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VLF/ELF Audio Amplifier

Werner17984
Prodigy 10 points

First I'd admit I'm not very technically oriented. That being said, I need the advice of experts who are.

My question is simple, but not sure if the answer is.

It's known that elephants can produce very low frequency sounds in the 0 - 40 Hertz range. Is there an in-line amplifier device that will allow me to plug a microphone in one end and headphones in the other and boost those VLF/ELF sounds into the human audible range so I can hear those sounds while I'm in the field, instead of hearing them on the recording later?

Any direction you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Werner

  • 0
    TI__Expert 6050 points

    Hi Werner,

    It sounds like you basically want a ELF/SLF (super low frequency) amplifier and a real-time pitch shifter.  I don't know of any singular products that do this, but I have a suggestion that may work...

    I assume you already have a microphone that can pick up the necessary frequency range.  I would suggest plugging this mic into a simple 2 channel mixer.  Boost the "low" frequency on the mic input channel, and cut the "mid" and "high" frequencies as much as possible.  This will amplify the low frequency signal, while cutting out regular, audible junk you don't want to hear.

    Next, plug the "Send" of the mixer into the input of some sort of octave shifter.  Various guitar FX manufacturers make "octave shifting" guitar pedals that can be used - I would recommend a pedal that advertises good low-frequency response, and that is also capable of shifting up at least 4 or 5 octaves.  Plug the output of this pedal into the "Receive" of the mixer.  Finally, plug your headphones into the mixer and you should be good to go!  The low frequency content will be amplified, octave shifted by the guitar pedal, and then sent to the outputs of the mixer, (hopefully) giving you elephant conversations that you can hear.

    Please note I've never tried this solution, and it's sort of "hacked" together, but I think it would serve your needs.  The main potential downfall of this plan would be the low frequency capabilities of the octave shifting pedal.  As I mentioned, look for a pedal that advertises good low frequency response.  Perhaps a bass guitar octave shifting pedal would be the best choice.

    Overall, you should be able to put this setup together for a few (200-500) hundred dollars, the main cost will probably be the octave pedal.

    Hope this helps!  Please let me know if you need any further suggestions or if we've misinterpreted your request!

    -Aaron