This past weekend, I found myself upstate New York with my hydrophone and I got inspired. My in-laws have a getaway house right on the Delaware River, and, what’s even better, there is a cool bridge with metal grating ten minutes down the road.

I could have just recorded it, but I’ve been inspired by the recent hydrophone recordings of Noise Jockey, so I said to myself, “I’m not only going to record underneath this bridge, I’m going to record the sound of this bridge underwater.” While I was down there, I ran into two guys fishing . . . I thought that these guys fishing under a bridge in 30 degree weather were crazy, but then I realized I had just tossed a hydrophone in the water.

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Initially, I didn’t think the recordings were all that hot, but when I got back home to edit I was pleasantly surprised. Next time I get up there, I am going to have to record above the water and see how that sounds.

Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of 1 Dolphin Ear Pro hydrophone and it was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M10 with a Sound Device MP2 as a front end, while trying not to fall in.

Lately, the weather in NYC has been less than beautiful.  We’ve been hit with over 10 inches of snow that has been mixed with rain, making a slushy nasty mess all around.  I went outside on Saturday to see if I could find some interesting slushy sounds, but I was less than thrilled with the results.  After an hour outside in the nasty slush, I decided to move back indoors, and that is when I remembered that we had an incredibly squeaky door that I have been meaning to record for quite some time.

It might look like we live on a 45° angle, or in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but don’t worry, it is just the photo.  The door might not be crooked, but it sure can squeak:

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There is a slight edit in the recording: after I opened the door, I stepped inside and then closed it, so the perspective definitely shifts.  I figured I was going inside, I might as well record the door from the inside.

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.

I was recently out recording in downtown Manhattan and found myself wandering around Soho.  There are still a number of great cobblestone streets that have not been paved over.  I’ve always loved the low rumble that cars make rolling over some of those old cobbles.  Being a cyclist, I’ve had the not-so-lucky experience of turning down the wrong street and having my whole body shudder until I could turn onto another paved block.  I can only imagine what riding in an old horse and buggy was like back in the day.

For this recording, I placed my zeppelin on the sidewalk and tried to look a little inconspicuous, which can be difficult to do when you are standing around with a big furry zeppelin.  Normally when recording cars, I would track the engine of the car as it passed, but, in this case, the mic was pretty stationary, providing a bit of a overhyped stereo image.

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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.

This past weekend I travelled up Boston with the Missus to visit some family.  After a mellow morning and afternoon, we ended up at a Harvard hockey game with my recording equipment.  The fans at the game ranged from die hards to students who didn’t seem to have much to do on Saturday night.  Harvard was playing Union College and jumped out to an early lead, and held on to win 4-3 in regulation.  I have to admit that I am a big hockey fan, but I had never been to a college hockey game.  It was pretty competitive and, for such a modest crowd, the fans managed to get pretty boisterous.

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Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of a pair of DPA 4060 mounted stealthily on either side of a backpack in the second row of seats.  It was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M10, with Sound Devices MP2 as a front end while trying to avoid running into the glass.

Today was a lazy Sunday for me and the missus, which meant a morning trip to the laundromat to have some machines clean our clothes.  In an effort to capitalize on the experience, I decided to do some recording.  I put my DPA 4060s in my hat, packed up the dirty clothes and headed down to the local laundromat.

The space has a low level rumble from the clothes cleaning machinery, and, if you listen long enough, you’ll hear various patrons looking for their missing socks.

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Remember to be careful and dry at your own risk!

Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of a pair of DPA 4060 mounted stealthily in a hat.  It was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M1o, with Sound Devices MP2 as a front end while trying to avoid running into the snuggle bear.