Sounds were recorded multi-mic and from different perspectives, giving large variety for designing purposes. We used microphones with extended frequency range (Schoeps CMC6XT MS kit, Sanken CO-100k) recording on 192kHz sample rate, shotgun mics (Sennheiser MKH-8060, MKH-815T, Neumann KMR81/KM120 MS kit) as well as Trance Audio Inducer stereo contact microphone (which was very useful in noisy environments and which also has very wide frequency range). We used Sound Devices 702, 744 recorders with MixPre, Zoom F8 and Sony PCM D-50.

Sound are delivered as 192 & 96 kHz / 24 bit wave files with extensive Soundminer ready metadata.
Part of sounds is delivered as multitrack waves – PLEASE USE iXML LIBRARY OPTION in Soundminer, to use it fully as shown below:

If you don’t use Soundminer, don’t worry – sounds are delivered as multi-mono tracks and you can import and audition them one by one.
COAL MINE


Conveyor Belt – 3 files
Coal-Cutting Machine – 3 files
Planer – 6 files
Pump – 2 files
Rotary Planer – 3 files
Conveyor Chain – 5 files
Shearer – 5 files
Cement Mixer – 3 files
Coal Trolley – 3 files
Vantilation Fans – 5 files
Elevator Shaft Engine Hall – 6 files
Antique Huge Steam Machine – 9 files
Mine Elevator – 5 files

ZINC MINE


Underground River – 4 files
Vantilation Fan – 1 file
Diesel Loader Trucks – 51 files

ZINC SMELTER 1


Galvanizing Hall – 3 files
Foundry Hall – 8 files
Gantry Cabin INT – 3 files
Gantry Winch Engine – 4 files
Cutting Machine – 7 files
Hammering on Molds – 3 files
Grinding Mill – 11 files
Pneumatic Air Releases – 8 files
Mills – 9 files
Loader Truck – 1 file
Conveyor Belt – 1 file
Sand Movements in Pipes – 2 files
Lye Hall Machines – 18 files
Lye Hall Liquids – 5 files
Metal Plates – 5 files

ZINC SMELTER 2


Crusher – 4 files
Conveyor Belt – 4 files
Mining Shaft Engine Hall – 15 files
Mining Shaft Engine Hall Basement – Pressure Releases – 8 files
Mining Shaft Engine Hall Basement – Wooden Wheel – 5 files
Mining Shaft Debris Drop – 7 files
Freight Elevator – 7 files
Heavy Mills – 14 files
Liquids – 2 files
Metal Textures – 3 files

ZINC SMELTER 3


Train Car Reverse Machine – 4 files
Sizzling Parched Metal – 2 files
Hammering Machine – 7 files
Metal Cover – 2 files
Saddest Machine Ever – 7 files
Machine Hall – 5 files
Clods Falling – 3 files
Vibration Machine – 1 file

SCRAPYARD


Scrap Loader – 12 + 6 denoised files
Scrapyard AMB – 15 files
Crane Winch Engines – 8 files

TRAMS REPAIR WORKSHOP


Milling Machines – 7 files
Frame Saw – 1 file
Guillotine Shears – 7 file
Welder Generator – 1 file
Tram Electric Engine – 3 files
Huge Tram Gantry – 2 files
CNC Lathe – 1 file
Blasting Machine – 1 file
Ventilation Engine – 3 files
Compressor – 1 file
AMB – 1 file

TRAINS FACTORY


AMB – 4 files
CNC Laser Cutter – 18 files
Train Gantry – 4 files

STEELWORKS


Large Blocks Roll – 2 files
Hot Rolling Mill Engines – 4 files
Rolling Mill – 16 files

VULCANIZER


Pneumatic Servo Engine – 1 file
Pneumatic Air Releases – 6 files
Pneumatic Arm Movements – 3 files
Pneumatic Drill – 6 files
Pneumatic Lifts – 2 files
Pneumatic Hose – 1 file
Tire Balancing Machine – 1 file
Tire Grinder Drill – 10 files
Tire Washing Machine – 1 file

QUARRY


Conveyor Belt – 1 file
Dump Truck Belaz 51 – 43 files
Quarry Loader – 6 files
Crushers – 2 files
Drilling Rig Machine – 15 files
Wheel Loader CAT 972M – 34 files
Wheel Loader Stalowa Wola L34 – 53 files

Available soon…

Since I love recording using contact mics, I have a few of them.
They give unique perspective for field recording and results are always unknown, which I find exciting.

In my collection I have (so far):
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System 4000
– JrF C-Series contact mics
– JrF D-Series hydrophones
– Aquarian Audio H2a with suction cup

You can use hydrophones as a contact mics, getting interesting results. Recently I have recorded my own heart beat for a feature film “Bogowie” (“Gods”) which I was supervising, using JrF hydrophone and the sound was very nice and interesting (clean and wide range). It gave nicely deep low end.

For JrF mics it’s worth to use Hosa MIT-129 Impedance Transformer, which results in much better noise floor and wider frequency range.

I adore recording using different types of microphones at the same time – shotgun mics, contact mics and/or induction coils. You can get super interesting sounds for designing and layering this way.

For Barcus Berry, first I was using double sided 3M adhesive tape which came up with the mic and when I run out of it I started using Blue-Tack, following Tim Prebble’s wise advices.

Both Tim and the great Ann Kroeber (if you haven’t before, than definitely check this great Tonebenders podcast episode with her, where she’s sharing her amazing field recording experiences) also mentioned using bee wax for attaching contact mics to the surface.
I found natural bee wax in different internet shops: for artists of for kids to play (=artists).

I have compared them all and here are results.
As a sound source #1 I used milk blender engine, which you might be familiar with from my previous post.
Placement of contact mic is extremely important. Even with such a small prop you can get wide range of sounds, attaching it in different places. Barcus mic is bigger / attached in two places, which might give more complex sound.

Below are sounds grouped by the mic:
– Aquarian H2a Hydrophone in suction cup (no adhesive used):
– JrF D-Series Hydrophone with Hosa Transformer (no adhesive used):
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using Blue-Tack:
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using pure granulated bee wax:
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using colored bee wax:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using Blue-Tack:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using pure granulated bee wax:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using colored bee wax:

To compare results I did second round, recording scrapes on metal briefcase.

Here are results:
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using Blue-Tack:
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using pure granulated bee wax:
– JrF C-Series Contact Mic with Hosa Transformer attached using colored bee wax:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using Blue-Tack:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using pure granulated bee wax:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using colored bee wax:
– Barcus Berry Plenar Wave System attached using original 3M tape:

Hydrophones have less transients and details, which is not surprising. Note that I have used no adhesive on them.
JrF C-Series mic is interesting considering it’s price, especially with bee wax.
Definitely Barcus Berry wins this comparison because it’s freq range. Bee wax as I thought gives more high freq details. What is interesting, is that different types of wax gives slightly different timbre/brightness. It’s hard to say if it’s because of mic placement, amount of wax and pressure applied or wax type. But high freq details will be important when pitching down. The second wax (colored one) is a bit softer and mic can be pressed closer to the surface.

Advantage of Blue-Tack and bee wax is that you can reuse it many times and it adheres harder to the surface (you can place them verically, which is hard when using tape).
Blue-Tack leaves no marks on the surface and is quick to use. Can brake paint from the surface, though…
Bee wax leaves marks, sometimes hard to remove. Needs a bit of time to warm it up in fingers, yet after some time is very flexible and can be pressed hard. The mic attaches close to the surface and wax doesn’t suppress vibrations.
I think it’s possible that after some time when wax dries up/hardens, the sound would change.

There are surfaces and situations where you couldn’t use bee wax for sure, but what I learned from this test looks promising at least.
Now time to go out and record!

Recently we went to Łódź, city in central Poland, which was famous for its textile industry evolved in 19th century. In a beautiful former factory made of brick Museum of Textile is located, where weaving workshop is recreated and where you can see (and record…) old textile machinery in motion.

I took almost all my gear with me, since I knew there will be lots of interesting spots to put mics in.
My setup was: Neumann KMR 81 & KM 120 MS kit recording on Sound Devices 702, DPA 4060’s pair recording on Sony PCM D50 with Sound Devices MixPre as a front end, plus Sennheiser MKH 815, Barcus Berry contact mic and a pair of JrF C-series contact mics recording on Zoom H6.
Below are some sounds which I recorded there, full mixes as well individual mics.

Crochet machine. Idle and working.

[Mics order: FullMix, DPA’s, Neumann MS, 815, Barcus Berry, JrF’s]

Mechanical Looms. Narrow and half-wide.

[Mics order: FullMix, DPA’s, Neumann MS, 815, Barcus Berry, JrF’s]

Winder machines.

[Mics order: FullMix, DPA’s, Neumann MS, 815, Barcus Berry, JrF’s]

Directionality of MKH 815 is great for recording this kind of sound sources and gives large variety of textures.

I can’t imagine how insanely loud it was at those times, when there was hundreds of looms working at the same time in a factory. Those machines during their work look like living organisms with all its parts moving very fast (like 16m/s). The floor was vibrating so I placed contact mics on it.

Weaving workshop machines.

[Mics order: FullMix, DPA’s, Neumann MS, H6 XY, Barcus Berry, JrF’s]

At the end of the session I recorded this amazing small machine. It could be great source for small steam punk something.

[Mics order: FullMix, Neumann MS, 815]

It was the first time when I took out my new mics – hydrophones and contact mics made by Jez Riley French.
I have Aquarian H2a hydrophone which I liked. It’s a heavy duty mic, so I have tried it in rough conditions – recording in boiling water or freezing it. It always worked great. What is nice is that it’s quite heavy so it’s easy to dip it in rapid current streams.

But I was shocked by the quality of sound of JrF hydrophones – they have wide frequency range and much less internal noise than H2a.
I was amazed with the sound of tadpoles – they sound like they would like to devour my mics. It could work nice for sound of piranhas.
Here are tadpoles in pond, recorded with both hydrophones:

And another take with a pair of JrF hydrophones, much more intense:

And some samples of recordings in a mountain stream – I’m always fascinated with variety of sounds which I can get in one location with hydrophones, changing its position slightly:

There is never enough birds in the library. Listening to the birds singing is totally relaxing experience for me. Plus I love recording sounds with natural reverb of places.

I left my Neumann MS rig on balcony, recording dawn chorus from 4am. It’s stunning to listen how forest wakes up. And always something unexpected happens:

Later I found this beautifully singing cuckoo in the forest:

And Tawny Owl at night (it was very distant, so I had to use RX on it):

During the day I did comparison test between my trusty Sony PCM D50 (mics in wide position) and Zoom H6 (with MS capsule) recording thunders and rain. They sound quite similar, yet Sony sounds brighter.

During the windy day I attached DPA 4060s to the tree branches to record super close perspective of leaves rustle. Being omni mics they record less wind rumble than cardioids making them good choice for this kind of recording.

As a bonus I recorded heating radiator hiss in a house we stayed with DPAs and a pair of JrF contact mics. Below are different takes of DPAs, JrFs and a mix of them.

In August, I spent two weeks in beautiful places, having recording kit with me of course.
There is no better place to rest for me, than close to the nature. So we decided to go to the mountains.
I learn, that being involved sound editor, every year my listening abilities evolves. I am noticing more specific sounds for the places I visit. And there is no better time than vacation, when there is no rush, to focus on experiencing the world around.
Because I recorded many sounds which I would like to show, I decided to split it in parts.
So this post will be about some interesting sounds and objects, which I found.

First we visited Slovakian mountains. I took some recording gear with me.
Hiking through gorges I enjoyed acoustics of high rock walls. There were many beautiful mountain streams and waterfalls. Here are some sounds of it recorded with hydrophone.

It’s always so surprising to me, how much placement of the hydrophone changes the sound. In one spot so diverse sounds can be recorded.

And here’s one which you can download for free:

Another sound I will always remember from this vacations is the cable railway interior. I did one recording of cable railway before. I liked it much and was very curious how it would sound recorded with contact mic.

So here is two track recording of it: contact mic and DPA 4060.

And another cable railway recording from the past:

Up on the mountains, it was very windy. Inspired by Chris Watson’s amazing wind on wires recordings released recently by Soniccouture, I wanted to try to attach contact mic to metal towers. I found a few, every of them sounding totally different.

Some time ago, I did the same, attaching contact mic and hydrophone in suction cup to lighting tower when there was heavy wind. Absolutely loved that eerie and resonant sound (Left channel – Barcus Berry contact mic / Right channel – Aquarian hydrophone in suction cup).

On the mountains top, there were small mountain pines, which grow above some altitude. Since it was very windy and it formed an obstacle for wind, it sounded amazing. I putted a pair of DPAs 4060 into it.

In the village we stayed, everyday I was woken up at dawn by the rooster. But who would thought how this tiny one will be sounding when pitched down (you can download it for free too):

More sounds to come soon…

I attached contact mic to the window and recorded some nice thunders rumble:

[Barcus Berry Plenar Wave 4000 | Sound Devices 702]

And since it started raining heavily, I put hydrophone on balcony handrail, which gave nice slappy rain falling on metal sound:

[Aquarian H2a | Sound Devices 702]

There were big raindrops, but from this perspective it sounds huge.

And here is a mix of both tracks:

And a close thunder strike, both tracks mixed (thank you Sound Devices for pre roll record):