I just got back from a long day of serious trial and error in
attempting to understand some of the main issues with recording
shoreline sounds. I have several hours of audio to study, but here are
my two biggest "takeaway" impressions from the day:
1) It's been said on this list that mic placement is pretty much
everything. That's for sure!
2) In rocky surroundings, omnis are much more likely than cardioids to
produce the "hollow" sound I was concerned about.
This may be old hat to many of you, but it's all new to me, and very
educational. Hopefully I can post a clip or two in the next couple days.
Curt Olson
On Jul 13, 2009, at 3:24 AM, wrote:
> 3b. Re: Ocean soundscape, two minutes in the Algarve.
> Posted by: "picnet2" picnet2
> Date: Sun Jul 12, 2009 3:06 pm ((PDT))
>
> Hello Curt,
> Ive found that very close produces a tonal change to the noise
> which sounds like a swooshing as the wave approaches. I have over 2
> hours of material, some of it is a walk towards the shore and away.
> Plus close and *really* close as the head fell in the sea - which
> only lasts for 10 seconds until I realized and quickly picked it up,
> good job the capsules were water resistant. Gave a whole new meaning
> to close micing. I actually liked the sound when the head was
> perhaps 1 ft above the waves, walking the shoreline and altering its
> position from close to around 6ft above the waves gave a nice
> effect. Also turning it as the wave passes by / tracking the wave -
> a wet feet affair but well worth it. From around 50 ft the sound is
> wider with less sploshing bass from the waves, the capsules Im using
> do not seem to pickup the roar associated with some recordings ive
> heard, but this is most likely related to different environments. I
> also used a prototype hydrophone to capture the same waves (at
> different times) for the "under" part of my project (Algarve under
> and above)
>
> I suspect one issue causing the hollow sound is due to my diy wind
> protectors, those tend to cause a peak around 6khz since they act
> like leaky Helmholtz resonators. When Im back home I'll EQ the
> recordings. I have some material without the ear muffs in place but
> sadly not very much due to the windy conditions. After a week on the
> beach the cycle seems to go from inland wind to wind from the land
> back to the sea, theres perhaps half an hour between the change over
> or temperature inversion thats going on (=still air) before the city
> heat heads out to sea or perhaps its the wind simply changing
> direction - in either case that window is easy to miss, but good to
> look out for if faced with similar conditions.
>
> Its my last day here, I'd be very interested if you find out what is
> the main cause of the hollow or noise tonality change. For the
> linked recording I actually changed from over the ear to in-ear
> headphones trying to judge the correct head position but after some
> time it seems my ears became accustomed to the sound.
> The recording wasnt actually EQ'ed the pinna response may also be
> one reason for the sound?
>
> I still suspect something based on Rob's sphere rigs(TM) would of
> done a far better job, if you have something similar or can borrow a
> bowling ball complete with a mic thread ready to mount on a
> tripod :) it would be nice to hear the lake recorded with a sphere
> setup.
>
> A curved perspex head shape with a large acoustic foam baffle behind
> will be my next rig in the array a day department.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Mike.
>
> --- In Curt Olson <> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for posting this, Mike.
>>
>> Very nice tonal balance. Sweet in many ways, but... I hear a
>> certain "hollow" quality to it that's almost identical to my own
>> recent recordings on Lake Superior. I can't put my finger on
>> exactly what's going on. It might be as simple as being to close to
>> the waves, but I don't know for sure. I'm going back up to Lake
>> Superior tomorrow with several different mic rigs to see if I can
>> get an insight into the problem.
>>
>> Curt Olson
>>
>> Mike wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> Heres a sample recorded with a dummy head placed close to the
>>> waves.
>>> Recorded on Monte Gordo Beach Portugal / Algarve at 10 PM.
>>> This is cropped from a longer recording and has not been equalized
>>> or post processed besides the compression.
>>>
>>> http://urlme.net/audio/twominutesinthealgarve.ogg
>>>
>>> Apologies for the ogg format, no mp3 encoder here.
>>> Audacity or vlc (videolan.org) should be capable of playing the
>>> clip.
>>>
>>> BR,
>>> Mike.
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/
<*> Your email settings:
Digest Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|