Category Archives: Ambience

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..)

Ambience Field recording

Airport ambience

Oslo airport

I really need to get better at bringing a small recorder when I’m going places. During the christmas holiday in 2010, I travelled back and forth a bit. I figured this would be a good opportunity to start bringing my recorder, so I did.. I set up my Zoom h2 when I was waiting at the different airports, and I got some useable ambience out of it. It’s nice to spend the waiting time “working” instead of just sitting around.

Below are some samples from Oslo airport.

Equipment used: Zoom h2

Oslo airport
Ambience Field recording Stealth

Covert operations / Subway ambience

My undercover sound bag

“Hey! Is that a microphone?” We’ve all had recordings ruined by the guy who spotted you and your equipment. Time to leave the blue/orange Petrol bag and the zeppelin at home and use something more discreet.

I found an old army medic bag and decided to use it as an undercover sound bag. My SD744T recorder, NP1 battery and Rode NT4 stereo mic easily fit in the bag. I have yet to find a way to suspend the microphone, so to minimize handling noise I just have to stand still or sit down while recording.

The contents of the bag

My first test run was on the subway in Oslo. I found a seat on the train and rode around for a while. With the business end of the microphone sticking out of the bag and my hand resting on the other end to to keep it still, it worked pretty well. There was some occasional handling noise, but not bad at all.

Microphone capsules sticking out. Ready to record.

It was also easy to gather ambiences in different places by resting the bag in my lap or next to me. The lack of a fuzzy windjammer was a problem when recording outside. I guess I’ll have to try to put one on the next time I go outside to record. I recorded some ambience on the subway platform and the trains passing by occasionally caused wind distortion. I tried to position myself to avoid that, but a windjammer definitely would have made it easier.

Despite of some small problems I got some good material. Below are some samples.

Equipment used: Rode NT-4 -> Sound Devices 744T
Join me on the subway from Majorstuen station to Nationaltheatret station.

Ambience recorded at Stortinget subway station.

Ambience Field recording

Get out and record / Kindergarten

It’s fairly easy to come up with sounds you would like to record. It may be a sound that is difficult to find, or it may be a sound you hear on your way to work every day. I always hear interesting stuff when I walk through the city. Unfortunately, I’m really bad at bringing my handheld recorder with me, so I usually have to return later with my gear. This is bad because 1) often I don’t have the time to return and 2) when I actually return to record, the sound is gone or the ambient noise level has changed and is ruining the location.

A couple of years ago I was working on a short documentary style film. We wanted use as much sound from the locations as possible, and I recorded lots of ambience, foley and effects while we were shooting. I didn’t have the time to record everything we needed right away, but I was allowed to return about a month later to finish up. When I came back I found that one of the rooms we shot in had been torn down by construction workers. So the location itself had actually disappeared, which meant I couldn’t get all the sounds i needed. Had I been there earlier I might have been able to get everything.

So: get out there now and record the sounds you have been planning to. They might not be there if you wait too long.

I’m not posting without adding a little sound. Today I finally recorded the kindergarten outside my apartment building. I walk by every day, but I have never recorded it. Until now. The surrounding area was a little noisy, but it worked out ok.

Equipment used: Rode NT-4 -> Sound Devices 744T

No picture in this post. I felt I was being creepy enough just by recording sound next to the kindergarten..