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.

This recording dates back to October 2009.  I was wandering around with my gear and I ended up at Brooklyn Bridge Park along the East River. The Brooklyn Bridge was off to my left.  Water taxis, tourist boats, and helicopters were all whizzing by and the promenade was full of random people goofing off.  One of my favorite moments that day was when two women approached me:  ”Are you recording?  Yo, are you recording?”  I love when that happens!  I went on to explain that I was recording the ambience there, which seemed to confuse them.  One of the women went on to tell me how she just finished working on a new hip hop single.  I don’t know how recording the random sounds of Brooklyn Bridge Park makes me a powerful record mogul, but somehow it did.  Didn’t anyone tell these ladies that the recording industry is broken?

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One nice detail in this recording is the sound of flagpole ropes rattling against a flagpole that was off to my left.  In the midst of the boats and aircraft rumbling by, it was a subtle repetitive sound that stood out to me.

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, while trying not to get accosted by random morons.