listen to the balcony

[ROMEO18]

I want to have technical information. I am in town, with no other opportunities to find sounds than from the balcony overlooking a large courtyard, without cars. So I want to know which material is to be used for sounds through the balconies, at about 20 to 50 meters. My smartphone is very poor for that iphone6S. Do you have any advice.

[sndprv]

There are a few members who have caught some great sounds from courtyards. Most devices can easily
capture sounds from sources up to 10 metres away. But I've managed to capture outdoor sounds up to 25 metres
distant when the acoustics of the area were good and the sounds were quite loud. If you just leave any audio
recording device (not a smartphone) on your balcony overnight, you might get lucky if some of the windows
overlooking the yard have been left open.

[ROMEO18]

Thank you for this answer, but which recorder to choose for this specific case? Are there any that work better in these types of conditions?

[mjj9994]

If you are looking to isolate certain target sounds I would suggest a shotgun microphone or parabolic microphone. In this situation the recording device is not as important as the microphone as you will need to isolate the target sounds you want and to do that you will need one those types of microphones. Both have a headphone type jack so any recording device that accepts that type of input for "audio in" can be used.

[sndprv]

^I was seriously thinking of getting a parabolic mic last year for recordings at a particular site. But
I thought about how conspicuous and fragile they are (I would require one to fit into a rucksack).
Then I thought, supposing someone spotted me holding up one of those things - I'd look a right knob!

[mjj9994]

Guess it would depend on the location you were using it. If you are in an urban environment (just apartments and asphalt) then it will be a bit out of place. If you are in a park/wooded setting you can just say you are trying to capture nature sounds (well you could use that excuse in the urban setting too but not sure they will buy it haha)

[GarfensX]

I started planting a USB recorder under the fence the other day because I know there is a couple that's been loud enough to clearly hear them.
But I assume that they know and keep the window shut most of the time.

And even that budget USB recorder was good enough to record people talking from like 15-20 meters, couldn't hear them clearly but still.
Not sure about the acoustics in your neighborhood but you can try a basic USB recorder before you buy any bigger and more expensive gear.

The USB recorder fits perfectly beneath the fence (mine) and stays hidden in case you get spontaneous visits..

good luck.

[sndprv]

Guess it would depend on the location you were using it. If you are in an urban environment (just apartments and asphalt) then it will be a bit out of place. If you are in a park/wooded setting you can just say you are trying to capture nature sounds (well you could use that excuse in the urban setting too but not sure they will buy it haha)

Actually, the location I was considering was quite safe. What concerned me the most was, would it really be worth
me spending between 30 and 70 UK pounds? Would I really get better quality captures, if any at all? Because I've
already wasted 40 pounds on an Atto which (so far) has proven to be useless for corridor recordings in hotels.

[mjj9994]

The parabolic mics are a bit pricey, but for about 20 pounds I picked up a battery powered shotgun mic that worked pretty well for isolating/amplifying sounds at distances up to 40-50 meters.