Lately I’ve been working on a series of underwater and hydrophone based recordings for a sound library.  One of my first stops was my brother-in-law’s pool for some scuba sounds.

He’s a trained diver and he was nice enough to let me come out for the day and put him through his paces.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get started until late in the day because of this sound:

I consider it a happy accident.  Initially I was really frustrated because I couldn’t figure out where this low frequency sound was coming from and I needed to record scuba sounds!  I kept looking around and there definitely wasn’t a nuclear sub in the pool!  My brother-in-law and I quickly discovered that a neighbor down the block was having his driveway ripped up and repaved.  All of that low frequency information was traveling from down the street and under the pool.  So what do you do when you have a loud hum?  We went out for lunch and then I took my nephew and niece out for ice-cream.  By the time we returned to the pool we were free and clear of construction hums and we could make all of the bubbling sounds we wanted.

Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of 2 Aquarian H2a Hydrophones. It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96

Rocket recordings have been on my mind lately because I’m in the process of building a Rocket SFX library.  Some visitors to the blog may have heard some of the rockets that I recorded on the West Coast two years ago, and I have been in the process of augmented my rocket content.  I contacted my local chapter of METRA rocketry, which is an organization that shoots off mid and high powered rockets.

As you can see, these guys really don’t mess around.  The rocket on the left was one of the high powered rockets that required over 1000-foot clearance from all of the attendees.  Recording this rocket and many of the others required lots of guessing about where to set levels.  There was some serious SPL out there, kiddies.  Just look at the size of the people in that photo and look at the size of the rocket.  At least 3 rockets that day required FAA clearance because they flew over 5000 ft.

Lucky for me this was my second rocket trip, so I guessed wisely.  I ended up leaving that day with over 15 rockets recorded on 6 different channels.  I have my Schoeps MS pair, my brother’s MKH 60, my newly acquired Sanken CUB-01, and a pair of DPA 4060’s.  The CUB-01 is a boundary layer mic and it was my favorite of the day.

The CUB handles a high level of SPL, but I still had to deal with low frequency vibrations and wind since it would be sitting on the ground.  I found these foam discs that are used for waxing cars and the density was just perfect.  It gave a little, which is good for absorbing shock, but still was stable and firm on the ground.  I cut out a piece slightly larger than the capsule of the CUB and zip tied a high wind cover from rycote over the capsule.  I’m really pleased with the results and I can’t wait to finish this library.  After this past weekend, I think I decided that I need another CUB, but I might have to wait a little while.

Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of Sanken CUB-01 It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96.

Today’s post is a cross-country collaboration of field recordists, myself (Mr. Fieldsepulchra) and Nathan Moody of Noisejockey.net. We’re simultaneously posting recordings from our respective museums of modern art. I visited the MoMA in New York City, and Nathan visited SFMOMA in San Francisco. You can read both posts to compare and contrast the recordings and our observations

I traveled to MoMA last Saturday to do some recordings and it was packed! I was hoping for people, but I got a little more than I bargained for. I soon realized that the crowds were not only due to the weekend visitors and tourists, but also due the Marina Abramovic’s retrospectic. Ambramovic is a Serbian performance artist who has been working since the early 1970s. There are a number of her works being performed, but the one that folks are lining up to see and participate in is a piece called “The Artist is Present” which is also the title of the exhibition. Abramovic, dressed in a floor-length red dress, sits in the atrium and performs her new work for seven hours, five days a week. She sits without moving in a chair at a table and visitors are invited to sit silently across from the artist for as long as they like.

Yes folks, this is art with a big “A.” When I was there someone was just completing a session across from the artist that ran about 45 minutes, and another individual lasted over an hour.

I decided to do most of my recording in that main atrium space because there was such a diverse crowd gathering. Back in 2004, MoMA opened its newly renovated space, which included a 6-story atrium. The atrium initially drew some ire because the wide open space dwarfed some of the art. That same space also dwarfs sounds and there is a constant din of garbled voices that keep folding into each other.

(more…)

The other day, I took a ride onto the Brooklyn Bridge on my road bike to record some ambience.  The Brooklyn Bridge has a wooden walkway that sits above the vehicular traffic and is subdivided into two parts: one side is for pedestrians and the other is for cyclists.  I’m a cyclist and  I think that, when it comes to bridges in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge is a bit of a death trap.  It is full of tourists admiring the view who constantly walk into the bike lane.  But, alas, this post is not an inditment of pedestrians.  It is about the sound of the bridge.

I planted myself in front of a bridge support so that I could record the sound of bikes passing on the right, pedestrians passing on the left, cars below, as well as whatever else came my way.

I went out with my compact rig, which consists of a pair of DPA 4o60s powered by a Sound Devices MP-2 tracked to a Sony PCM-M10.  It is small enough to be discreet and not draw too much attention.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The DPAs have a surprising amount of low end, and I am consistently impressed with what those little guys can do.  If you listen closely, you can hear the constant creaking of the bridge, occasional voices, and the familiar sound of a bicycle bell warning the wayward tourists.

Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of a pair of DPA 4060s mounted stealthily on either side of a backpack on top of the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M10, with Sound Devices MP2 as a front end.

I have one major sporting vice and that is hockey.  If you have been reading this blog, you know that there have been several hockey recordings over the last couple of years:  I recorded the pond hockey championships back in Minneapolis and a Harvard hockey game when I was in Boston. This past weekend, I decided to step in up a notch.  I went to a professional game in the area between two teams that shall remain nameless so as not to incite the ire of the NHL.  I decided to get some good crowd sounds  . . .  lots of “ooohs”, “aahhs”, and “yeahs”.  It was a hell of game; normally, I would have been yelling and screaming, but I had to really hold back so that I would not overlap the recordings.  The beginning of the recording features a couple of near misses from the home team, but, as you can hear, they finally manage to put one in the back of the net.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of a pair of DPA 4060s mounted stealthily on either side of a backpack inside of an arena with 18,000 plus fans screaming in excitement.  It was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M10, with Sound Devices MP2 as a front end while trying to avoid the the away team’s fans.