Monthly Archives: September 2011

Field recording

Toilet roll holder

I’ve been travelling around a lot this month. One of the hotels I stayed at had a bathroom with a couple of interesting sounds. The ventilation system whistled when the wind blew outside, the shower drain made lots of noise and the toilet roll holder squeaked. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my recorder ready quick enough and the wind outside died down. No ventilation whistles for me.. I spent a little time recording the toilet roll holder instead. Hopefully, this can be used for a squeaky gate or an old street sign in a deserted town.

The bathroom was a little too noisy, so I had to use Izotope RX to clean up the recording a bit. There’s still a little noise left, but I’m sure I can get away with it in the mix.

Equipment: Zoom H4N

Ambience Field recording

Oslo city rooftop

One of the companies I freelance for has an office building downtown. I brought my recording gear with me one day and set it up on the roof before work. I let the recorder roll for a while and got some good city ambience. There are some sirens in there, as well as birds and a helicopter. For some reason, I just love to record city ambiences. I usually record at street level, but it’s nice to get up high to avoid loud footsteps, talking and other disturbing sounds.

Rode NT-4 > Sound Devices 302 > Sound Devices 744T (Not sure why I used the 302. I think I was testing something, but I can’t remember what. Note to self: take more notes when recording..)