, a 32GB card can hold around 15 hours of stereo audio at 24-Bit / 96 kHz. Higher resolution or more microphones recorded simultaneously will reduce this number further. Recently (2024), I have found 256 GB to sit in the sweet spot between price and performance for both SD and MicroSD Cards.

Write speed is less of a concern for audio recording than it is for video can affect the speed of file transfers once a recording session is done. During capture, a single channel of 24-Bit / 96 kHz audio will require roughly 0.3 MB/s (Megabytes per second) write speed. If you were so adventurous as to record 10 microphones at the same time using one recorder, this could potentially create problems if your card can only write 30 MB/s minimum, but for stereo, Ambisonic, and surround recordings you are unlikely to hit this ceiling. Besides, if you had a 10-channel recorder you likely already own high-quality storage media 😉

Format your card or at least make sure it has sufficient remaining space before leaving your recorder anywhere! All the storage space in the world won't mean anything if it's all taken up by previous recordings. A great way to check is to take a close look at the recording time remaining that shows on the main screen of your recorder. An even better practice is to simply format your card each time you set up your recorder for extended periods of time. Be sure to consult the manual to find out how to do so as every model has its own particular process.

4.) Sufficient Power

When planning to leave your recorder for several hours, days, or a whole week at a time, regular batteries of course won't cut it. Even the most frugal recorder will need a larger battery to record for such a long time and, luckily, USB power banks have gotten larger and more affordable every year.

If you are shopping for a power bank for field recording, I would look for no less than 20,000 mAh. Why? Depending on your recorder, you might actually end up going through a battery this large sooner than you think. Keep in mind that sample rate, number of mics connected, and phantom power all directly affect how much battery life you can expect.

For example, a 6,000 mAh battery lasts just about 7 hours with my Zoom F3 recording at 32-bit / 96 kHz with two microphones using 48V phantom power. 10,000 mAh push it to just about 12 hours.

With the same setup powered by an Anker 20,000 mAh power bank and at around 50°F I've still had some power left after around 30 hours of recording.

Handy recorders like the Sony PCM-A10 or Zoom H1n consume a lot less power and will be able to last several times as long as the F3 as a result.

Another best practice is to always have fully-charged, rechargeable AA (or AAA) batteries in your recorder as a backup in case your power bank runs out of juice. Note that most recorders split recorded files to maintain manageable file sizes and thus only the very last file could potentially be lost if power runs out.

As you probably know, cold temperatures will limit battery life, while intense heat might lead to battery failure or your recorder overheating. Always shield your recorder from the elements as well as you can to ensure uninterrupted recording.

5.) Protection from the Elements

When it comes to protecting your recording gear, you can never have too many dry bags. These waterproof bags originally designed for protecting your belongings while camping, kayaking, or rafting are perfect for keeping your gear dry and shielded from the elements. They're usually sized by internal volume and range from as small as 1L to as humongous as 65L and beyond.

I would generally advise to get ones that are 5L or larger while making sure the bags you're getting are rated to be waterproof, not just splash resistant.

I personally use a range of bags ranging from ones by bike manufacturer Canyon to ones made by Skog a Kust. Sea to Summit is another go-to brand available at most outdoor retailers and places like REI (US only) also offer high-quality store brand models. You'll notice that as soon as you get more active in field recording, outdoor stores will be a place you visit quite often.

6.) Wind Protection

Now that your recorder itself is protected, it's time to think about your mics. As you most likely know, microphones are extremely susceptible to wind noise and practically unusable outdoors without some form of wind protection. Your needs for wind protection will vary depending on the microphones you plan to use with your drop rig.

For microphones like the LOM Uši, Sonorous Elements SO series, MicBooster Clippy series, or similarly compact microphones, small lavalier-style "furry" wind protection will suffice. For example, LOM sells so-called Wind Bubbles by Bubblebee Industries alongside their Uši series.

For microphones with the diameter of an XLR plug or larger (LOM BasicUcho, pencil condensers), the RØDE WS-8 is a great solution that won't break the bank.

What you likely have noticed is that name brand wind protection seems somewhat disproportionately pricey, and I agree. However, having tried several cheaper options first, I quickly learned that most of them provide little to no added wind protection as they are often missing an additional internal foam layer, use fibers that are not dense enough, or affect sound quality negatively. Many cheap "furries" will also shed their synthetic fibers frequently, posing a hazard to environment and wildlife.

Similarly, a simple foam windscreen, while suitable as a plosive-filter for handheld vocal mics, will not provide sufficient outdoor wind protection for most microphones.

Companies like Rycote, Bubblebee Industries, Radius, RØDE, and others have put a lot of research and experience into the development of their wind protection and it shows in the results. A quality windjammer will be durable, protect your microphone from wind and light rain, and will have minimal to no effect on the quality of your audio. The fact that many microphones share similar form factors also means that you'll be able to use your wind protection on more than one mic.

7.) Mounting Solutions

Keeping your recorder and microphones secured is essential to achieve quality recordings and keep your gear protected from the elements, wildlife, and, in some cases, theft.

Tripods

As shown above, when visual concealment isn't all too important, a tripod allows for the greatest flexibility in placing your rig. It offers great stability and lets your mount your recorder to it fairly easily using utility straps. Tripods with independently articulated legs (see above) also allow you to place your rig on sloped or uneven terrain with relative ease. Many tripods can also be used with the head upside down or horizontal, making it possible to record extremely low to the ground without compromising stability.

On the flipside, a tripod is hard to conceal from view and may attract curious eyes from passersby of the human and animal variety. Curious wildlife could knock it over, while humans might think it's ripe for the taking, or become suspicious that it might be placed somewhere for surveillance purposes. Always survey your surroundings and make sure that your rig isn't easily spotted. If you are recording unattended near walking paths or parks, make sure to inform any relevant officials and display a message somewhere on your rig stating that your intentions are to record nature. I would also note your phone number so that people can contact you if they have privacy concerns.

Here's an example of a notice you could display on a rig that's easily visible just in case someone passes by:

Nature sound recording in progress! Do not move equipment from this location. For privacy concerns please call or text 000-000-0000 or email recordist@nature.com

Trees, Bushes, Posts

My favorite way of mounting a drop rig is fastening it to a tree, bush, or post. Trees will provide additional shelter from rain, their organic shape and rough bark makes it less likely for your equipment to slide down, and a tree trunk or post of similar size will allow you to achieve greater stereo separation with omnidirectional microphones.

The reason for the latter is that a sturdy tree trunk will not just let you space apart your mics freely, it also serves as a sonic barrier between the two, somewhat similar to how our head will shield certain frequencies from reaching the opposite ear, making it possible for us to precisely locate sounds in our environment. This is why many recordists, myself included, love utilizing the "tree ears" method of mounting mics to the opposite sides of a tree trunk. This method creates a more natural stereo field and can sometimes reduce phasing issues. You can see two examples of this technique in the photos above.

Fasteners Galore

Utility straps, hook & loop (Velcro) straps, bungee cords, backpack accessory straps, reusable zip ties, carabiners, rope; all of these things make great fasteners for mounting your gear in various places. While electrical tape is an option, I vastly prefer reusable options as they are more flexible and sustainable while being less susceptible to environmental conditions.

Utility straps are great for creating a mounting point for your gear by looping them around trees or posts. You can then hang your recorder dry bag either from its integrated collar clips or another strap or carabiner. Heavy-duty Velcro straps are great for mounting microphones to smaller branches, attaching your rig to a tripod, and managing cables.

If you are mounting microphones to very small branches or something like a wire fence, check out reusable zip ties as they tend to also be available in very short lengths. Since they are usually made of rubber, they are also great at stopping your mics from slipping in these situations.

My advice is to get straps in different lengths so that you know you have one long enough for looping around even big trees, a shorter one as a secondary mounting point, and some Velcro straps of varying lengths for cable management and spares. It also won't hurt to have some larger carabiners as they make for great mounting points.

You will usually find the biggest selection of these fasteners at your nearest outdoor store in the climbing and accessories departments. Make sure to also check in camping section as some might be sold as backpack accessories.

This covers the essentials of putting together a drop rig and conducting your first unattended nature recording sessions. Most importantly though, remember that there are no rules set in stone when it comes to recording. Use the gear you have to its fullest potential, find locations near you that have an inspiring soundscape, try different mounting techniques, learn from mistakes, and refine your craft along the way.

Always consider the risks before placing your gear out in nature, and make sure you are aware of what could happen to it. Pay attention to the weather forecast, survey the environment for potential privacy concerns, and make sure to note the precise location of your rig so you'll be able to find it again.

We will explore more advanced concepts and go deeper into topics like equipment safety, microphone choice, and harsh environmental conditions in future posts so stay tuned and be sure to subscribe to my mailing list via form at the bottom of the page.

As a closer, I will leave you with a video by one of my favorite nature recordists, George Vlad, who runs Mindful-Audio.com and has conducted a number of awe-inspiring field recording expeditions around the world.

In this video, he shares his approach to constructing miniature drop rigs and explores a lot of necessary considerations for getting started.