Jun 6, 2023
The tape that launched a thousand hits.
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The tape that launched a thousand hits.
It snowed last night; not too much, but enough. I got out the Zoom H6 with the built in XY mics set up and headed to the park to get some good crunchy snow walking sounds. It took me a couple of goes to lock everything down - an annoying tinging noise turned out to be my coat zip swinging about. There are still a few knocks from the wire of the in-ear earphones I was using (I didn't want to be too obvious about recording so I didn't use my over ear headphones). That's the trouble with holding the H6 with the XYs on - there's a lot to be knocked and tapped. Using the Manfrotto PIXI Tripod with the legs together as a pistol grip works really well for keeping the clicks and pull noises that I used to get from handling the H6 directly. On the recording we have me walking about on grass, pavement and over drifts of frosted up leaves. We can hear distant train horns, the rumble of the traffic on County Way, people passing by (a child complains that their tummy hurts) and a child in a pushchair crying while the parent's dog yaps (nice echo on that). I tried another recording without the wind protection, but even moving created some thrum and blow as the XY mics are quite prominent on the H6.
There are still some surprises in audio tape.
A recording of one of my favourite sounds - The Amesbury Buzzbox (my naming) - This is some sort of telecommunications box and it makes a very loud buzz; has done for years. As the recording starts you can hear a lady who passed by in a mobility scooter asking if I'm from the council - she finds the buzzing scary and says it's about time someone looked at it. I said I was recording it off my own back. I assume she thinks I'm recording it to complain about the noise it's making, but in truth I love it and wouldn't want it stopped. The first few seconds are just the X/Y mics on the Zoom H6 which is on a stand on the pavement with some wind shielding, but I've also got a LOM Geofon attached to the box itself and this recording is a mix of the XY tracks and the Geofon. The seismic microphone picks up a lot more of the variation in the buzz, and the X/Y mics pick up the passing traffic as well. I've boosted some of the lower range before exporting to mp3 for Tumblr.
At the beginning of September, I was passing through Trowbridge town park where they had a country fayre going on. In one section there were some popping and wheezing little engines next to a fairground organ. I rushed home to get my Zoom iQ6 and a dead cat (it was very windy) so I could record them all. I did a short walk around the section and while I was walking a land train pulled up. The recording also features some prime Wiltshire accents and dialect from the old boys gathered round the engines. Best with headphones for the full stereo experience:
This is a track I made by recording some things in my flat that make droning noises. This includes, the boiler, fridge, fish tank, bathroom fan, bathroom light and the traffic outside.
Starting off 2024 same as most of 2023 - raining. A lot. This is a quick walk around the block in Trowbridge at night in light rain. It's been raining all day so you can hear water rushing underground under manhole covers, dripping into drains and from roofs. Cars splash through endless puddles. The photograph is the Mercy in Action shop window, which I passed by while recording. I took the photo 10 minutes earlier as I was out posting a letter and took in the soundscape of the rainy streets on the way home. I rushed in and grabbed my H6 recorder and headed down the stairs. I then turned back again and went back to put some batteries in and the memory card. THEN I headed out into the rain. I just used the x/y mounted mics that come as standard, but I was using a JJC case to keep the rain off and some dead cat wind protection. The recorder was held in my hand with a very small tripod used as a pistol grip, there's some noise from that, but hopefully not too intrusive.
It's been a year since I started this sound blog, and Chippenham Folk Festival 2022 was one of the first things I posted. Here's a couple of recordings from Chippenham Folk Festival 2023. It was too windy to get a decent recording of the parade this year, so I went for something different; some harmony singing in Monkton Park and later a snippet of the Irish Music Jam that happens every year up at The Old Road pub. The Irish music jam isn't a gig, the musicians drop in and out - showing each other jigs and reels, and it takes place at the same table in one of the small bar rooms of the pub. The Old Road has a large beer garden and on a warm bank holiday that's where most of the patrons are. Recorded blind on the Zoom iQ6 plugged into my phone (no monitoring)
