Spring has finally sprung in Scotland which means earlier mornings, longer days and (relatively) milder weather. During the week I don't have too much time to go out so I usually go on short trips in the Pentlands, occasionally as early as 4am so I can record the dawn chorus. On weekends however we drive up to the Trossachs or Cairngorms for longer hikes, field recording and photography.
Read MoreFree Diesel boat engine recording
I haven't tended to my blog in a while due to various events such as daily work and moving home, so here's a quick post and a free recording.
Today I went out to get some yogurt and as always I grabbed my backpack with the PCM D100 in it. Walking on the Union Canal I first heard quite a racket and then saw billowing smoke coming from one of the boats that usually just floats there tied to posts.
It turns out the boat's owner, Ian Armstrong, had just started its engine for the first time in 14 years. We're talking about a two cylinder Diesel engine that was built around 1971 and sounded absolutely monstrous. Getting closer I also noticed sparks and flames coming off the exhausts which along with the racket did an excellent job of scaring away any birds and people in the area.
I wasn't going to miss such an occasion so I took out my trusty D100 and pressed record as soon as I got near. Between trying to escape the smoke cloud and answering Ian's questions I managed to record a good 4 minutes of deafening action. Here are the best bits in 24/96 quality with added metadata as usual:
Free recording of black headed gulls
The other day I went out for a walk and I noticed a flock of Black-Headed Gulls roaming about and being annoying, as they generally do. Whenever I hear these creatures I (1) inevitably think of Angry Birds and (2) make yet another mental note to someday go out with the purpose of recording them. For some reason seagull (and especially black headed gull) sounds are quite difficult to come by, and their calls are excellent for designing monsters.
Read MoreField recording trip to Romania
I recently got back from a three week trip to my home country, Romania. After a year of hard work I needed a vacation, and what better way to relax than seeing old friends and relatives, traveling and most importantly, doing extensive field recording.
I started planning weeks ahead, thinking of ways to fly with all my recording equipment without getting it broken or lost, and making lists of interesting sounds I needed to record. I put together a small cardboard case for my Sound Devices 633 so that I could take it along in my backpack, and I built a more robust cardboard box for the two Rycote XBG blimps which ended up in the checked luggage. The recorder bag and various cables, tripods and other bits fit quite well in my luggage along with the bare minimum of clothes. I also had to purchase a 50cm Ambient boom pole as my 80cm Rode one didn't fit into my luggage.
Read MoreFree recording of a wire fence vibrating in the wind
Every once in a while I take my JrF contact mics and go out looking for a good sounding wire fence. I learned this technique while on the Wildeye courses with Jez and Chris Watson a couple of years ago, and I've kept my eye out for this type of fences ever since. Hopefully someday I'll have enough material to put together a library, but until then I find great pleasure in sticking the contact mics to a random fence and listening back while looking like a complete weirdo to passers-by.
Here's a short downloadable and royalty free snippet from a recording of a fence I found today:
Recording of woodland and water on a still day
We've had an unusually still couple of days this weekend. Yesterday it was quite moist so I just went out for a walk, but today the forecast was clear and frosty so I woke up at 5am and went out recording.
I parked my car on the side of a single lane country road close to Threipmuir Reservoir and proceeded to laying 100 metres of cable as usual. After half an hour of shuffling in the dark the cable was set, the mics were connected and I could go back to the car and listen back to the environment while sipping on hot tea.
At first everything seemed still and I the only thing I could hear was the preamps noise. Just a few minutes (and gain adjustments) afterwards I started to hear patterns and to make out distinct bird calls, albeit quite softly under a blanket of noise. It was like a suspended "room tone" moment with just a few noisy creatures refusing to comply.
Unfortunately the moment didn't last for long as planes soon started to depart from Edinburgh Airport close by. Here's a short snippet that I recorded while it was still nice and quiet:
Recording wind part 1 - in the woods
It's winter, so there isn't much to record in Scotland apart from wind and rain. We've had plenty of stormy weather since mid-November and I recorded it from several completely different perspectives. In Part 1 of this series I'm going to talk about recording wind in woodlands and forests.
There are several advantages to recording this kind of weather in the woods. First of all, the gusts aren't nearly as potent as they would be in open areas, therefore basic wind protection will do a decent job. Secondly, the sound of wind blowing through trees and vegetation are loud enough to drown out distant traffic or other man-made noise. On top of that you can generally get pretty close to interesting sound sources.
As with everything, there are disadvantages to recording wind in the forest as well. Some persistent wind gusts can sneak up on the forest floor, so setting the correct levels becomes a bit more difficult. Trees can break down or be uprooted by heavy winds, so I have to be very careful where I choose to stand and record. I often have to walk for miles through 60mph winds before I can find interesting sounds that I can record. Sometimes in order to get close to an interesting sound source I have to jump over ditches and navigate through twigs, branches and muddy terrain.
At any rate, today the weather was particularly windy but not that wet so I took a few hours off and went out recording. I only took my small kit (PCM D100, small mic stands, GoPro and binoculars, all in my backpack) since navigating in the woods with my recording bag and the MKH 8040s on a mic stand would have rendered me less mobile.
I was looking for trees that creaked or groaned menacingly which would provide an interesting twist to the wind-through-trees noise. As expected the wind was pretty strong but I had to walk for a few miles before I found a good spot to record in. There were plenty of creaking trees about, but some of them were in exposed places which would have definitely ruined my recordings. Others were almost horizontal or looked like they were close to collapsing so I stood well clear of them. I finally found a couple of good sounding places and recorded excellent tree creaks accompanied by pretty strong wind gusts. Here's a short excerpt that you can download and use in your projects for free:
Recording ravens
I've had a small fixation with recording ravens for years. They aren't the rarest of species but they're quite difficult to spot in Eastern Scotland where I live. They also fly quite high so unless they're directly above their calls sound muffled and are buried in noise. I've encountered ravens on several occasions, but it was never possible to get a relatively clean recording. I either didn't have my recorder ready, there were people around making a huge racket or it was raining.
Today I was out in the Pentlands enjoying a relatively still day when I spotted two ravens coming towards me, doing all kinds of crazy aerobatics and calling each other. Wind speed was about 5 mph, there was a rare lull in the usual plane noise and no joggers or dog walkers were around. On top of that I already had my recorder at the ready having tried to record swans flying overhead. Without thinking I pressed record and froze in place while they passed by me completely oblivious to the human pointing a fluffy device at them.
At any rate, this isn't the cleanest or most useful of recordings so I'll have to go back and refine my process. Until then here's the actual recording for your listening pleasure: