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[orwellianharmony]

Hi there! I'd like to try induction recording.  If you've done some induction recordings, can you post about the mic you used to help me decide which to get?

Thanks!

[eyore]

There really is a choice of one (without getting into serious money or making your own - which some here have done).
It's a radioshack job.
http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=telephone%20pickup&origkw=telephone%20pickup&sr=1
(I'm presuming you are in the US). In the UK it's from Maplins mail order worldwide)
http://www.maplin.co.uk/telephone-pick-up-coil-3519

[pixelated]

There really is a choice of one (without getting into serious money or making your own - which some here have done).

There are expensive induction mics?  I know I can spend a few thousand dollars on a very nice conventional directional mic, a.k.a. "shotgun" mic.

There are cheaper induction mics if you can find an electronics store, either brick-and-mortar or online.  The mics are usually labelled as a "telephone pickup".  One example:
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/DISTRIBUTED-BY-MCM-36-010-/36-010

[PensFan66]

I used the Radio Shack ones on my last trip at WDW and on the Cruise Line - They work well.

[eyore]

I suspect that induction mics exist for professional applications ( do the CIA honestly slip down to Radioshack)?
It's only a presumption though.
I was going to suggest getting two or three (in case one is a lemon) and at that price it's worth a few spares!
Shame it's a minimum shipping charge of $8.99 though  

[Wizzard419]

Actually, they might (well they may order direct or not need them anymore).  Kind of like how coroners can use hedge clippers and other power tools (not making it up) on corpses. They're dead and it does a better job at breaking open that rib cage.

[BPBfan]

I used the Radio Shack ones on my last trip at WDW and on the Cruise Line - They work well.

I second this, I used one from Radio Shack on my trip.

[kirky]

As other's have said, there's really only one choice.  I picked up like 5 or 6 a few years back on eBay for less than $20 total.
I add longer cords with shielded wire and have also made a few stereo pickups for an attraction of two, but I'm not sure if anything really helps.

You'll get the most benefit out of:

a.  Not moving the pickup during recording
b.  Knowing your way around Audition or some other audio editing app.

Get a few recordings, you'll need them.

[orwellianharmony]

Thanks everyone!  Tips for recording are also very helpful.  I read somewhere that you can get a lot of noise in induction recordings.  Just curious what causes this and what techniques you use for limiting/eliminating it

[eyore]

An induction mic picks up the magnetic impulses from the speaker magnet (rather than the vibrations of the speaker itself) therefore any electric/ magnetic source can interfere with the signal (think people talking when recording with an ordinary mic). Electrical equipment etc can cause "sound" to be picked up but, to be honest, what recordings I have made have never picked up anything bar the sound I was aiming for but I've probably picked easy targets. You certainly do get funny sounds if you don't place the mic just right but that's more a muffled sound (so you turn up the volume to hear it and so pick up the player's background hum). I'm far lacking in the experience of some here though but most of my recordings have only suffered from setting the wrong volume.
Do remember, pick a bad speaker and you'll get what you are hearing. Rubbish in, rubbish out.
Techniques for reducing any noises? Pick another speaker

[pixelated]

When you get your induction recording kit together, try walking around the house with the recorder on and wearing headphones to monitor the input.  You should be able to hear the hum from the power lines running through house.  Theme parks have all sorts of electrical equipment scattered around their property so there's a good chance an induction recording will have hum or some other kind of noise in it if the speaker is close to enough to the equipment.  Some of the speakers I've recorded have a noticeable hum at night.  I try again during the day and the hum is gone.  What's the difference?  The lights are off during the day.  Occam's Razor.

BTW, I've gone through 3 induction pickups because one or both of the wires in the cable keeps breaking, probably right where it enters the pickup housing since there is no strain relief "boot".  If you hear a lot of crackling when you move the pickup, that's probably a sign some of the wire strands have broken and are making intermittent contact.

[kirky]

What eyore said.  Induction recording is pretty particular.  You really need to be just about right on top of the signal.   Typically this means the speaker coild, but you can also get a decent signal from the wiring leading to the speakers.  It's tough because often you can't see the wires so it's a lot of trial and error.  

The orientation of the induction pickup in relation to the speaker coil makes a huge difference.  

After all of this, you will probably still have a decent amount of hiss on your recording.  This is probably a combination of the quality of recording device, induction "technology" and the source.  Post processing may be able to help, but if you don't know what you're doing you'll destroy the fidelity of the recording.  

It's a trial and error thing.  I have be doing it for a while and still have a bunch of problems.  Lately, while on vacation I just don't have the time to experiment anymore.  I did the Everest BGM loop that's been posted, it's about an hour and 15 minutes, but I recorded much more than that to make sure I got a loop point (I think I did but can't remember right now).  I got lucky on that one, I'm sure it's possible to get a better one right now, knowing what I know, but I just don't have the time to try.  Others have done 5-6 hours for a hour long track and still have what they consider a mediocre recording.  

Each speaker is different in terms of quality and levels.  You might not realize you set your levels wrong until far into the recording.   So, you reset your levels and try again.

Many of the new loops are hours long!  I tried the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas pool loop and I think I heard it's like 6-8 hours long.  I didn't get it all, but I did get a bunch of it.  I believe that there's a shorter loop of about 30 minutes played over that, making multiple attempts useless for stitching the entire loop together.

[eyore]

As said, a lot depends on the actual connections to the speakers, their condition and much else. However, last year I did a full induction of the Discoveryland loop with the pickup resting on the top of an Omnispeaker (no tape or glue dots), set the recording level and took my son on the rides while it recorded (my wife stayed with it as she fancied a rest and a read of her book - it was a nice location and a very accessible speaker in a fairly quiet place). I don't have any expensive Hi-Fi stuff to play things on so maybe I'm not as critical as some need to be. I was pleased with the recording (a one-off as well). I recorded it as a WAV file and converted it to flacc to retain as much as I could of the quality.
Take this recording as an example of what someone who isn't experienced can do.
http://www.mousebits.com/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=e5893d849f002defa4f550640c6b0244cbd90bb4
It's had nothing done to it -just recorded on the ZoomH2 with the pickup noted and copied directly to the PC from the SD card (copy and paste). I did snip the start and end points to get rid of the overlap - I daresay I could have made a better job of that 
Not trying to blow my own trumpet (sorry if anyone thinks that)  but I was pleased with it and am just saying that, with beginner's luck, you can get some decent results from the start. You'll get better with experience, of course.

[kkocka]

Bringing this way back from the dead, what do most people record onto? Cell phone? Separate recorder? Thinking about capturing Fantasy and Frontier Towers as one giant loop (I know a few remote locations) but don't want to waste the time invested.

[PensFan66]

Usually to a PCM recorder - Or before that I used to go to a MiniDisc recorder....  The PCM is a direct to MP3 format, much easier than the old MD way...