About a year ago I did an SFX gig out in Southern California not too for from Magic Mountain in the valley.  Tucked away behind a big facility that euthanizes the county’s dog population was a paintball field full of targets and obstacles.  One of the first things I learned when I got there was not to call the paintball markers guns.  Apparently, they are not guns, but markers . . .  Once that bit of semantics was out of the way, we could move on to the recording.

Two colleagues and I spent about 12 hours recording about 5 or 6 different paintball markers.  We shot markers off pilons, metal posts, wood benches . . .   if something was on the field it was shot.  I found the sounds of the paintball markers to be on the thin side; they were more dynamic when they ran out of paintballs or when the paintballs would make contact with something interesting.

The following recording is from the two parts of the day.  The first part is a recording of bursts and then the marker running out of ammo.  The second half is a different marker firing paintballs into the dirt.  Texturally, I like the second half more because it has a granular sense to it.

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Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of Schoeps CMC5 setup for MS, with the MK4 as the mid.  It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96.  Thanks to Jerry Berlongieri.

I am still exploring my new adopted borough of Brooklyn, NY, so don’t be surprised if you hear and see a lot of recordings from that locale on the blog.  I recently explored some of the parks around both the Brooklyn and Mahattan bridges.  On warm weekends you can see tons of kids playing and adults leisurely reading their newspapers.   It is one of the more relaxing and mellow places to hang in that area, but unfortunately since I have moved the weather has been drab and rainy on most weekends.

This recording is from one of those overcast days in Brooklyn Bridge park where I planted myself under the Manhattan Bridge to record the subway cars passing overhead.  I like a lot of the detail in the recording, but the only unfortunate elements are a few rain droplets that began to fall, and they sound like little clicks of handling noise.  They drive me nuts, but I do like some of the reflections off the supports of the bridge.  I excerpted a fairly clean segment recording, but I would like to go back when the weather is a bit nicer.  So in the meantime enjoy a short recording of some traffic and the N train passing overhead.

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Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of Schoeps CMC5 setup for MS, with the MK4 as the mid.  It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96.

photo credit flickr/mybloodyself

This week’s post is a bit of an experiment.  I recently purchased two hydrophones, and after a few weeks they finally showed up in the mail.  My work schedule right now wouldn’t permit me to run to the east river for a quick test run, so I settled for my bathtub.  I placed both mics on the surface of the tub and began to fill the tub with water.  Initially you can hear the mics rubbing up against the surface of the porcelain, not the most desirable sound, and then you can hear movement in the water.  I played around with the flow of water and at one point dunked my head below the surface to see what kind of changes would occur.  The grand finale is the water draining out of the tub.

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So far I’m pleased with the purchase, and hope to get them in a river soon.

Recording geek note:  Tracked with 2 Dolphin Ear Pro hydrophones to a Sound Devices 744T recorder at 24/96.

photo credit flickr/Fecki

This past weekend my in-laws invited me out to the country for a much needed rest.  I recently started a new job and I am still in the midst of a move, so sleep is not something I am getting much of these days.  A weekend away is just what I needed.  Along with a lots of bike riding, sleep, and nature sounds outside of the city, I discovered some interesting sonic features in my in-laws’ home.  There is a bar in the living room, and what is a good bar without an ice crusher?  That is right  . . .   not much of a bar!  Not only does this little contraption break up ice into little pieces, but it makes a fair bit of racket.  Luckily I brought my recorder on my weekend getaway and was able to capture the soothing sounds of the ice crusher.  Now where is that martini?

Enjoy!

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I recently took a new job in New York, which meant a departure from the midwest and a homecoming of sorts.  I grew up on the east coast and spent many years living in the Big Apple, but this is my first foray into the borough of Brooklyn.  I thought it would be appropriate to document my first full weekend in the new apartment, so I set my microphones up in the window of my living room and let the recorder roll.

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The first file was recorded at 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 9.  It is full of the typical sounds you would expect: planes, traffic rolling by, kids playing, and city birds chirping.  What I was not expecting was the sound of my neighbor’s cat purring on the floor below me (at least that is what I think it is.)  It occurs about 30 seconds into the recording, so let me know if you think I am right.  The Good Humor man also shows up on two occasions, but you’ll have to listen for that on your own!

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The second file was recorded at 5:00 AM Sunday, May 10. It also features the same city sounds, but it is missing the kids and the cat as I suspect that neither species was up that early.  I definitely wasn’t!  I set the timer on my Sound Devices recorder, let it kick into record on its own and got a few more hours of sleep.