Found sound recordings

controlvoltage · Post by **controlvoltage** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:30 am

my last album project, all the percussion that wasn't analogue kicks was made from a 1-hour trip to the metal scrapyard with an SM-58 mic and a minidisc recorder. I just took an XLR to 1/4" adaptor from the mic, put a 1/4 to 1/8" adaptor onto that, and bunged the whole business straight into the mic input on the minidisc. It looked ridiculous (and I had to hold it carefully so's not to damage the jack) but it worked perfectly. A couple of friends and I basically grabbed everything we could lift and threw it at / beat on everything we couldnt... so we got the sound of a washing machine being chucked into a railroad car, a refrigerator hit with an I-beam, various things going through plate glass, buckets of loose metal scrap rolling around... whatever we could think of. I went home and edited that into nicely trimmed, EQ'd and sorted percussion hits in another day or so of effort. Voila, roll-your-own industrial. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I've been at this a while, and another extremely sucessful session was taking a stereo mic and minidisc on a trip thru the new york subways and on foot through Chinatown. The big problem with field recording in big cities like that, even more than wind noise, is the ever-present low-end RUMBLE. It's amazing, you don't notice it after a while when you're there but it really comes through on the recording. I can only imagine being a pygmy forest person whisked to the city for the first time... it would surely sound terrifying.

but yeah, minidisc and microphone work great... you don't need a fancy setup unless you're trying to get fancy results. You can get raw material as easy as you want.

udp · Post by **udp** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:39 am

tempus3r wrote:

One time i was walking around with the H-4 and someone thought it was a taser gun and said to me "wtf man don't shock me".

Please tell me the H-4 was recording that! That has college radio hit written all over it.

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:49 am

udp wrote:
tempus3r wrote:

One time i was walking around with the H-4 and someone thought it was a taser gun and said to me "wtf man don't shock me".
Please tell me the H-4 was recording that! That has college radio hit written all over it.

I missed that!!

ControlVoltage - I have a minidisc in the next room. Only trouble is the battery is dead and the units really old so its a little noisey. As for that low end rumble, I know what you mean. Southampton aint exactly the most busy of places but we get our fair share of that. I might go out over a bridge and record some traffic.

I cursed myself the otherday, these two fellas were having a hysterically funny argument and I thought that would have been great in a track.

C.S. · Post by **C.S.** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:24 pm

For my use the zoom was too big and bulky. For me, it was not a stick it in your pocket and take it around with you solution.

So I went with the edirol r9. does what it is supposed to and small enough to bring around with me nearly everywhere I go. however, had they been making the zoom h2 and the time I got the r9 I might have gone with that.

slatepipe · Post by **slatepipe** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:15 pm

i bin using a minidisc with a little sony stereo ecm ds70p mic for a good 10 years now.
i dont know what sort of quality you're after but for me the quality has always been great compared with how much it costs.

i tend to take them pretty much everywhere i go, especially when im on holiday or something. i like to record spaces, like churches or outside areas for example, and use them as a backing track.

where i live there's often the odd ranting nutter in the street outside so i sometimes hang the mic out the window to pick up some good noises.

recently ive also been using the voice recorder on my phone to record stuff, the quality is hardly hifi but you can still get some interesting textures to play around with.

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:17 pm

Can you get replacement batteries for MD, I wonder? Mine is the old type, about an inch long and rectangular like a stick of gum (though not as tasty)

glu · Post by **glu** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:03 am

I'm likely going to the Amazon in the not-so-distant future to record primate vocalizations (polyspecific communications) and I was wondering what you all thought about the Edirol R-09? I also need an omni directional mic that picks up a wide frequency range since I will be using Raven software to analyze vocalizations including those that become inaudible.

popslut · Post by **popslut** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:11 am

I just bought a Zoom H2 for the price of a gram of coke and a bag of weed and I am really impressed.

Unlike one of the previous posters I have not noticed any self-noise whatsoever and the dynamic range is very impressive.

It is designed to record stereo as M/S and I kind of wish it had a way of selecting X-Y instead but the actual sound of the thing is utterly amazing - especially with the built-in limiters and compressors. I use it to record vocals and guitars and percussion even though I have a large diaphragm condenser in my studio.

Thoroughly recommended.

YILA · Post by **YILA** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:13 am

edirol r07 and some soundman binaurals with a little preamp....altho the built in mics are very good.

C.S. · Post by **C.S.** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:52 am

glu wrote:I'm likely going to the Amazon in the not-so-distant future to record primate vocalizations (polyspecific communications) and I was wondering what you all thought about the Edirol R-09? I also need an omni directional mic that picks up a wide frequency range since I will be using Raven software to analyze vocalizations including those that become inaudible.

I have an R9 and like I said above it is what it is. It's small, somewhat light-weight, kind of reminds me of an electric razor. I've had it close to a year now and have taken it on various trips, and it has taken a beating. Despite that it works just as well the first day I bought it. It is decent on batteries. It is a hobbyist device though. The build is much cheaper than I thought it was going to be. There is a very present noise level when in high gain mode (which doesn't bother me). The reveb is retarded and a waste of a button. I've almost broken off the sliding area to the batteries a few times now, due to some shitty design flaws. But all and all I'm happy.

However if I was buying right now I might drop a couple hundred more and pick up the new sony that is coming out in a few days.
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBu ... 3&id=90227

glu · Post by **glu** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:48 am

C.S. wrote:
However if I was buying right now I might drop a couple hundred more and pick up the new sony that is coming out in a few days.
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBu ... 3&id=90227

but add another $500 just to buy the adapter to plug in a mic? That killed the deal for me.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:58 am

Zoom H2 is cheaper than H4. I use the Edirol R9 to do that and it works very nicely !
Also, soundman binaurals are great to record without people around getting suspicious !!

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:00 pm

LOL just realised the H2 looks like an oversized mobile phone, per'aps I could sit in public and put it to my ear.