I’ve been working like a dog lately, which has limited my extra-curricular productivity. If you read this blog regularly, you know that one of my passions is getting out and recording. I love being forced to stop and really listen to what is around me. This happens during the act of recording and it happens again when I have the pleasure of playing the content back over and over again.
One solution to this problem is to stay close to home when recording. I live in New York City, so the recording possibilities in my backyard are limitless. When you live here it becomes very easy to take it for granted, but I’m trying to change that tendency.
A few weeks ago I was on the Upper East Side and happened upon the Metro North Park Avenue Tunnel. It is the where the trains heading to and from Grand Central pass through. If you commute on a train north of NYC odds are you pass through the tunnel every day.
There are four tracks where trains move past each other at different speeds and the sounds build when they reflect off the neighboring buildings. I used my stealth setup on these recordings, because I was nervous about standing in the middle of Park Avenue right over a major transit hub in NYC with visible microphones. I did not want to attract that kind of attention. I’m glad I was forced to take out the DPA 4060s because I was reminded of how good their low end response is. Those little mics pack a serious punch.
Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of was recorded with a pair of DPA 4060s tracked to a Sony PCM-M10 with a Sound Devices MP–2 as a front end.
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RECENT WRITING
Mountain Lake Biological Station
This post comes from Stephen Vitiello who has been spending time at the Mountain Lake Biological Station in Pembroke, VA: I was tipped off to some sounds to listen for – juvenile barred owls, calling after sunset. I left a pair of DPA 4060s in a tree over night and captured some call and response and a moment of rain.
Bird Deck
One of the things I love about long holiday weekends is that most of my neighbors head out of town. Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend here in the states, and in terms of noise, that means quiet. Not only were the neighbors quiet, but temperatures didn’t peak enough for HVAC units to start kicking on. With quiet in mind,
All Clad
What is that expression about making lemons out of lemonade? Or is it lemonade out of lemons. For the next few weeks my next door neighbors are having their roof and siding redone, and if I am going to have to suffer through it, I might as well get some useful recordings out of it. This recording is from day
Nice one. I’m a big fan of stealth recording myself and have had good experience with Primo EM172 capsules together with an M10. Those have some problems with loud low end though – they have often crapped out on me when used on-board trains, busses, etc.
I haven’t done nearly enough of this where I live – need to get out more! And I really should get an MP-2…
Stealth recordings are great, very exciting!! I use a pair of binaural Soundman OKM. They fit to my ears like a headphones, so people think I’m listening to my ipod 😉
Great website, great sounds!! Congratulations!!
Yep, 4060’s are great mics! Excellent environmental ambiance. best wishes, D
Thanks Dallas. I’ve been thrilled with them for years.