Marantz PMD660 captures chimpanzee vocals for Jane Goodall
May 28, 2006 8:00 AM, Audio Technology Update e-newsletter
With its light weight, automatic level control, and one-button record function, the Marantz PMD660 proved ideal for field recording by inexperienced operators.
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World-famous primatologist Jane Goodall recently asked Montreal-based animal rescue organization the Fauna Foundation to create music around the vocalizations of chimpanzees. With its portable design and one-touch operation, the Marantz Professional PMD660 compact digital recorder was chosen as a key piece of technology to help the foundation’s staff accurately capture the music of the chimps. The unit’s on-board microphone, one-touch operation, AA battery power and automatic level control allowed non-technical foundation staff to capture clear, accurate, distortion-free .WAV files in the field.
To complete the process, Chicagoland blues-jazz guitarist Harry Hmura will move the audio tracks to his PC via the unit’s Compact Flash media and edit them into a musical context directly on his PC. Hmura, who has worked with artists like James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Johnny Winter and Jeff Healey, is a strong supporter of chimpanzees rescued from medical centers and zoos, and acts as a spokesperson and fundraiser for Fauna Foundation. The resulting recordings will be edited within ProTools and used as vocal tracks on music composed by Hmura, which in turn will be used to help raise awareness of the foundation’s mission.
Fauna Foundation was founded in 1997 when veterinarian Dr. Richard Allan and Gloria Grow bought a house on a 200-acre farm near Montreal and turned it into a refuge for abused chimps.
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