Recordings near LAX…

My mics came earlier than expected so I headed to nearby LAX to grab some traffic and plane recordings to test these puppies out.  Recording planes landing is more difficult than I thought.  The required gain settings for each plane were very different.  Once I figured out approximately where the gain should be for each size plane, I would try to spot the plane before I could hear it and adjust accordingly.   Many of my recordings were over-modulated, one of them is here anyway just because I liked how it sounded anyway.  Can you pick it out?  I definitely need to come back in the early morning to try to catch some plane landings minus the ambient noise and knowing what I know now about the appropriate gain settings.  Here are a few excerpts:

Plane landing with traffic in foreground.

Traffic near LAX.

Plane Landing.

Dump truck accerlerates.  (What is that other clicking sound towards the end?)

Jet Flyby (beginning cut-off due to unwanted noise)

Jet Landing.

Transformers Inspired Synth Sounds…

So I was fiddling around with Reaktor 5 from Native Instruments, and discovered a gem from the Reaktor User Library that I had overlooked.  If you use Reaktor much you probably know it, it’s even at the top of the Top 100 Ensembles in the User Library, it’s called “3x v1.8″. I began to play with the controls somewhat absent-mindedly, and before I knew it I was making some funky robotic, synth sounds.  I found that the randomize function can be useful in Reaktor for drastic changes as well as subtle changes at lower settings.  Check ‘em out.  Don’t be shy, download and leave a comment or better yet, a link to your new version(s) on Soundcloud! If you don’t know how to upload soundcloud clips to wordpress, check out this link, it’s easy!  If you want the color to match, when you click “customize your player” change the color to 3c3c3c.

Metal Bracelet…

Waiting for my new Schoeps M/S Stereo Set to arrive, my microphone options are quite limited. I’ve never really had a decent mic, although I have acquired a few less than professional random mics over the years for free. I would have preferred to use a large diaphragm condenser mic for this recording unfortunately I only have a few dynamic cardioid mics: Sennheiser e835, Audio-Technica 450HE which Audio-Technica has disavowed any knowledge of, and a pair of Audio-Technica MB1000-L mics.

Not wanting to wait any longer to test out my new Sound Devices 702t , I grabbed a metal bracelet that seemed to make a funny sound, the 450HE (which is actually hyper-cardioid), and headed for my very much non-isolated closet to see what I could hear.  I recorded in 24 bit/192 kHz and imported with sample rate conversion as well as without.  It quickly became apparent to me that different moments in each version stood out. Below are highlights of each.  The recordings are noisy and somewhat overmodulated, but I was surprised with the quality considering the circumstances and thought they might be fun to play with anyway…