Tokyo, Japan (July 22, 2015)—Michael Reid, founder of environmental action group Life Recycled, is documenting his kayaking expedition up the coast of Japan using a Countryman B3 lav mic.
Since its beginnings as a community-based in Japan, Life Recycled and its members have worked to bring awareness to the subject of coastal pollution and combat the problems it creates. Reid, the group’s founder and an avid expedition kayaker, is documenting his 621-mile kayaking expedition up the coast of Japan to raise awareness for the cause.
Documenting the trip in such close proximity to saltwater is rough on the electronics. After destroying a variety of products he attempted to use for audio capture purposes, Reid found the solution with the Countryman B3 omnidirectional lavalier. His particular microphone is outfitted with Countryman’s flat frequency response capsule and the microphone itself is mated to a Zoom H4n digital field recorder using a custom made XLR female to male 90-degree elbow, which enables everything to fit nicely into the tight confines of an Aquapac waterproof case.
“The Countryman B3 has proven to be a real workhorse in regards to the audio requirements of the expedition,” Reid says. “It was used to capture everything from ambient ocean/paddling sounds to the audio for expedition update videos. The B3 was also extensively tested in kayak wet exits and rolls, which included fully submerging the mic and, upon emerging, checking to ensure audio quality. When I was doing wet exits, the mic’s position was placed upside down so it could clear any water which happened to be on the top of the B3 when I emerged from the water.
“The B3 excels in both audio quality and speech intelligibility, which is critically important for the viewer in order to understand what’s being said. I was really impressed by how authentic the sound was.”
Countryman Associates
www.countryman.com
