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.
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.
Leave a Reply
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
Love how quickly the sound of cars driving over the bridge appears and disappears. Wicked!
Whoa, Michael. That is really impressive. It sounds like some weird Bioshock-esque ambience. The resonance of the cars going over the bridge is interesting: medium attacks, very short releases, but intense sustains. This is definitely one of the most interesting field recordings I’ve heard of 2010. Very nice work!
wonderful and inspiring – amazing how the bridge sounds are transported underwater, I wouldn’t have expected that. I hope it’ll be spring soon here and I can go on hydrophone excursions again too.
Excellent idea Michael. Very interesting sounds indeed. I once recorded under a bridge but not with a hydrophone… I simply liked the sound of the cars going over the metal grates on the top of the bridge. Cool idea… How about attaching a contact mic to a steel beam on the bridge next time 😉 ?