Sound Design Final Project
Question:
'Listening in the environment: a library of contact microphone recordings.'
Having bought several jacks and differing sizes of Piezzo discs, the construction began.
I have been reading about audio connections, mostly from the following link:
I will admit the different wires available and more importantly how they connect to the jacks has me a little confused. I have been told differing advice on how to solder the shielded cable, each different to the last.
Soldering Begins
My first jack solder
Here's some of my "Human" type category sounds recorded with one of my very first constructed Contact microphones.
The heart beat although a little concerning as it is fast and mine, came
out really well and really has some low end.
The chewing sound, obtained by putting a contact microphone in my mouth was not as impressive as the heartbeat. In my opinion there is too much teeth present in the recording. Not being able to monitor whilst recording it was difficult to find the sweet spot. The aim of trying to record in this way was to obtain the squelch of the chew. This needs
some work on how to obtain this.
Looking to record any metallic sounds within my room I started with the obvious of the radiator.
Radiator and coat hanger
Using various objects to strike different spots of the radiator with the contact microphone attached with double sided tape, objects ranged from fingers, pliers, violin bow and the most impressive being the wire coat hanger.
The sound of the coat hanger and with the ringing of the radiator, focused my attention to what would the coat hanger sound like it was unraveled and stretched between two fixed points. As a quick test to pursue this area, I set up a quick make shift test using a spool of solders attached to a terminal block and wedged into my draw. I then stretched it across my room weighing the spool down with various heavy objects. The setup can be seen below:
Solder Wire going into a terminal block wedged into the top draw
Various weights used to hold the spool down, yes that is my 722.
I attached the contact microphone almost dead center of the strip with double sided sticky tape and played it with anything I could, scissors, pliers fingers and the violin bow pictured below:
Solder wire being played by Violin bow.
The sounds recorded are intriguing, I was impressed by quality and style of the sounds being produced by the wire. The sounds recorded have a spooky and haunting essence to them esspecialy with the bow, they can all be heard following their links below:
Reading Handmade Electronic Music by Nicholas Collins it has given me many useful tips and also introduced me to John Cage. I have heard of John Cage but not in detail, I will be reading more in depth; after all he is called the "Father of Invention"
Collins, N. 2009. Handmade Electronic Music". Routledge. USA & UK.
Page: 38.
Recording metal sheets in studio 2 i tried using super glue to attach a 17mm and 27 mm contact microphone onto the sheet. The results were interesting, I also hooked up one (air) microphone in the form of my Schoeps Cmit5 so as to have an A/B to test against. The 27mm disc gave a high level of low end whereas the small 17mm gave more of the top end of the spectrum, even present were the small rattles of the sheet of metal. Neither the air or 27mm contact microphone were able to capture these subtlety's. The sound captured from the metal sheet can be heard in the link below:
The super glue used to attach the contact microphones proved to be a great way of capture the vibrations of the object, however it will be used henceforth as a last option in attaching, as two contact microphones lost their lives today:
Living on the edge
Exploring: Metals
Description: Dreaming Spires Statues
Location: Leith Walk
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Smaller: Positioned in the center of the stomach & Thigh)
(Larger: Positioned center and towards rear of stomach)
The recordings in the link below, show some of the recordings obtained:
Also After attending the Graduation at the Film House I noticed the statue of the Woman and Child, and headed back down to the statue to record it it. The statue can be seen and heard below:
The inspiration of the workshop came to me as there were loads of metal poles, I thought about the idea of using one of the poles as a sort of sculpture and recording the ambiance of the workshop through the various poles.
Sound To be Added
The super glue used to attach the contact microphones proved to be a great way of capture the vibrations of the object, however it will be used henceforth as a last option in attaching, as two contact microphones lost their lives today:
Broken Piezzo Discs.
Bathroom Window
The horizontal window in my bathroom makes an amazing sound when it is raining and can be seen below:
Deciding it would be a fantastic idea to attach at least one contact microphone up there. My solution can be seen in the following pictures:
After managing to get up to the window after much thought I attached the contact microphone in the center of the window think this would probably be the most interesting spot, I would have liked to experiment with different positions but struggling to reach the window; standing on my tiptoes the center was the "safest" option. The recording obtained was really pleasing, it is the sound on glass yes but what I really like about it is each individual drop can be heard hitting. The frequency range is present with a good low end and clarity in the mids. The recording can be heard below:
Much of contact microphone recording is experimentation. I am beginning to look at objects in a different way, I can rarely go 50 yards with out getting my ear close to something and hitting it.
Exploring: Metals
Description: Dreaming Spires Statues
Location: Leith Walk
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Smaller: Positioned in the center of the stomach & Thigh)
(Larger: Positioned center and towards rear of stomach)
Giraffe: Dreaming Spires
Positioning the the first contact microphone under the belly of the smaller Giraffe and a second on the back thigh, my intention was to capture the resonance of the traffic and people walking past.
Smaller Giraffe: Dreaming Spires
The results of this were fantastic with everything having a metallic tone. During quiet periods without traffic or pedestrians, the hum of the inside was captured a simple vibration of the singing re-cycled metal.
I next switched my attentions to the larger of the Giraffes, hoping to achieve a deeper tone for two reasons. The first was it was a bigger cavity so to speak. Second the smaller Giraffe was in front of it and the traffic, So I expected some hi frequencies not passing through.
Larger Giraffe: Dreaming Spires
https://soundcloud.com/user-744101023/traffic-metalic-giraffe-small-stomach
https://soundcloud.com/user-744101023/traffic-metalic-giraffe-big-stomach
https://soundcloud.com/user-744101023/traffic-metalic-giraffe-big-stomach
Exploring: Metals
Description: Woman and Child Statue
Location: Lothian Road
Contact Microphones: 1 x 27mm (Positioned on breast bone)
1 x 17mm (Positioned Waist band)
Also After attending the Graduation at the Film House I noticed the statue of the Woman and Child, and headed back down to the statue to record it it. The statue can be seen and heard below:
Woman and Child
Being very similar to a room tone, the tones of statues is not something I have ever thought about. It is a highly rewarding way to obtain strange tones that in truth are only able to be recorded with the use of contact microphones. The bronze metal and because it is completely closed gives a pure tone when not being excited by the traffic. The link below plays some of the recording:
Exploring: Water
Description: Filling bathtub
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 1 x 50mm (Positioned Top of slope of bath)
1 x 37mm (Positioned Bend of bath)
Using larger contact microphones for this task I was hoping to get a deeper sound when filling the bath tub, the positions can be seen in the picture below:
Bathtub: 50mm & 37mm Positions
Filling the bath gave fine results and I say that as the 50mm produced the low rumble of my intention, however the 37mm when covered by the water started to hum. The hum though interesting, was not a result I was looking for and maybe sometimes 2 coats of plastidip are not enough.
Description: Filling bathtub
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Positioned: Top of Tap & Overflow Hole)
During my experimentation with water and what sounds could be produced and acquired, when emptying the bath the sound of the water was stunning, I captured it with the larger contact microphones from the back of the tub. I thought about instead of just positioning both contact microphones near the overflow hole, as that was where the interesting sound was coming from. I decided to record the water flowing through the tap as well. As can be seen in the picture below:
Tap & Overflow Hole
Description: Shower
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Positioned: Top of head & Join)
After this I then started to experiment with the shower trying to capture the running water through the shower head:
Shower Head with contacts microphones
The first problem encountered was the wires of the contact microphones and the second was holding the shower, every movement of my hand or arm was picked up and heard. I countered this by taping the wires down the length of the shower cord. This eliminated the handling noise.
Description: Bathroom Sink
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Positioned: Top of tap & tap spout)
With capturing sound of running water though the shower, I then decided to record the bathroom sink.
The Bathroom Taps
This was by far the most UN-impressive recording, hardly any sound could be hear and also the sound of the water going down the sink hole could be heard.
As seen in the picture I tried to use the sponge to dampen the sound of the water going down the hole although I was fighting a loosing battle.
Description: Bathroom Sink pipes
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (Positioned: Bottom of U-Bend & Hot water Pipe)
Also with the failure of capturing the running water through the taps, the sound of the water traveling down the pipes proved to be a more interesting pursuit. Picture below:
Pipes at the back of Sink
Exploring: Fire
Description: Heating a Saucepan
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 1 x 27mm (Positioned inside near handle)
Another Failure
Another failure of mine was experimenting with fire, I decided it would be a good idea to heat a saucepan up and capture the vibrations of the expanding metal. Using tape was a bad idea to attach the contact microphone. I think I suspected this would be the case that's why I only attached the one. Obviously the tape did not hold up and and disintegrated nearly as soon as the stove was ignited.
Exploring: Ambiance (Ambiances with contact microphones)
Exploring: Ambiance (Ambiances with contact microphones)
Description: Windows
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 1 x 50mm (lower center) 1x 37mm (Upper center)
Managing to get the contact microphones set-up in time to record the thunder of the clouds traveling over my house. I managed to record some good thunder from this experiment, although the recording is actually ruined by some body felling a tree.
Capturing thunder with contact microphones
SOUND TO BE ADDED
Using this technique a day later I was able to capture the birds in my back garden. This time in my bedroom. Having broke my other 27mm contact microphone I was unable to record this pseudo-stereo, so I just attached the one to the center window, As pictured below.
Birds singing
SOUND TO BE ADDED
Exploring: Fire
Recording objects burning produces fantastic results, the contact microphone heats up gradually also depending on how the object is burned. So like in other tests where the contact microphone was heated quickly producing a form of distortion though not quite distortion more of an electronic sounding artifact in the recording.
Description: Burning paper
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm (attached at various points during each burning)
The
reason for starting with burning things and potentially destroying some
contact microphones, was born out of frustration because of not
gathering any potential candidates for the library for 3 days. I felt
like destroying something and setting things on fire seemed like a
perfect excuse to get some interesting sounds.
The Sheet of paper burnt
Burnt Contact Microphone
Recording objects burning produces fantastic results, the contact microphone heats up gradually also depending on how the object is burned. So like in other tests where the contact microphone was heated quickly producing a form of distortion though not quite distortion more of an electronic sounding artifact in the recording.
Exploring: String & Water
Description: A length of string stretched
Location: Montague Street
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm
A
friend of mine gave me a ball of string as a joke, i made use of it by
stretching it over my bath tub in the same nature I had stretched solder
wire across the room. The air microphone turned out to be useless to
use as an A/B against a contact microphone simply for the fact it the
only sound that can be heard is the water hitting the bath tub. The
experiment also showed this should not be performed in a bath tub that
rings out as much as my present one. When there were only single drips
onto the string without the white noise created by the water and bath
tub, the method used created impressive results with lots of clarity.
Position of microphones & an Air Mic in the form of a CMIT 5
Attaching the contact microphone
Visiting the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, I thought there would be plenty of statues and sculptures dotted around the gardens. To my surprise and another visitor searching for some there was only one to be found, pictured below:
Sculpture by Karen V Bryan
Although not enclosed at any point in order to create a pocket like other statues, I decided it would be worth seeing if I could obtain anything from the vibrations especially being away from the traffic. The result were clear sounding and at times with the bird calls picked up from the vibration of the Bronze are beautiful, however despite having the gain turned to the max the recording is really very quite.
Exploring: The Environment
Description: Trying to capture a train
Location: Forth Bridge
Contact Microphones: 2 x 27mm, 2 x 17mm, 1 x 50mm
The intention of the trip was to obtain a contact microphone recording(s) of the train traveling and the sound of it changing from concrete to metal. Unfortunately as can be see from the picture below that part of the bridge is closed off with restricted access. I did not expect the bridge to closed off, but with hindsight I should have thought. The sound of the transitions and the train moving along the bridge is awesome, that is the only word that fits the sound. Huge, deep and powerful it is such a tremendous sound created.
Fenced off
Going on an outing and not getting what you wanted is one of the most annoying things for a field recordist, I decided that instead of leaving with nothing I would record the fence surrounding the area. Attaching one 27mm in the center of the fence and one 17mm contact microphone towards the side in order to capture any rattles or nuances that would not show up in the center.
Positioning the Contact Microphones
Using my friend as the exciter standing 30 foot down from the positions of the contact microphones the fence was vigorously shaken to replicate various strengths of wind. The sounds recorded from attaching contact microphones to chain fences is incredible, the electric type sound created and captured varies from each type of fence size or structure.
Also running up the stairs at the train station the sound created when standing underneath was full of rattles and a deep bass response that had to be recorded. the position of the contact microphones can be seen below and the sounds can can be heard in the link.
Contact Microphones attached below the stairs
Exploring: Vibrations
Description: The workshop day 1
Location: Minto House
Contact Microphones: 1 x 50mm, 1x 37mm, 1 x 27mm.
Gaining access to the workshop at Minto house was not only a great suggestion, but a source of inspiration whilst there. I started of by simply grabbing objects and testing everything in which I could think. The first sound I recorded was of a wire brush along a heavy plastic board, picture below.
Heavy duty plastic board
The sound of the wire brush being dragged over the board and in some parts cutting up the plastic, was extremely clear a contained so much detail in the highs with the twangs of the wire being captured.
I then found a length of metal and attached a contact microphone to it and used the wire brush on it. As pictured below.
Curved metal strip
This worked really well, giving a haunting scraping sound reminding me of the haunting tones acquired by bowing the wire in my room. What really impressed me about this sound was the detail present in the recording whether the brush was close or far from the contact microphone.
The biggest fail of the workshop day 1 recording session using the wire brush on wood, know wood does have the reactive qualities of metal I did hold much hope. Although trying to manipulate an interesting sound the wood board proved not to be the best of choices, the board and sound recorded can be seen and heard in the link below.
Wood board
SOUND TO BE ADDED
The inspiration of the workshop came to me as there were loads of metal poles, I thought about the idea of using one of the poles as a sort of sculpture and recording the ambiance of the workshop through the various poles.
Square metal pole
Sander above the sink through the glass
I was able to capture so many differing ambiances with various machines running, the sander which can be seen in the picture above was by far the standout sound recorded.
SOUND TO BE ADDED
Whilst exploring the workshop I came across the lazer Printing room, and used the coke bottle I had on my to capture a differing style of ambiance of the room. There was no real reason to explore this area, it just felt like the thing to do at the moment.
Coke bottle use to capture the ambiance of the Lazer room
Lazer Printers
