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MillimeterMark In
Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM
What recorder survived a hyena bite?
Sony PCM-D1 digital field recorder
DP Jim Kinsey took a Sony PCM-D1 digital field recorder on a 21-day African safari. The game plan was to capture high-quality animal sound effects along with footage he was shooting for a stock library.
One evening, Kinsey left the unit in an enclosed leopard blind Kinsey and crew had built to surreptitiously film the animals. When he returned the next morning, the PCM-D1 was gone. At first Kinsey thought poachers had stolen the unit, but the ground around the blind was peppered with distinctive hyena tracks. After a careful search of the area, they found the unit. “It was covered with mud, and the furry windscreen had been chewed up and spat out,” Kinsey says. “But the stainless steel roll bar protected the twin electret condenser mics. There were two serious canine bite dents on the front; the glass covering the VU meters was scratched, but not broken; and the rear battery compartment lid was cracked. Considering the fact that hyenas have the strongest bone-crushing jaws in the jungle, the PCM-D1 came through remarkably unscathed. Hopefully, a taste of battery acid has taught that scavenger a lesson he won’t forget.”
Hoping to salvage the unit, Kinsey secured a spare battery pack to the unit with black electrical tape and powered it up. “It worked flawlessly throughout the two-week shoot,” he says. “We captured elephant trumpets, leopard roars, monkey cries, and wild bird calls.”
