BirdMic One Parabolic Microphone with Audio Interface

The BirdMic is a compact, lightweight and great value parabolic microphone kit, designed to make wildlife sound recording simple and effective. This complete kit comes with everything you need to get recording. The parabolic dish has been designed to amplify sounds at 1.5KHz and above, making it an effective tool for capturing bird calls.

Parabolic microphones work by placing a sensitive microphone at the focal point of a parabolic dish. Sound waves bounce off the inner face of the dish and are focused onto the microphone at the centre. Sounds arriving from the side or rear of the dish are reflected away, meaning calls coming from the direction in which the microphone is pointed are isolated and amplified before being transmitted to a digital recording device.

The included audio interface conveniently attaches directly to the parabolic dish, allowing for the connection of a smartphone, which can, in turn, be mounted onto the dish using the included brackets. An auto ID app (such as Merlin) can then be used to record and ID bird species in real time. It is also possible to use the microphone without the interface and connect directly to a handheld audio recorder or camera, provided it has a 3.5mm microphone input and is capable of transmitting plug-in power. Please note that a 3.5mm TRS male to TRS male cable is required for this and is not included in the kit.

To get up and running, simply connect the interface to the dish. No cables are needed as the specially designed interface has an inbuilt 3.5mm male-to-female jack. Headphones can then be connected directly to the interface for live monitoring. Monitoring levels can be controlled using the headphone volume wheel on the interface itself. A smartphone can then be connected to the 'out' port of the interface. High-quality recordings can then be achieved using a recording app of your choice. 

The interface can be charged using a USB-C cable and includes a handy low-cut frequency switch to tame low-frequency wind noise and a boost switch to quickly amplify weak signals in the field. You can purchase the Sharing kit to add an extra headset and share the listening experience, here

Customers using iPhones with Lightning connectors will need to purchase a 3.5mm Lightning jack adapter in addition to the full kit - these are not currently available from NHBS but are readily available online.