Innovative sounds & recording methods
#804859 - 19/01/10 09:16 AM
Edit
Reply
Quote
Few innovative sounds that I've recorded
1. I bought an (ab)used and damaged
midi synth. It gives me some very weird noises to record and edit. Its very unpredictable.
2. It had only been few minutes since a massive rain, ambiance was still wet,
I carried a hand held sound recorder(Roland) and sat on a wet highway sidewalk, late at
night, and I got some beautiful effects of cars whooshing by.
3. Hit the
basketball on the solid tiled ground - record it - do the required filter tweaking and get
a unique analog kick(Can try other balls and other flooring for better aural response).
4. I once stood on a rail bridge and recorded the passing train(I was
dangerously close to the train, hence I'll not recommend this). Anyhow, I ended up not
using it anywhere. It wasnt that good.
5. Place a table fan(run it on slow
speed)between source of sound(Voice is recommended) and mic(Large diaphragm mic), get a
very interesting stutter.
6. Try speaking anything and record it(Can,
actually, take any voice. But it must be spoken one, not a sung one.) - take another track
of synth melody - place sidechain compressor over synth melody - define vocal recording as
the source for the sidechaining - put some subtle(Very subtle) automation on synth filter
cutoff - keep resonance low(Not very low) - set the gain accordingly - and finally let the
voice modulate synth sound - synth will start trying to say something. Loud and clear
vocals will help.
7. Deep Fry something on the pan - and record the noise -
get a nice warm sound effect of rain - pass the recording through some effects like
reverb(But very subtle. I repeat, very subtle).
Note:- Let the reverb always
be a mushy Utopian gadget for 'Enya' like aliens. Less of it is better, but remember less
doesnt mean inaudible.
8. Light a match - record it upclose - trim the middle
portion of the sample - shape it into a sustain loop - put no effect at all - no
compressor even - although, can use filter to take care of few anomalies like background
hiss or any click or glitch - turn the level absolutely down - try mixing this sustain
loop into any track or song by bringing up the level - raise the level very carefully so
that loop is barely audible - and soon fade back in - and continue fiddling level whenever
feel required.
I'm sure Martin Walker could go for several pages on this!
I once recorded a
printer/photocopier at work which when it had run out of paper, would make a very
robotic/mechanical sound and then beep in a kind of flatline way. I've used it raw once at
the end of an ambient piece but it could do with some manipulation one day.
I once
recorded a printer/photocopier at work which when it had run out of paper, would make a
very robotic/mechanical sound and then beep in a kind of flatline way.
I've not yet got round to recording it, but I'm currently using a bit of test kit which,
when turned on, emits the most fantastic descending filter sweep, probably from the power
supply energising. That in itself isn't too unusual, but the odd thing here is that it
has a massive rich reverb sound on the sweep as well. I've no idea quite how an
industrial PC in a plain metal box can do this - and at the price of this gear, I can't
exactly buy one just for the noise it makes! I'll defo get it recorded for future use
before I leave here though.
I do a lot of this kind of stuff, from swinging speakers and mics around on strings, to
abusing all kinds of innocent electronic toys well past their maker's intentions. Tiny
amps, radios, record players and tape recorders can all be pressed into service.
I have a speaker that I swing between mics, but it seems to have given up the
ghost until I can rustle up a replacement. I've used all kinds of percussive noises for
drums. An old vinyl car seat can give you an incredible kick drum. Broken speakers,
suitably stressed, can yeild some amazing sounds.
All kinds of containers and
kitchen-ware are also fair game. Did you know that the 'unscrewing' sound on the 'War of
the Worlds' album was two pans being ground together!?
Oh, and layer, layer,
layer. Mingle the nice and the nasty.
-------------------- An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
And thanks for making your first post such an interesting one.
One of my
favourite captured sounds just recently was from an anglepoise lamp - the springs at the
angle made a wonderful V'ger style boing when pitched down a little (as heard in 'Star
Trek - The Motion Picture' - you can hear the sound I was after at 0:51 in this YouTube
snippet www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLrEcwtFM4 )
Interestingly the
sounds was fairly quiet with the mic near the springs themselves, but got amplified
beautifully by the conical lamp surround when I moved the mic there.
Folk
interested in this thread may also be interested in my 'Warmer Sounds From Digital Synths'
feature from SOS January 2010, which includes lots of techniques to add interest to
sterile sounds:
Its very interesting but some of them are sincerely mistaken there. For instance
'bananaboy' who said
"Jim Morrison of The Doors recorded the vocals on one of
their songs (I forgot which) while a girl was, um, performing fellatio on him."
Now that is wrong. that incident occurred in elevator and Pamela (Jim's chick) happen to
see all that. No recording of sound or visual was getting done.
What a
preposterous myth!
Well, thanx everyone and please continue leaving some
interesting dope.
Thanx 'The Elf', thanx a lot. pan thing in war of the worlds was amazing. And about
"I have a speaker that I swing between mics, but it seems to have given up the ghost until
I can rustle up a replacement." that you mentioned, could you please elaborate that, I
think I'm getting a different picture.
Many years ago in the small hours I decided it would be a good idea to record dripping
taps, and got some interesting sounds. water dripping onto shampoo bottles etc, and
managed to get the gurgling sound of water going down a plughole by emptying the sink and
mic'ing the bath plughole. unfortunately water came out of the bath plughole and drowned
the mic. still, I chopped up the drip samples and put them onto sequencer tracks in
Fruityloops and made a trippy ambient song, combined with samples of the TV that was going
mental - strange fizzing and popping sounds!
More recently I recorded a full
washing machine cycle most of it
was quite boring but the spin cycle was pretty exciting, oh yeah. I put it through
scuzzphutt (free rhythmic gate VST) and it worked great.
My top tip for
innovative sounds: have a smoke and pick up a mic.
I don't smoke any more so haven't done this since I bought my zoom H4...
-------------------- so, how does this make you feel?
Quote AuralSerenity: And about "I
have a speaker that I swing between mics, but it seems to have given up the ghost until I
can rustle up a replacement." that you mentioned, could you please elaborate
Get yourself a space where you can suspend
an amped speaker face down on a long string; I usually tie mine to the rafters in my
garage. I feed the speaker cable along the string too. Measure the extent of the speaker's
swing (I have mine travel around 8 feet) and set up a couple of upward-pointing mics at
the extremes of the arc.
Then... either swing the speaker in an arc between the
mics, or spin it in a circle between the mics, and feed a signal to the speaker. You'll
need to keep the swing going if you want to record for any length of time. I love this
effect behind a guitar solo. You can also set the mics up X/Y in the centre and circle the
speaker around the mics.
I first started doing this kind of thing because I
couldn't afford a Leslie (or a Hammond for that matter!), but now I pull the trick because
it's just fun and it keeps people guessing how you're getting this incredible swirly
effect! It's a bit of a faff to set up (and not one for the winter months!), but it's
worth the effort.
-------------------- An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
I love using moving mic/speaker techniques like that Elf
For the less adventurous who want to avoid damaging their mics through accidental string
snapping, just set up a couple of mics a few feet apart and then move your source around
manually while you record - this works great with bells, percussion, and singing bowls in
particular.
Instant Doppler shift if you can do it quickly enough
I've recently started doing some circuit bending. Its not a great recording technique if
you dont know how to go about it, but can be outright alien technology(I truly mean it) if
done with skill. I saw a video on circuit bended instrument, instantly loved it. There are
three videos, I mentioned the first one, here it is check it out Circuit Bended
Machine: Acid Machine
Quote Martin Walker: I love using
moving mic/speaker techniques like that Elf
For the less adventurous who want to avoid damaging their mics through accidental string
snapping, just set up a couple of mics a few feet apart and then move your source around
manually while you record - this works great with bells, percussion, and singing bowls in
particular.
Instant Doppler shift if you can do it quickly enough
Another
nice recording technique, although this might turn out to be a bit pricey-- Take a "pressure
zone microphone" and attach it to any
percussion instrument's body and then see the magic of clarity in the low frequencies. Can
make some really, really bouncing and heavily pounding kicks.
Quote: Another nice recording
technique, although this might turn out to be a bit pricey-- Take a "pressure
zone microphone" and attach it to any
percussion instrument's body and then see the magic of clarity in the low frequencies. Can
make some really, really bouncing and heavily pounding kicks.
It needn't be expensive - I seem to remember
Tandy (Radio Shack) having some very reasonably priced Pressure Zone Microphones some
years back that people were using to record all sorts of stuff. Here's a thread from our
previous (version 2) forum on the subject:
Quote: Another nice
recording technique, although this might turn out to be a bit pricey-- Take a "pressure
zone microphone" and attach it to any
percussion instrument's body and then see the magic of clarity in the low frequencies. Can
make some really, really bouncing and heavily pounding kicks.
It needn't be expensive - I seem to
remember Tandy (Radio Shack) having some very reasonably priced Pressure Zone Microphones
some years back that people were using to record all sorts of stuff. Here's a thread from
our previous (version 2) forum on the subject:
Quote Martin Walker: It needn't
be expensive - I seem to remember Tandy (Radio Shack) having some very reasonably priced
Pressure Zone Microphones some years back
I still have a pair of Tandy PZMs, bought way back in the 80s,
modified for balanced connection and phantom power (thank you Paul White). Can't say I use
them often, but they were a revelation at the time. We got some amazing drum recordings
with them taped to the walls of the live room.
-------------------- An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
I've done alot of stuff like this including many of those posted... Not always using mics
either!
I've recorded industrial machinery, squeaky gates, almost everything in
my tool shed (well worth doing) and kitchen, my dogs grumbles and barks, animals birds and
insects etc. I've recently taken to setting my H4 to record, popping it in a pocket then
going about my daily activities as usual... Me spitting out toothpaste makes a pretty good
snare! Regarding the recording of insects, I have a cheap (and not that good) tie clip mic
that I got from Tandy about 15 years back. I've attached that to a thin aluminium bar and
poked it into ants nests as well as attached it to flowers to capture the sound of bees
and other feeding insects very close up. That mic really is good for getting into
inaccessible places and capturing quiet sound sources at close quarters... I really must
get a better one though.
Another thing I do is use an electro-magnetic pickup
designed for recording phone conversations (a guitar pickup works just as well) and hold
it near all sorts of electrical equipment. Computers and digital gear can provide all
sorts of strangeness, some very useful and playable when assembled into patches. Small
battery powered electric motors can also sound amazing when captured this way with a bit
of chorus and reverb.
Quote Shreddie: I've done alot of
stuff like this including many of those posted... Not always using mics either!
I've recorded industrial machinery, squeaky gates, almost everything in my tool shed
(well worth doing) and kitchen, my dogs grumbles and barks, animals birds and insects etc.
I've recently taken to setting my H4 to record, popping it in a pocket then going about my
daily activities as usual... Me spitting out toothpaste makes a pretty good snare!
Regarding the recording of insects, I have a cheap (and not that good) tie clip mic that I
got from Tandy about 15 years back. I've attached that to a thin aluminium bar and poked
it into ants nests as well as attached it to flowers to capture the sound of bees and
other feeding insects very close up. That mic really is good for getting into inaccessible
places and capturing quiet sound sources at close quarters... I really must get a better
one though.
Another thing I do is use an electro-magnetic pickup designed for
recording phone conversations (a guitar pickup works just as well) and hold it near all
sorts of electrical equipment. Computers and digital gear can provide all sorts of
strangeness, some very useful and playable when assembled into patches. Small battery
powered electric motors can also sound amazing when captured this way with a bit of chorus
and reverb.
Thanx Shreddie.
Please share some more.
Well, Motor of the tooth brush can generate the noise
of mosquito buzzing around your head. You need to touch it on any surface to make
variations.
Best bass sound I ever made was through the couple of PZM's
sticking on the drum's body and a couple of small diaphragm mics in xy position near hats.
Feed through the pzm was on a separate track and when I checked it later, I was amazed by
the loud, crisp and much bigger kick sound, even a part of the snare was almost kick like.
Entire bass seem to have more depth. Fascinating thing was, I still had quite a headroom
available.
Quote AuralSerenity: Thanx
Shreddie. Please share some more.
There's not really much more to share, besides, I don't want to give away all my
secrets! Although I usually record at 96k when I fancy getting creative with something,
that means I can slow it down without loosing as much quality.
The way I see
it, just experiment and keep an open mind. Nothing is out of bounds when you're getting
creative with sound IMHO.
Speed stuff up, slow stuff down, whack it though
strange effects, pop it in a synth and mangle it up, layer another sound alongside it,
record that then start again if you wish!
Just think about it, a ten minute
recording of you just hanging around on your local highstreet on a busy Saturday could
yeld 1000 sounds. If you take just one of those sounds and put it into a synth you can
come up with a million permutations.
When you're getting creative with sound,
the world really is your lobster!
This thread is bang-on, there are a lot of sounds out there, it's simply a case of knowing
the best way to capture, and then utilize those sounds. Sometimes the process of
capturing a sound (as in the swinging mic idea, or sustaining a particular portion of a
sample) can reveal fresh sounds and harmonics that were previously hidden.
Not
a new idea by any means but I use Guitar Rig a lot to manipulate sounds and loops, the GUI
is perfect for experimenting with complex effects chains, albeit largely limited to guitar
stomp boxes and amp models.
Not something I've used that much, but these days most phones have the ability to record,
and some of them are low quality enough to change the tone of a sound. You can get some
interesting percussive tones from random sources. I've also used one of those little
sampler mics, a gimmicky toy, but again they change the tone into something unique.
Over the weekend I took my zoom H4 to my old parents house and recorded the sounds of
doors opening and closing. very strange hearing sounds I used to hear for 20 odd years of
my life coming out of my monitors!
I was in the garden waiting to record a tube
train going past and a police helicopter appeared and hovered literally overhead! that
sounds pretty good.
Recently I also sat at the back of a bus on the journey
home from work - some very interesting harmonics in a powerful diesel engine
-------------------- so, how does this make you feel?
...a wooden spoon on the rim of a saucepan gives a lovely soft percussive sound; you know,
when you've just stirred the contents and are tapping what's left on the spoon back into
the pan. It helps to soften the sound if the spoon is old (which I guess means its soaked
up a lot of water in its time) and the saucepan needs to have something in it - seriously!
(usually chicken curry in my case)
I hope you're creating your hi-hat sounds from breaking papadums
as well.
The kitchen is a wonderful source of audio possibilities, from the
saucepans you mention to cutlery, metal trays found inside the oven, glasses used as
percussion/bells, and of course cutting up vegetables
I hope you're creating your hi-hat sounds from breaking papadums as
well.
The kitchen is a wonderful source of audio possibilities, from the
saucepans you mention to cutlery, metal trays found inside the oven, glasses used as
percussion/bells, and of course cutting up vegetables
Martin
hmm, not
tried those yet, but it's a little-known fact that the famous "aaaaaaargh" in Comfortbaly
Numb is in fact taken from someone sampling my chicken vindaloo....
hmm, not
tried those yet, but it's a little-known fact that the famous "aaaaaaargh" in Comfortbaly
Numb is in fact taken from someone sampling my chicken vindaloo....
I too had your vindaloo and am the source
for the final impact moment in the film Comet.
Scraping the backs of two regular knives together can sound a bit like swords when pitched
down a few octaves. For a nice synthetic old analogue drum machine style open hi-hat, try
spraying an aerosol can. (I spent far too many years tracking before using a proper
sequencer, so spent a lot of my teenage years finding weird household sounds to mangle.)
I once sampled the sound of me hitting a cheap dynamic mic on a loaf of bread, it made a
dull thud but with a sharp percussive attack.
Also good fun is saying a
sentence (or singing it) into a sampler, Reversing the sample and learning to say it
phonetically. You then re-sample yourself saying (or singing) the backwards version and
reverse it again. It never sounds like the original idea and sometimes can sound quite
cool.
I got my friend to say Cheeky Monkey and went through the process. It
ended up sounding like "Sheeky Mogwai"
-------------------- I have no fears except fear itself! I call it PhoboPhobia. I don't get out much, too afraid!
One of the most interesting pad sounds I made was by sampling the fan on a backup hard
drive that I had which was quite noisey, I used a SDC about half an inch from the fan and
of centre so you didn't get the air noise.
I then pitched it down 2 octaves,
used a resonant filter, an LFO or two. Slow Attack, bit of sustain. Very cool.
Quote MarkOne: One of the most
interesting pad sounds I made was by sampling the fan on a backup hard drive that I had
which was quite noisey, I used a SDC about half an inch from the fan and of centre so you
didn't get the air noise.
I then pitched it down 2 octaves, used a resonant
filter, an LFO or two. Slow Attack, bit of sustain. Very cool.
My fan oven makes a great (or should that be
grating) sound when it's on high and the door is open. If you then switch it off, it makes
a lovely wind-down sound. It'll be sampled in due course!
I mostly try and use 'real' sounds in a lot of my recordings. From the obvious (rain,
wind, etc) to the not so....
so far I have used:
The sound of a slug
eating mildew off my shower curtain. great sound - a kind of 'rasping' - very close mic,
dead of the night and holding my breath!
Zips
Rulers boinging on a
desk (like you did in school)
old water cooler bottles for drum sounds
coin spins
coin scraping on zips
water shaking in bottles
burping
most of the above can be heard in my track 'soundhead is vulnerable'
on my soundhead link below....
I spent a bit of time in NY, and wandered around
with a mic - got a lot of snatched conversations, traffic noise, etc. All sorts of things
can be used to good effect with the right editing. I interviewed an old man once about
certain things to do with Bristol. he got more and more impatient, and his last sentence
to me was 'I'm not interested in any of it' - great sample!
-------------------- I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over
Twitter
During one recording session where I had brought all the toys (my big percussion bag), we
got great sounds using a kid's toy called 'Spacephones'. Essentially a thin stretchy
naked spring reverb with a plastic cone attached at each end. Affixed one end right in
front of a microphone, and played with stretching the spring out, hitting it with
chopsticks, running them along the length of it, etc. Great sounds. Hit the jackpot by
stretching the spring to between 6 to 9 feet out and singing in falsetto through the free
end. Got a wonderful etherial vocal sound.
Its very interesting but some of them are sincerely mistaken there. For instance 'bananaboy' who said "Jim Morrison of The Doors recorded the vocals on one of their
songs (I forgot which) while a girl was, um, performing fellatio on him."
Now
that is wrong. that incident occurred in elevator and Pamela (Jim's chick) happen to see
all that. No recording of sound or visual was getting done.
What a preposterous
myth!
Well, thanx everyone and please continue leaving some interesting dope.
I mixed my 1991 album
'Clarity', naked.
My compter drives generated so much heat that working in my
non-air con studio was almost unbearable.
I'm not sure it generated any
particularly innovative techniques though!
However, hanging a speaker over a
three speed turntable with a cardboard tube on the platter with a few holes in it does
create a nice doppler/leslie effect - with multiple speeds!
I stuck four contact mics close to the corners of a round metal table once and used it as
a percussion instrument (EDIT: by close to the corners, I mean equidistant around -
obviously circles have quite a few corners)... played back through a quad setup, it
actually got pretty good spatial imaging, from hitting and scraping different parts of it.
It also worked surprisingly well recording overdubs; each layer remained fairly coherent
and defined.
Recently, I've discovered the joy of preparing strings with
alligator clips: inspired by this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIGkKxwgcQ and also quite effective
for more percussive use (quite gamelan-esque sounds). Similar kinds of stuff to the album
'Stick Music' by the Clogs, which I adore.
I made a
synthesiser in Reaktor ages ago which used some quasi-physical modelling (lots of short
delay lines with some filtering), fed by contact mics attached to the surface of my laptop
(with the lid closed); so I could touch it gently with my fingertips or whack it with a
pen and it would respond quite naturally with some of the dynamics of an acoustic
instrument (but warping and morphing in impossible ways).
I might get hold of
a couple of soundbugs one day, for routing signals through real acoustic objects. Does
anyone have any experience with them? http://www.paramountzone.com/soundbug.htm
A hydrophone is another
thing on my potential shopping list at the moment, to complement my underwater camera.
Again, pretty cheap at £30. Since this is quite niché, I think if you want higher
quality you end up looking at much much more expensive devices.
FWIW, as a
graduate of 'Sonic Arts' at Middlesex, I have more experience of the unusual side of
things than I do of actually recording normal music. sadly, I
hear that course is being shut down.
I wish everyone happy listening, playing,
tweaking... mostly listening. Re the comment earlier about carrying a recorder around
routinely: even if you don't gather useful sounds for music, this can completely transform
your perception of the environment. Note to self: do more of this.
For anyone
interested in field recording of nature; it may be worth setting up equipment and leaving
it to record for a while, so that any person-shy creatures are not scared away and you
don't have to stay unnaturally still for prolonged periods. I've not tried this myself, I
read it at http://www.franciscolopez.net/amazon.html ... guess things are a bit
different in the Amazon, though.
Another one of my own projects was to record the sound of a completely blank 7" single.
The 'sound' I got was just a gentle hiss and crackle, but enough to manipulate in a
sampler to produce this...
Quote xinaesthetic: A hydrophone is another thing on
my potential shopping list at the moment, to complement my underwater camera. Again,
pretty cheap at £30.
Yeah -
I was reading that page myself only a couple of days ago. Interesting stuff. You could
make your own, but JrF prices are indeed very reasonable.
Quote Martin Walker: Yeah - I was
reading that page myself only a couple of days ago. Interesting stuff. You could make your
own, but JrF prices are indeed very reasonable.
Indeed, it had occurred to me that it would be quite feasible to knock
something together... but given that JrF has clearly put time, thought and care into
reaching the design he has, it seems quite prudent to go with his. I'd hate to discover a
critical fault in my own DIY attempt while I was away at some remote location with a
chance of getting some really interesting material... and it would make me happy to
support his work too, albeit modestly.
I've recently started using different camera sounds in my tracks, such as different
shutter speeds cut up and sequenced for rhythmic elements, the ejection of a polaroid
photo from the camera, filtered and sliced up with some added delay to sound like seagulls
and the sound of an 8mm video camera from the 50s whirring and rattling away. All recorded
in my room with a steady hand and a SM58!
Now I own a portable recorder i plan
to experiment with alot more recording random samples out and about on my travels. The
ideas in this thread are brilliant though!
Yeah, i'm going to see if i can run some of the samples through the doepfer system at my
university to create some even more interesting sounds, put some bleeps and bloops in
there! Any ideas of easy ways to do this? I was thinking of just using the outputs of the
computer's soundcard straight through the modules and back into the soundcard seeing as i
don't have access to a sampler!
I was in my kitchen on Sunday listening to "Everybody loves the Sunshine" by Roy Ayers
(not the R.A.M.P) version and my washing machine was on spin. For a large part of the
song, my washing machine was in pitch with the sustained high pitch synth that runs
through the track, even causing some chorusing in parts.
Quote Richie Royale: I was in my
kitchen on Sunday listening to "Everybody loves the Sunshine" by Roy Ayers (not the
R.A.M.P) version and my washing machine was on spin. For a large part of the song, my
washing machine was in pitch with the sustained high pitch synth that runs through the
track, even causing some chorusing in parts.
Must get the mics out and get
recording!
Thought I'd
posted this before, but I used an H4 to record a full washing machine cycle. Some
fantastic rhythymic sounds in there, and the spin at the end makes a great finale: 5 mins
or so of crescendo!
I grabbed the spin cycle and put it through scuzzphut (a great free VST btw), AWESOME!
you'd never know it was a washing machine, it brings a smile to my face everytime someone
asks me what that trancey sound is.
-------------------- so, how does this make you feel?
Quote discomb: I grabbed the spin
cycle and put it through scuzzphut (a great free VST btw), AWESOME! you'd never know it
was a washing machine, it brings a smile to my face everytime someone asks me what that
trancey sound is.
Hi
discomb!
Fascinating stuff - sadly the scuzzphut site ( www.scuzzphut.com ) seems to be up for
sale. Anybody got any idea where the freeware scuzzphut can be downloaded now?
Fascinating stuff - sadly the scuzzphut site ( www.scuzzphut.com ) seems to be up for
sale. Anybody got any idea where the freeware scuzzphut can be downloaded now?
(A few minutes later) NICE! It's like a very immediate, free and
extremely cut-down version of CamelSpace. Instant trance as you say Martin
That's the 'lite' version,
the 'full' version now seems to be absent from the interweb
I still have a copy, not sure if I'm allowed to share it with others now? It was a free
download a year or so ago. The KVR website shows a fancy looking screenshot of scuzzphut
v2.0, I have the older version.
I'll have to check out camelspace!
-------------------- so, how does this make you feel?
Quote Martin Walker: In my
opinion the sign of a good sound designer is one who's ears are always open to new
possibilities, however bizarre they initially seem.
Very true... But once you've been doing it for a while even the bizarre
seems quite normal!
Quote
geefunk: I spent a bit of time in NY, and wandered around with a mic -
got a lot of snatched conversations, traffic noise, etc. All sorts of things can be used
to good effect with the right editing.
I did the same when I was in London a few weeks back with my H4.
Grabbing sounds of the traffic, the ambience of the Natural history museum etc... I did
get some funny looks on the tube though, it seems that Londoners get a little twitchy when
they see a bearded man carrying a rucksack and holding a handheld device with a glowing
red button!
I did get some cracking sounds though, a bloke sneezed on the tube
and thanks to the resonance of the near empty carriage it makes a great snare, a looped
short snippet of a girl having a conversation had made a nice pad sound, then there's the
sound of the train itself... There's some quite nice rhythms/loops, mechanical noises, the
sound of the motors themselves etc.
More recently I've recorded a mate laying a
laminate floor, bumps and bangs make for some cool drums, I'm working on something where
he's sawing and there's a few vocal snippets that seem promising too.
I've
recently got one of those Rycote windjammers for my H4... It's brill! Not as effective as
some of the big pro jobbies but it's far more portable and still very good... Much better
than the included foam windshield that comes with the H4 (thought you slip the windjammer
over the top of that) and as a bonus it fits fairly snugly onto my Rode NT3 too.
If you're into your field recording but get
brassed off with wind noise I strongly recommend one for whichever recorder you have...
Reasonably effective as a pop shield too.
...back to the culinary slant on things, I'm thinking of attempting recording a pot of
something like rice being cooked in boiling water; a nice, soft bubbling-away type sound.
Somebody elsehwere here has suggested recording something being deep-fried, which I guess
is quite similar. I'm hoping for an effect along the lines of the background noise of a
vintage crackly LP. Any tips apart from the blindingly obvious ones such as not
knackering up a decent mic by enveloping it steam... ??!!?
Re: Innovative sounds & recording methods
[Re: The Bunk]
#826636 - 14/04/10 08:31 AM
Edit
Reply
Quote
Quote The Bunk: ...back to the
culinary slant on things, I'm thinking of attempting recording a pot of something like
rice being cooked in boiling water; a nice, soft bubbling-away type sound. Somebody
elsehwere here has suggested recording something being deep-fried, which I guess is quite
similar. I'm hoping for an effect along the lines of the background noise of a vintage
crackly LP. Any tips apart from the blindingly obvious ones such as not knackering up
a decent mic by enveloping it steam... ??!!?
Wash rice. Cover with about an
inch of water, then bring to the boil as rapidly as possible. Once boiling, turn the heat
down as low as possible, and cook for 20 minutes, WITHOUT taking the lid off ever - the
steam helps to fluff up the rice. Perfect....
-------------------- I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over
Twitter
Good advice there - separate fluffy grains can indeed sound more analogue
More seriously, I’d be inclined to use a shotgun mic placed slightly further away, or
a large mesh screen between the mic and the pot, to avoid any expensive splashback
Wash rice.
Cover with about an inch of water, then bring to the boil as rapidly as possible. Once
boiling, turn the heat down as low as possible, and cook for 20 minutes, WITHOUT taking
the lid off ever - the steam helps to fluff up the rice. Perfect....
Chop an onion, a whole head of garlic,
fry till golden then add salt, one puree, one chopped tomatoes and one chili sliced
sideways. Add cubed fillet of lamb and simmer for 1 hour.
Slice one potato into
thin slices and lay at the bottom of a pot that has been glazed with butter and let it
cook a little. Turn over potatoes and cook until golden.
Lay a single layer of
stew on top of potatoes and one layer of rice. Repeat until stew and rice are finished. Add saffron boiled and cooled overnight.
Simmer for one hour.
Serious ethnic meal from back home.
Oh, and sample every stage with one sdc
and one overhead ldc (you see how cleverly I brought this back on topic, huh, huh?).
Hmmm, interesting ideas. I was also considering the more conventional set-up of an AKGD112
on the oven, the good old SM57 on the small rear burner, maybe a 58 on the large gas ring
at the front and a couple of NT5s for overheads...
Quote The Bunk: Hmmm, interesting
ideas. I was also considering the more conventional set-up of an AKGD112 on the oven, the
good old SM57 on the small rear burner, maybe a 58 on the large gas ring at the front and
a couple of NT5s for overheads...
...yeah, but they won't taste as good as Zukes stew
-------------------- I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over
Twitter
Re: Innovative sounds & recording methods
[Re: Martin Walker]
#843912 - 03/07/10 01:39 AM
Edit
Reply
Quote
Hi, Its been a long time since I visited this haven. I was too busy trying to decipher
'how to run Metasynth-> Metasynth on Bill Gates' ass', and apparently, I failed to figure that
out. Its sad that a state-of-the-art synth like that is strongly supporting racism even
till its fifth reincarnation. I have no strong feelings against Steve Jobs' greed. I
simply believe in the democratization of the whole idea of art of music and its
technology. Well I would have spent some more bucks for a Mac Pro, but instead I ended up
spending all of my stash in for buying yet another PC. Sometimes I do follow my heart. And
this time I made sure not to.
In the meantime I fell in love with some other
pieces of beauty like NI Massive , Lexicon
LXP pro reverb , Camel Audio Alchemy , ueberschall Ambient .
Note: Check the point where the description for
time stretching pops in. I loved this almost analog like stretch. It immediately reminded
me of 'Green and blue patterns are falling all over me like a deck of card' from -- 'Long
long arms' by Simon Posford.
Granular Synthesis
is what that has made that algorithm possible in Camel Audio - Alchemy. Granularization
has been giving me an incessant itch since long. If any one has better info on this then
please share.
Quote Zukan: Chop an onion, a
whole head of garlic, fry till golden then add salt, one puree, one chopped tomatoes and
one chili sliced sideways. Add cubed fillet of lamb and simmer for 1 hour.
Slice one potato into thin slices and lay at the bottom of a pot that has been glazed
with butter and let it cook a little. Turn over potatoes and cook until golden.
Lay a single layer of stew on top of potatoes and one layer of rice. Repeat until stew
and rice are finished.
Add saffron boiled and cooled overnight.
Simmer
for one hour.
Serious ethnic meal from back home.
Oh, and sample
every stage with one sdc and one overhead ldc (you see how cleverly I brought this back on
topic, huh, huh?).
I am doing somewhat similar to rice noodles in tomyum sauce with auricula
mushroom and Roland R-09. This might not give me a sizzling sample of frying onion, but it
still taste damn nice.
Quote AuralSerenity: Guys check
this video:- Alchemy
Note: Check the point where the description for
time stretching pops in. I loved this almost analog like stretch. It immediately reminded
me of 'Green and blue patterns are falling all over me like a deck of card' from -- 'Long
long arms' by Simon Posford.
Camel Audio’s Alchemy is indeed a potent synth with vast possibilities
I’ve been working with it for over a year now, and am still discovering lots of new
possibilities!
I’ve
been working with it(Alchemy) for over a year now, and am still discovering lots of new
possibilities! Martin
Hi Martin, you are godsend. You can for sure assist me with few ideas on its workflow,
maybe few tips or tricks. These days I am a compulsive ab-user of Massive, and would love
to cook something out of Alchemy juxtaposed to Massive.
Quote ZoeB: For a nice synthetic
old analogue drum machine style open hi-hat, try spraying an aerosol can. (I spent far
too many years tracking before using a proper sequencer, so spent a lot of my teenage
years finding weird household sounds to mangle.)
Sad that I noticed this so late. Anyways, thanx ZoeB, that
was interesting (aerosol can). Other such tricks from your far too many years of hard
recording can be golden for this thread. Please contribute more.
"simulation of a late 1950s electroacoustic music studio.
Oscillators, filters, modulators, tape recorders, mixers ...
Serial, concrete and
tape music ... with instruments inspired by the greatest studios of the early days of
electronic music."
Re: Innovative sounds & recording methods
[Re: Martin Walker]
#845802 - 11/07/10 05:41 AM
Edit
Reply
Quote
In this months issue's 'reader's music reviewed' section there was one that is truly
remarkable. Although the praises for this album has already been published, so I'll
present my observation.
Mira
by Jienat is released on blu-ray, hence dont assume it to be cheap, but it isnt
overtly expensive though, which it should have been.
I assume someone had
already posted this kind of post somewhere in the forum. I read the review and checked the
video of the making of 'Mira', which I believe must be referred in this thread because
Jienat's acumen in recording audio are truly remarkable. there was everything from ethnic
world music sounds to dog barks to Bow saw cutter played with a bow (by the way that's not
an innovation, I've known few who did that, here is a video on how to do it yourself). Overall I loved the whole
video and the sounds produced with some real innovative skills.
In Hinduism
Mira is one of the most ardent lover of Lord Krishna, I did not know what it may imply to
in Norwegian language though. Maybe Jienat had some fascination with Omicron Ceti, the
giant red star, which appears on the album quite loud. Maybe its mysterious appearance in
one of the episode of Star Trek had driven him to find the title (I, for sure, doubted
that). But then finally I read (in jienat.com) this note under the song with the same
title -- "Mira is a young bitch from Karasjóhka. She was first encountered one day in
2007 when she was a puppy. Her owner, Anders Nils Utsi, was working with his reindeer
herd; Mira was hanging out by Route 889. She had not yet fully grasped the concept that
dogs should only chase cars, not try to catch them. She survived, quit catching cars, grew
up, and now she has her own title track. Imagine that."
And then I understood
why that giant red star stirs the curiosity. It truly is Omicron Ceti.
Wow!!!
What a massive album. I never trusted plastic money, but now first
thing I'll do is to get one in order to buy this album.
Apparently, you can get a pleasing kick drum type "thud" by slapping an engorged body part
against a fully inflated airbed (i.e. the type you would take to festivals).
Not that I've ever tried this myself, of course....an eccentric friend told me about it
:-)
-------------------- Minke - Home Taping album :<a href="" target="_blank">http://minke.bandcamp.com/album/home-taping</a>
I dont know why I'm posting this here. I found it weird and at the same time very
interesting and very innovative. Couldnt find an appropriate thread for something like
this.
Today I'm very excited as there is some construction work going on close to my home. They
are demolishing some water purification unit and later they'll rebuild it with some new
addons. Interesting part is that they are doing this whole day long and continuing the
work at night. More interesting thing is that I am sitting there on the porch and
recording all the weird sounds that these ugly monstrous machines are capable of
producing. Imagine a continuously changing - thud thud crackle krrrakkkkk sampling at 24
bit / 96 khz while the solid reservoir base of pure concrete is dug out. Further more
interesting thing is that in the quite calm of night when everyone (including my wife) in
locale is cursing these idiot workers for ruining their midnight sleep, I alone sit their
with my laptop and encourage them to produce a complete mayhem. Surprisingly no one
complains this to the authorities, which I'm greatful to. Last night alone I managed to
capture a couple of gb of pure unrealistic sound effects that are as rare as this
eccentric demolition. I guess these eccentric ways can only occur in my country. Soon I'll
use these sounds somewhere and upload them.
Someone once said to me that a really wet fart can be the freakiest and gross-iest and
insanely unforgettable sound that one may ever encounter. That friend of mine will
definitely not buy this instrument (even to make some heartfelt ballads for his ex).
Ladies and gents behold your breath till you can, as we have, in our presence, the 'Savart's
Wheel'
Quote AuralSerenity: Someone once
said to me that a really wet fart can be the freakiest and gross-iest and insanely
unforgettable sound that one may ever encounter. That friend of mine will definitely not
buy this instrument (even to make some heartfelt ballads for his ex). Ladies and gents
behold your breath till you can, as we have, in our presence, the 'Savart's
Wheel'
Man! believe
it or not but I want to have Savart's Wheel. For further details click the asterisk * and check all
the other videos as well, mainly 'The Branching Corrugaphone' and 'Savart's Wheel' and 'Musical Siren' grabs my attention.
Go down and check the video and if you already happen to know how to make one of those
then come back here and tell me with all the details how to make one of those, and I'll
name my first after you. Click
Me
Quote AuralSerenity: Someone once
said to me that a really wet fart can be the freakiest and gross-iest and insanely
unforgettable sound that one may ever encounter. That friend of mine will definitely not
buy this instrument (even to make some heartfelt ballads for his ex). Ladies and gents
behold your breath till you can, as we have, in our presence, the 'Savart's
Wheel'
Old news AS - I
posted a link in this forum to Windworld on 15th June in my 'Daily Inspiration for the
Sound Designer' thread
I find that sometimes its the controller that leads to the best innovations! This is a
silly little video I made, but in actuality, a very useful and cheap method for CV
control!
I like to
tape the stereo 1/8" down next to my mod wheel and tap it rhythmically for some nice
filter madness.
Another great trick that I've been using alot lately is a
slight bit of Autotune on my KORG Monotron! Works wonders and you can get some fantastic
sounding riffs out of it! Here's another video I made for that:
An SM58 inside a drum case or even large cardboard box can produces an interesting accent
for the kick-drum range.
Cheesy old digital toys are a wonderland, especially
with a sampler. I took four bars from a fast Casio "drum" loop & dropped both speed
& tone by 50%, making an impressive bigbeat sound. Then I took the original sample,
reversed it, & pasted it on top of the slowed-down beat, producing a surprisingly
weird rhythm, with what sounds like a heavily distorted bass robot voice saying "whut...?"
at the first beat of every bar.
I once wanted to add more "crack!" to a
snare, so I made a pile of aluminum-foil squares & whacked it with a drumstick.
Depeche Mode raked a drumstick along a steam radiator as an accent. Tool used a
dropped block of wood & a shotgun as percussion.
Tim Kaiser plays just
about anything that's didn't start life as a musical instrument:
http://timkaiser.org/allabout
Indeed it
is Tony, and thanks for highlighting yet more of the possibilities. I still remember a
wonderfully grungy bass riff I got recording it into the mic input of an ancient valve
tape recorder. Far more memorable than anything I’ve yet got from a distortion plug-in
I’m currently whacking metal lamp posts and road signs in search of new
percussive sounds (with my lovely new Zoom H4n portable recorder I can capture anything,
any time, anywhere )
Tim Kaiser is an excellent source of inspiration - this page on
his web site has some wonderful photos of his weird and wonderful ‘instruments’:
I’m currently whacking metal lamp posts and road signs in search of new percussive
sounds (with my lovely new Zoom H4n portable recorder I can capture anything, any time,
anywhere )
Martin
Looking forward to add another 'Walker's anthology set' in the
shelf.
Remind me if I miss out the release.
And 'TONY', that crazy timkaiser.org
truly rocks.
Thanks.
Time to kickstart this thread into further action methinks
Here's a device that I saw demonstrated recently during a concert that has given me DIY
ideas – the Palme loudspeaker used with the amazing Ondes Martenot instrument.
This comes with three loudspeaker units: one traditional, one with the speaker
cone replaced by a gong with transducers driving it for metallic colorations, and (my
favourite) a loudspeaker with a front soundboard on which were mounted twelve tuned
strings that add fascinating sympathetic harmonic resonances to the end result:
I've been lucky enough to witness a performance on an Ondes Martenot. A bonkers instrument
that has no right to sound as etherially wonderful as it does.
File under 'if
Wilf Lunn had collaborated with Bob Moog'.
-------------------- An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
I come home from an afternoon of french polishing and what do I find? A great suggestion
for another project to add to my list of things to do!!!
Next on the list is
making my Arduino based combination pick-up meter. Gauss, Inductance, and Capacitance.
Have most of the electronics parts, need to design and make a case, breadboard it, and
hack together the code.
I really ought to get the Vox Phantom XII finished
(needs some templates made to finish the scratchplate, the bridge fitted and body drilled,
wiring and set-up). The Flying V 12 string needs the neck inlay, fretting, headstock
slotting, final body shaping, binding, assembly, finishing and wiring.
Some
other Arduino projects including some MIDI controllers and the like.
I've been
thinking about a Flying V tri-cone resonator for a while and just got back to doing some
more research for that.
Also been looking at building some FX pedals and maybe
the odd amp or two. Maybe start with a kit, but I'm reading the valve wizard site to learn
some theory too.
Automata and rolling ball machines are on the list too.
Projects are easy to find, it's the parts, tools, workshop and cash that are the
problem
Andy
-------------------- When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.
Re: Innovative sounds & recording methods
[Re: Martin Walker]
#1011610 - 04/10/12 10:32 AM
Edit
Reply
Quote
I spent a happy couple of hours down at the Dingles Fairground Museum a few weeks ago.
There were so many sounds that not only took me back to the age of 9, but would make
incredible musical effects. I vowed to return some time, Zoom H4N in hand...
-------------------- An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
EDIT - Doh!! Didn't realise Dingles was in Cornwall as well EDIT2 - And it's only 27 miles from me EDIT3 - Ah, now I understand - It's also called Steam Village, so I now remember the
roadsigns
I once filled a plastic bin with water, plugged a guitar into a battery-powered practice
amp, put that in a bin bag and dropped it into the bin. Then I covered a 58 with a bin
bag and dropped it in the bin too.
Underwater guitar and underwater mic.
Sounded crap.
-------------------- "We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chambers..." But no-one answered, so we went to the pub instead.
OK, now that I see to have at least one person browsing this fascinating thread once
again, here's an absolute classic example of Innovative sounds & recording
methods.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a record player that plays
cross-sections of trees, analysing their year rings and reproducing/interpreting the
information as gorgeous piano music:
Ok, here's another innovative recording method from SOS Forum frequenter Alchemy Studio
(aka Matteo Bosi), using a violin bow and clothes rack (apparently inspired by
Spectrasonics )
Thanks Martin for highlighting this! however, I must say that the original idea is
not mine, but of the sound designer guru Diego Stocco - www.diegostocco.com you MUST
know him if you are into sound design!
you may also be interested in my modified cello-guitar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_3r9MWSIq4
Yes, you openly admitted the original ideas wasn't yours, but your video was still
interesting.
And yes, I do know Diego - in fact I posted a link to his latest
video on the 'Daily Inspiration for the Sound Designer' partner thread to this one the
same day as yours
Previous
Topics
Next
Threaded
Innovative sounds & recording methods
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 
Innovative sounds & recording methods
