/361 - Not The Sound of Fields

I had to go to the hospital for work the last two days so I took the recorder with me. I use the H4N all the time to record jams, but haven’t taken it out very much lately. (I mean — it’s a pandemic, I haven’t been going out either.) Job sites can be full of interesting sounds, even if a lot of them are too loud to record and/or dangerous to be around. These are mostly my record of walking back and forth from meetings. Birds, cars, concrete reverb, people talking, HVAC, doors opening…

I really appreciate the renewed focus on field recording stemming from wanting interesting source material for the bitbox. Working with the files is still not intuitive, but I think they are turning out cleaner than they used to. I’m most interested in the total environment of a recording, so as long as things can be heard and distinguished I’m really not too bothered by a bit of noise.

/240 - Heat

Didn’t have much downtime today between family and work, but I did get to play outside with Emily this afternoon. It’s been very hot here. It was supposed to storm this afternoon so the air was incredibly thick, but then there was no rain so it just didn’t cool down. I tried to get a good recording of the cicadas (so amazingly loud) but all the human noises (cars, planes, chainsaws, lawnmowers, neighbors pugs) really made a mess of it. The true sounds of summer, I guess.

/213 - Hidden Sounds

Since we didn’t have internet, I couldn’t work so I got to spend extra time with Emily. The weather was great yesterday — 75 and cloudy, not too hot — and when I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk she asked if I would bring the recorder. (omg I love this kid) We live near the local HS athletic fields and there is some old equipment half-buried in the the undergrowth along the fence line. We found some sticks on the ground and used them to hit and knock and scrape. It was great! All sounds best with headphones.

/195 - Sound of Stone

This morning I asked Emi if she wanted to help me with a project and of course she did. We went to a hiking trail near our house with the H4N to find some stones and record some sounds. We were there for a few hours and her energy never even flagged - climbing and jumping and exploring. She was cracking me up the whole time — every time we would stop to record (her idea or mine) I would set up and say “ok, here we go lets be quiet and listen” and she would almost immediately start singing/humming/throwing rocks/cracking sticks. Oh to be 3. It was such a great time. ♥♥♥

/176 - Dawn Chorus

We forgot to water the garden last night so I was out there very early today and brought the h4n. Despite living so close to the school and some main intersections (we’re on a dead end street) we’ve always got a yard full of activity. It’s very nice, even if the huge yard can be a lot to take care of. I like to leave it as wild as I can though. ;)

/102 - Primo

Stopped at the park this morning to try recording with the headphone mic setup. It rained my entire drive but luckily tapered off just before I got there. But — 1. Its very hard to walk and breath quietly with omni mics on your head. 2. Listening back to the recording made me realize that what makes the park so convenient also makes it awful for recording: the road. Tons and tons of cars going by this time of day basically ruined the whole thing. It was nice while I was there and I’m glad I got some fresh air before being stuck in an office all day.

/101 - No Laurels

The ear hooks are out. I couldn’t fix the issue with keeping them aligned and they were most definitely not stealthy. This works much better! After all I read about the primo capsules being sensitive to heat I was really worried about all the soldering, but I clamped them as a heatsink and went quick and all works as it should. Going to Ithaca tomorrow so will try to stop by the park and do some recording.

Was thinking today how hard it can be to have so many interests. I mean, it’s wonderful too, but it’s hard to keep momentum on things because my mood/ideas change. Skipping around to follow a whim is fun, but then when I get back to what I was working on I have to relearn again. I want to make music, but I want to learn to code, but I want to work with the cnc, but I… …I don’t know what I should do sometimes.

/099 - Hooks

Got these wired up and put together today, but only had a few minutes to actually record with them. The mics themselves sound very good and are WAY more sensitive than the h4n pro built-in mics. I’m typically setting input level around 70 with those and these capsules were set around 30 for my quick test. Overall pretty happy with them, but need to figure out a way to keep the mic alignment even. The ear hook material is softer (for comfort) so is a little bendable and the mics move with them. It’s not a dramatic amount and will need to test further to hear how much difference it makes. They are also not as stealthy as I was hoping, but in the woods or on a normal walk it won’t matter. Going to have to keep scheming on it.

Sorry for no build pics. Time was tight so I was working too fast and forgot to take any along the way.

/098 - Treasure Hunt

Emi and I spent a few hours hopping from dollar stores to junk shops in hopes of finding hackable headphones and/or “fluffy" stuff” that could be used to house my diy mics/become wind protection. Ended up bringing home 5 pairs of headphones (bottom right is a 3 pack) in varying levels of workability and ridiculousness. I got the everything in the picture for $12.

I think the green and white thing is some sort of dishwasher safe cleaning cage. It has hinges on one side to open and close — just add some nylon and fur and you’ve got a $.99 mic blimp.

The kitty cat headphones are almost perfect functionally, but I’m pretty sure the fur is glued so that I won’t be able to cut a hole in the cup without destroying it. Aesthetically they leave something to be desired haha. The other cool thing about it is the furry headband can now become windjammers for a whole bunch of mics.

The earbuds which go with the over the ear hooks are actually perfect. I managed to get them open without destroying them and the grommet which holds the mic capsule fits in there exactly. They are also detachable from the ear hook so they can be used for other applications without any trouble. Going to get them all rigged up tomorrow and hopefully go try them out, but we got a few more inches of snow today so I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring.

/095 - Conceptualizing

I’m (tentatively…) headed to Seattle in a few weeks and it will be the first time I’ve made the trip since I moved back to the east coast. Got the idea in my head that I wanted to do some urban walks with a stealth recording setup so I ordered a the parts to make my own stereo binaural-ish setup based on the Primo EM172 capsules. Everything arrived today (only 6 days after ordering from the UK) so now the planning can really begin. My initial thought is to attach the capsules to the earpiece, but adding windscreens really blows the stealth aspect. I’m have tempted to see if I can fit the capsules inside the earpiece…

/094 - Back To The Park

Stopped at the park this morning after not having gone for quite a few weeks. It was still cold, but definite signs that spring is trying to break through. I sat and stared at the choppy lake and listened to the birds for awhile before having to admit that I was going to be late to work.

/092 - Out and About

We took Emily to Build-A-Bear at the mall tonight and I brought the recorder. The giant center fountain never seems to be on anymore, though I don’t go there very often. Growing up it was always “the place” and we would all pile in the car to road trip up here to buy music and comics. I did record at a smaller fountain but there’s no cleaning the noise out of it. A giant reverberant room full of people with splashing water in the center makes for a wall of sound. Decided to post the recording anyway.

Besides the long wait in line, Emily had a great time. Afterwards we all got veggie burgers and took a ride on the carousel.

/088 - Flutter

It was warm (and therefore soggy) again today and the bird feeders were full of life. Put the recorder out on the porch and got about 5 minutes of very active conversation between 6-8 house sparrows that live under our eaves. I don’t think they were happy watching the squirrels eat all the seed.

Played around with the file a bit in Audacity and pretty happy with how clean the audio came out.

/083 - Couch

I saw a very dramatic light switch.

Very tired tonight, so after dinner/cleanup/bedtime I laid on the couch with the ipad and played around layering a few things in Aum. I don’t typically layer/mix things because I tend to get very picky about everything, but knowing I needed to have something to post pushed me through it. Life is very busy (no matter how how we try to slow down) and there’s not always a lot of time at the end of the day to make art. It can be hard in the moment (when you just want to go to bed) but after the fact I’m always glad that I have this daily deadline to push me to create.

I might have actually fallen asleep for a bit listening to the playback.

/077 - Catalog Catch Up

One thing about blogging every day is that I am generating a ton of data, and with life/creativity/blogging I am often very bad at keeping things organized. Spent tonight sorting hrough all the unlabelled recordings in the h4n. I have to say that it is pretty interesting to come back to these files and have only a hazy memory of where/what/when. There’s a bunch of things in there that should get cleaned up and put to use.

/057 - Silence

Saw a great short documentary last night (How to Find Silence in a Noisy World) and so I decided I needed a monopod. I also figured a stereo bar for my condensers would be a good idea. The greatest thing about having a cnc machine in your basement is being able to go from raw idea to finished parts in a short amount of time. With a telescoping leg borrowed from an old tripod, I just had to cut a mounting cap and the mic bracket. HDPE cuts really easily so the whole thing including design took roughly 2 hours.

Now we just need some weather that’s nice enough to be outside in.

/043 - Puddles

We’ve had a lot of rain this weekend and the nearby creek is running very fast. Took the recorder out to catch a bit of it and it turned out ok, but there’s a background noise that I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I have a suspicion that I’m picking up the freeway that’s about a mile away. I want to take it somewhere really quiet to see if I can isolate. Also, I like quiet places.

Went down in the basement to find that my sump pump decided to take a break so there was 1-2” of standing water. Didn’t lose anything important, but it was a very long day of cleanup. Goodnight.

/033 - 7am Sounds

First day back at work so I stopped at the park this morning to try recording with the h4n pro. Pretty happy with how things came out given zero planning. Much much easier than dealing with using my phone and a mic and I feel like it sounds better too.

Left image, 1st recording: Looking south. The water moving beneath the ice was making this amazing ringing sound. The ducks were chatting. One belted out and I got to hear the river reverb.

Right image, 2nd recording: Leaving my perch, walking up the bank over snow. Stopped to tap a metal object with a stick that was laying nearby. Walking over lake rocks to the water’s edge. Looking north. I almost fell.

/032 - New

The last picture I took in 2019, and the first I took in 2020. Yesterday and today were filled with good friends, good food, and lots of laughter. May it bring good tidings the whole year through.

Field recording of needles from our Christmas tree, hitting the floor en masse as I brushed my hand across the branches. Guess this means the holidays are officially over. Back to work tomorrow.

/030 - Raining

The forecast called for rain again all day so I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to take out the h4n. Decided to go sit on the (covered) porch for awhile this morning to make a few recordings. Probably a complex din of sounds to discern for my first go, but you have to start somewhere. Picked up a dump truck (far) and passing train (very far) so pretty impressed with the h4n in that regard.

Later in the day we were post-holiday cleaning and Emi (3) decided to dismantle the flower centerpiece. There were a handful of plastic globes in there that I thought sounded cool when bunched together and rattled.

Light compression to level them a bit and bring the volume up.