[linux-audio-user] recording bats?

[Michael T Nelson]

Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:

>I just had a crazy idea ... Sorry if this is off topic a bit. Does
>anyone know what frequency ranges bats use? Would a 96KHz 24bit card be
>able to capture anything useful from their sounds?
>
>I was just wondering what it would sound like to get a recording of the
>bats eating bugs in the evenings in my backyard and then slow it down
>enough to get into a human audible frequency range. 
>  
>
When I was doing my University final year project last year (I studied 
Electronic Engineering with Music Technology), a guy in my year was 
making a portable bat call recorder. I had to go and hear him do a talk 
on his project, and I'm struggling to remember what the important points 
were. I was a bit preoccupied with giving a presentation on my own 
project next!

I think he was interested in how much he could fit onto a small media 
card. He said all the existing devices are either as big as a van and 
very expensive, or actually semi-portable but limited in quality. It all 
hinged on  whether or not the frequency shifting was done in real-time 
to memory, or whether it was stored raw.

I also seem to remember that my housemate and I made two suggestions - 
not to use Sony's memory stick (which required licensing, but was a 
little bit smaller), and to try FLAC lossless compression.

If I can contact him, I'll try to put you in touch. I'm quite busy with 
work at the moment though.

Sorry if this is all a little vague...

Michael Nelson