Red Hook Criterium

photo credit: chris henry

This blog is all about field recording, so it’s rather obvious that I’m into it!  It’s rare that I get to combine a few of my passions, and the Red Hook Criterium was one of those opportunities. I love running around with microphones and I also have a love for cycling. Last fall, I rode a century ride just three days after I did all of the recording for my Metal Machines SFX library, and I still can’t tell if the metal filings in the air helped me or not. This year was the 4th Red Hook Criterium — an unsanctioned race that takes place in an industrial part of Brooklyn right along the East River.

The night of the race I headed out there with a photographer for Peloton Magazine to capture the sights and sounds. The race had just a few rules: all of the riders were required to ride track bikes, which meant there was no coasting, and lapped riders had to get off the course. That pretty much meant that the hipsters on their “fixies” were out of the race 2 laps into the 10 lap race.

photo credit: chris henry

I spent the race running around the course trying to capture some pass bys and some nice crowd reactions:

I loved the pass bys and the sounds of the hard efforts the riders were outputting:

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Apparently, you can’t keep Italians away from a bike race:

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If you didn’t know you were on the water, you can catch a barge’s horn in the background:

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“Get up there Cutler! C’mon!”

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“That’s a Race, That’s a Race”

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photo credit: chris henry

Recording Geek Note:  Rig consists of Schoeps CMC5’s setup for MS, with the MK4 as the mid. It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96.