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..