Azimuth Blog

Remembering Patrick

2013-04-11T14:25:05Z

I have written a few times about my former boss and friend Patrick Spence-Thomas. He was my first boss out of college and a big influence in my career path. Sadly he passed away a few years ago, but every year on his birthday those that knew him all gather at his favourite watering hole in downtown Toronto to raise our glasses and tell stories of his great adventures. Recently family and friends met for what would have been Patrick's 80th birthday and it was a fantastic night filled with stories of all the crazy ways he got himself into and out of sticky situations.

Patrick with his field recording gear back in the day.Patrick was a sought after field recordist and traveled the world recording battlefields and historical moments on his trusted Nagra, but he was also a talented audio engineer in the studio. He helped a lot of Canadian film makers get their start. Strangely amongst all the projects Patrick worked on, the one that gets talked about most is possibly the worst film he ever worked on. In fact there are many people who would argue this film is in the running for the very worst film ever made. Patrick mixed and did voice over work on "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats", a truly horrible and damn near unwatchable film. Deathbed was finished in 1977 with a minuscule budget. The antagonist in the film is a wooden four post king size bed. When people fall asleep on the bed it somehow sucks the victim into its acidic underbelly and dissolves their bodies. With a concept this bad it makes sense that funding would be hard to find.

The film was recently featured by Rotten Tomatoes on their list of "25 Movies So Bad They're Unmissable" and it has headlined festivals dedicated to horrible film making around the world. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is truly a spectacularly bad film. When George Barry, the film's American director, arrived at Patrick's studio he had little money and a giant mess of a film on his hands. The film did not make sense at all. With no money to go back and further edit the film, Patrick and George made an attempt to save the film by adding new narration and ADR. Since this was decided so late in the process Patrick was quickly cast as the voice of "The Artist" simply because he was already present in the room. I can not even imagine a film arriving for mix in such bad shape that the director asked me to get in the booth and narrate what was supposed to be happening on screen. Patrick also performed the voice of the Deathbed itself (uncredited!!!) when the bed would snore or laugh after a "nice snack", as Patrick himself would say.

Patrick's "acting" credit in the closing credits.

Other lines were added in post, with much of the ADR occurring while the actor's mouths were fully on screen and closed. This lead to Patrick adding an odd audio treatment that implies characters have ESP powers and can talk to each other without speaking....... but only sometimes........ and for no discernible reason within the plot. What an amazing mess this film is!

To really get an idea of kind of film Death Bed is here is a synopsis from wikipedia:

A large, black, four-poster bed, possessed by a demon, is passed from owner to owner. The Demon was a tree, who became a breeze and seemingly fell in love with a woman he blew past. The demon then took human form and conjured up a bed. While he was making love with the woman she died and his eyes bled onto the bed, causing it to become possessed. Those who come into contact with the bed are frequently consumed by it (victims are pulled into what is apparently a large chamber of digestive fluids beneath the sheets). The bed demonstrates a malevolent intelligence as well as some psychokinetic and limited telepathic abilities to manipulate dreams.

Now you are intrigued right?

I now have a DVD copy of Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. It was released a few years ago for the first time after becoming a bit of an underground sensation through bootleg copies being passed around. I have attempted to watch it many times and never made it through the whole film in one continuous run. I believe I have seen it all though in various sittings. I can attest that it is, in fact, really really bad. If you think you are up for the challenge I believe it is available on Netflix in a few countries. Good Luck if you take on the challenge.

The comedian Patton Oswald saw the film and it inspired a hilarious portion of his stand up album "Werewolves and Lollipops". You can hear it here:

The amazing thing is that I can guarantee Patrick Spence-Thomas tackled this project with great zeal and excitement! Not because he could not tell that this was a horrible train wreck of a film, but because that was just how Patrick was. He loved working with filmmakers and helping get their careers off the ground, he loved everything about making movies. Even if that movie was destined to become an legendary example of the worst the medium could offer. He was a positive guy and he would have taken it as a challenge to make this horrible film into something better then it was when it got to him. I am not sure how successful he was on this film but I know he was a strong positive influence on countless other projects. Patrick could talk for hours about the crazy times he had working on this film. He was never ashamed of having worked on it, he wore it like a badge of honour. He especially loved hearing his own ridiculous V/O work when he saw the film again 30 plus years after working on it. I have to say hearing Patricks voice is by far my favourite part of the film.

I had my field recorder rolling in the bar the night we gathered to celebrate Patrick. I got some great moments of various people telling their favourite Patrick stories over the course of the evening. Without knowing the man personally some of the stories might not make sense to outsiders, but as I listened back the files, I heard something universally understood. Lots and lots of laughter. I think that is the greatest thing Patrick left us all. Take a listen for yourself.

The Out of Focus Drummer

2013-04-08T02:19:19Z

This is a bit of a different post for this blog as it does not contain any field recording info at all. It's just a fun story I was recently reminded of when I was sent a link to a YouTube clip from a project I was involved with many years ago.

A little over a decade ago I got a late-night phone call from a friend and found myself in a rock video the next morning.

I had a job at a studio and I had brought in my drum kit in so I could practice there in the evenings and weekends, since I couldn't have played them in the little apartment I was living in at the time. The studio shared the building with a production company and the in-house editor there was an aspiring music video director named Jay Bond. This was who was on the other end of the slightly panicked phone call I received that night. Jay was set to shoot a video the next day with an established Canadian band called the Skydiggers, but their drummer had to back out of the shoot at the last minute. Jay had seen my kit kicking around the studio and hoped that I would agree to sit in with the band and be the drummer in the video. Luckily I was not busy the next day and I said yes right away.

This was a cool situation because I was actually a fan of the band. The Skydiggers had been around for years already at that point and in the early to mid 90’s they were a top touring band in this country. They played an interesting mix of folk and indie rock, rightfully belonging in the pack of bands that were spawned under the influence of the first few R.E.M. records. Although they never broke big, they were a staple on MuchMusic (Canada’s MTV) and rock radio throughout the country. So I was excited to meet them and pretend to be a part of their band on camera.

I got up bright and early the next day and arrived at the warehouse where we were shooting the video. The first step was to get my makeup applied and my outfit approved. Everything was going great except for one fairly massive problem. This video was for the first single on the band's forthcoming album, so the song was still unreleased and under wraps. I was about be filmed playing the drums to a song I had never actually heard before. This was before mp3s were being emailed around without a thought, so after I was all done with the makeup people I was given a discman (remember those?) and headphones and told to listen to the song over and over. While I was hearing the song for the first time grips were doing the final touches on the lighting and soon it was time to roll camera.

The video’s concept was easily adapted so that I was never really the focus of the action. They kept me in the background and tried to keep me out of focus for the most part. I even wore a hat so it was less obvious that I had a different haircut than their real drummer.

Another problem was that the playback system the crew had was not very loud so if I actually played the drums properly, the sound of the drums would drown out the the playback we were lipsyncing to. Playing along to a song you barely know is challenging enough, but trying not to actually make any noise while you're doing it is an extra challenge I hadn't considered. Luckily the band was super cool and had my back when I screwed up early on. Andy, that band's singer, was particularly kind to me, explaining to the crew why what I was doing was tricky. After a few takes I was up and running and we were on our way.

Luckily most of the song is a simple straight up rock beat. You can see me really screwing up some of the fills in the changes. Ooops! All in all it turned out OK for the most part. Take a look (video starts around 40 seconds in):

This is not the band's best song, though upon repeated listens it does stick in your head. They were about 5-7 years past their prime commercial success when this video was made. It was a really fun way to spend a weekend though, playing the “out of focus drummer in the background” with a band I really liked.

The Skydiggers still tour every couple years and this year are doing a big celebration tour for their 25^th anniversary.

Jay Bond, the video’s director, has gone on to become of heavy hitter in the world of opening titles for films and TV shows. He recently wrapped up a talk at SXSW on the topic and is a past winner of The Art of the Title’s award for best Opening Title sequence. Here are the the latest opening titles he has worked on:

Hard Rock Medical - Main Titles Sequence from Jay Bond on Vimeo.

Costa Rican Water Sounds

2013-03-31T17:41:03Z

I recently went on vacation to Costa Rica and brought along a recording rig. My main goal was to record capuchin monkeys but I wanted to make sure I got some ambiences while I was there. The resort I was staying in was an extremely noisy environment so capturing an ambience of any kind besides "resort" required getting as far away as I could from the hustle and bustle.

I got my chance when a few of us hired a boat and traveled about 45 minutes away from the resort to go snorkeling in an uninhabited cove. To be honest, the underwater scenery was underwhelming. The water was cloudy and the coral was dying. Also, I got stung from the top of my head down the side of my face and around my throat by a jellyfish - ouch. We did see some interesting fish, but on balance it was a bit of a painful disappointment.

After the snorkeling was done we stopped and had a barbeque lunch on a beautiful mile-long white sand beach. While the others ate, I had time to sneak off down to the end of the beach and capture some ambience of the waves rolling in from the Pacific ocean.

There is a reason that relaxation devices always include the sound of waves; this sound has some kind of instinctual calming effect on people. It's really hard to be stressed and dwell on your problems when the waves are gently rolling in from the ocean. Toronto, where I live, is on the shore of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. Three of the largest lakes in the world are included in the Great Lakes system -- they don't call them great for no reason -- they are huge. Yet when the waves roll in from these vast lakes it still has an entirely different quality than waves coming in off the ocean. I am not sure if it is the salt water or just the seemingly infinite size of the ocean, but ocean waves have a sound that is special.

This beach was protected by a chain of small islands just off the shore so the waves rolling in were really small, no crashing or smashing against the shore. Here, take a listen:

Later we pulled the boat up in a much more rocky coastal area. This area was also protected and not getting the full-sized ocean waves, but the sound of the water hitting the rocks was different. After the waves washed over the rocks, they sizzled until the next wave rolled in. Although it was extremely hot out (45 ºC or about 115ºF), I don't think the rocks could have been hot enough to make the water sizzle on their surface. So I am not actually sure what was causing this sound.

Back at the resort I was able hike along the shore a good distance and found another beach that was distinct because it was so shallow. You could walk out a couple hundred yards before the water was even up to your knees. As a result, the waves had lost any power they had by the time the fizzled out on the beach. These are some super-soft gentle waves. These waves could ease you to sleep if you were not careful.

Are you still awake? The last water sounds I'll share from my Costa Rican adventure are from a interesting little cave I stumbled across. It was not much to look at really, just a small opening in the rock face, but upon closer inspection I found out how amazing it was. There were two small tunnels that led deep into the rock and out to the open ocean on the other side of the cliff. The two tunnels were at 90 degree angles from each other, so water would stream in at different rates and times from each tunnel. The waves would crash into the the tiny cave and wash around before being sucked back out again. Then the next surge of water would flow in, in an erratic cycle. It was pretty cool. I wanted to get close and record this, but the current was pretty strong and a log was floating around inside the cave. I didn't want to climb in the water with my Sony D-50 recorder only to have the current pull my feet out from under me and dunk my recorder in salt water. Salt water and electronics don't play well together as we all know. But I was hearing something I had never heard before and knew I had to take the risk and get inside. Every once in a while waves would rush down both tunnels at the same time and collide with a sonic boom-like sound. I had never heard anything like it before. It only happened every couple minutes but when it did it was mind blowing.

I made the decision to climb in the cave with my recorder to capture this crazy cave ambience. Sadly this big booming noise wasn't very accurately captured by the D-50. I think it was just too low a frequency for the little mics on the recorder. This was a sound you could feel as much as hear and I think it was too much for the D-50. Luckily the current in the cave never knocked me over although it came close a couple times. The damn log floating around in there beat up on my shins pretty good though.

Take a listen to the waves in the cave and pay attention to the low boom hits every once in a while. I have included text in the video to identify one of the wave booms.

Recording Capuchin Monkeys

2013-03-18T01:48:38Z

I love to travel. I look forward to encountering the unexpected because it opens my eyes to things in this world that I had no idea existed. When I travel I love the trip as much as the destination - driving through unknown territory in a far-off country is when I stumble upon the most memorable experiences of any trip. In my opinion, the less you plan in advance, the better off you are. The culture you've dropped into will sweep you away, like a twig on a river, into its best and worst.

Sadly, this kind of travel, which I've grown accustomed to, is not an option right now. My wife, who is also the best travel partner in the world, is currently 7 months pregnant and she isn't really up for the more adventurous mode of traveling right now. We wanted to go on one last trip before we get pinned down by parenthood so we decided to take a kind of trip we've never tried before - an all-inclusive resort holiday!?

Normally the idea of travelling to a far-flung destination and then just staying in one spot for 7 days would feel like a total waste of time. But given our circumstances and the fact the there were 8 inches of snow on the ground outside our house in Toronto, this all-inclusive idea didn't sound so bad. The decision was made and we booked a last minute trip to warmer temperatures.

Main hub of activity at the resort in Costa Rica we traveled to.

So off to Costa Rica we went. I had read that the area we would be staying in was home to a large population of capuchin monkeys. I was not sure if these impossibly cute little guys would make much noise, or how hard it would be to get close to them but I figured I might not be around a capuchin again any time soon so I might as well try to record any sounds they might make. As we headed for the airport I had my regular suitcase full of clothes as well as a second one full of recording gear.

One of the capuchins up close.

Bringing a shotgun microphone onto a plane is always a bit of a pain. There is no way I am going to check a $2000+ microphone, so I take it as carry-on. The interest of security staff is always piqued when the mic goes through the x-ray machine. A long skinny metal tube sends up a red flag in these days of heightened airport security. So I am always pulled aside and made to jump through a couple of hoops to prove I am not carrying a pipe bomb or something equally dangerous. After I explain what they are looking at I am always waved through.

Once we arrived at the resort I became aware of what a different environment I was entering compared to my other travels. It turns out that enjoying quiet is the last possible thing you can do at an all-inclusive resort. Recording the capuchins, or anything at all besides maybe 'obnoxious resort ambience' would be tricky. Noise was coming from many sources:

music in the bar and around the pool
waves rolling in from the ocean
wound-up guests living it up all around the resort
cooking and eating sounds from the buffet restaurant
diesel engines from the shuttle vans that transport patrons around the area
constant bird song
announcers on the P.A. calling bingo/aquafit/dance classes, etc.

Some of the bird life walking on the beach.

At various times, some or all of these noises were present and inescapable. With some trial and error I narrowed down when the quietest time could be to record the monkeys. Afternoons and evenings were out because of the pumping reggae and dance music audible all over the resort, but before 9 AM the music was only playing inside the buffet restaurant area. Also in the morning most guests were still groggy and relatively quiet as they recovered from the previous evening's adventures. The waves were quite light in the mornings as the tide was 50 meters further out than it was in the afternoon and the shuttle vans ran less frequently while most guests were still sleeping. On the negative side though was that the buffet was in full swing with lots of dish rattling and people chatting. All the birds in the area were also engaged in their morning conversations.

The monkeys come in towards the resort from deeper in the forest around 8 AM so from then until around 9 AM when the music really kicked in with the bass thumping pop remixes seemed to be my window. Not a huge amount of time, but enough to get something.

Whether I'd be able to get close enough to the capuchins to record them was my next unknown. This turned out to be no problem at all. These monkeys have been around the resort all their lives and were not afraid of people at all. All it took to attract their attention was a bit of fruit.

One of the Capuchins munching away at a chunk of fruit.

I woke up nice and early, got my gear all ready, and headed down to a spot near the beach where the monkeys like to hang out. I guess I don't really think like a monkey because I made a faux pas right off the bat. With a nice chunk of fruit in one hand and my microphone in a rycote windshield covered with a furry windjammer in the other, I moved in on a monkey. The poor little guy took one look at me and backed off and started barking at the mic in a fairly aggressive manner. I had no idea a monkey could bark like this. This was not a sound I was expecting at all. It took a minute to dawn on me that the monkeys were alarmed by the furry cover on my microphone - it was convincingly imitating a threatening predator. I took the furry off and put it out of sight and they were immediately comfy and playful again. Here is a clip of the monkey barks:

These may not sound too menacing. Keep in mind that these capuchin monkeys are very small animals, so their barks sound more like a chihuahua then a big roar like you hear in Hollywood movies like Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

I made another pass at recording once the the furry was off and the monkeys were more than willing to come right up to the rycote. They patted it down and tried to figure out what it was. One of the monkeys even tried to bite into the rycote to see if it was some new kind of fruit.

Still from video, blown up, showing a capuchin inspecting the rycote windshield.

Here is what they sounded like as they contentedly wandered about in the trees and ate fruit while overlooking tourists setting up their towels on the beach.

Well, I have to admit that these little guys were possibly the cutest things I have ever been around. The sounds they make sound very very close to human vocalizations. I imagine it would even be fairly easy to replicate these types of noises with an actor. Like willing interview subjects, they were very good about camping out in front of the microphone for a while and just squeaking away. Then they would get bored and scamper off to another tree branch along the beach. Aside from the birdsong in the background I was able to get fairly clean recordings of capuchin chatter. It worked out pretty well.

Here is a video I captured with the capuchins in Costa Rica. This video is of them running around in the trees and grabbing fruit. The video and audio were not shot together so they are not in sync, but it will give you an idea of the environment. All the recordings were made with a Sanken CSS5 feeding a Sound Devices 702.

Here are a bunch of photos taken by my wife while I was recording the capuchins.

This final picture is of an animal called a Coati. It's in the same family as the racoon. These guys rest in the trees and the monkeys mess with them and generally annoy them.

Snap Crackle Pop

2013-03-12T01:13:08Z

Here's a bit of a combo post. Two recording sessions I've done that have yielded similar sounds from completely different sources:

Every year on New Year's Eve my wife and I head way north to a cabin in the woods for a big party with friends, family, and fireworks. This year I brought along my hydrophone and took it out into the woods, buried it in some ice, poured some water over it and walked away. My plan was to let the water freeze solid for a few hours, then come back and manipulate the ice as much as I could, while recording the whole thing.

The view from the cabin window in winter.

Later that day I started packing up my gear to go collect my sounds, and while I was getting my boots and coat on, my cousin came through the door, telling me how I must have dropped some of my equipment in the woods, and that it took some effort but he was able to chip it out of the ice and get it back to me in one piece. Oh boy. When I explained to him that I had left it there on purpose and was just heading out to experiment with it, he apologized profusely - but how was he to know.

So I trudged back out into the forest and started the process all over again, this time leaving the hydrophone out in the woods overnight. Luckily no curious animal tried to carry it off into the night, and in the morning it was still where I had left it. I plugged the hydrophone's cable into my recorder and was instantly rewarded with the sound of complete silence. Nothing. Last year I tried dropping the capsule into a crack in the lake as it froze and got some great sounds but I guess everything was frozen solid by the time I got there because this time I was getting nothing. Instead, I found that by stepping on the snow and ice around where it was buried I could get some cool snaps, crunches and squeaks.

Here are some of the sounds I was able to get from the session:

Some of these sounds reminded me of a set of recordings I did a few years ago where I needed some new bone breaks for a fairly violent fistfight scene. I went down my block to where a giant old tree was shedding it bark all over the street, and scavenged a few bags full of dry bark.

Some of the bark I collected before I started recording.

I set up my Neumann BCM104 and started snapping away on the dried bits of bark. I got some pretty cool results and ended up with a whole library of bone snaps for that scene that the director approved without any changes.

The Neumann BCM104 is a condenser and is meant as a v/o or broadcast mic, so I was curious as to how it would perform in recording SFX. It turned out that it handled the recording really well; I think it captured a richer low-end than I expected. I've not used it much since for SFX but while writing this post I have reminded myself to keep it in mind for this type of work in the future.

the pile of bark when I was finished breaking and crushing it.

Fun with Floor Creaks

2013-03-04T19:58:18Z

The house I live in is an older house. I have never gone to city hall to look up the exact age of my house, but it was estimated to be between 80 and 90 years old when I bought it 5 years ago. There are good and bad things that go along with old houses. The positives are that the neighbourhood is old too, so the trees are big and the area has developed its own unique personality. The downside is that it can be a lot of work to keep an old house in good shape. As the house ages it develops a personality too, and some of those signs of degeneration can actually be, well, maybe not enjoyed, but put to good use - if you are a sound recordist like me! I just recently became aware that I basically have access to an endless supply of creaks and other strange "old house" sounds.

If you read this blog with some regularity you may know that I am a big fan of The Sound Collector's Club (read this post, or listen to this podcast if you are unfamiliar with the SCC). One of the themes the club has is for Creaky Floors and for some reason it took me nearly a year to contribute to this collection. I finally got around to it and I was shocked at just how loud my old house is! I guess I have become so accustomed to these creaks that I have been just unconsciously filtering out these sounds. I just don't hear these great creaks and strains when I walk around the house in my normal daily life. I got some pretty amazing sounds simply walking around on the old hardwood floors throughout the house.

My house is on a side street but traffic is pretty steady during the day and evening, but after about 1 AM there's only rarely a car driving by. Around 2 AM I got out of bed and went down and unplugged the fridge and turned the thermostat way down so the furnace would stay off. Now that I had the house as quiet as I could get it I grabbed a shotgun microphone, pointed it at my feet from waist height and just walked slowly around the main floor of my house. Here is a section of what I got:

The floors are so loud! How is it even possible that I haven't gone crazy from this?

These types of sounds can have a couple of uses that I can see: as an added element to foley footsteps (or even production sound) to add a feel of age to the environment on screen or simply to add a heightened tension with each step a character takes. They are also clean enough to be used as SFX on their own. I can see/hear them in scenes with branches sagging from the weight of someone climbing a tree or old doors opening/closing or as elements in large wooden objects being moved.

All in all I am so glad I finally got around to recording the basic sounds of my own house. Sometimes the best sounds are right under your nose and so ubiquitous you just don't think about it. A "can't see the forrest for the trees" type situation for sure.

My full recordings from this session plus a cool recording of the wooden floating staircase in my house are now available as part of the Sound Collector's Club Creaky Floors collection. To get my recordings and a bunch more (the collection sits at 1.53 gig currently) become a member of the SCC and contribute your own sounds. This is a great collection that will be handy to have in the future.

Talking Weapons with Watson Wu

2013-02-26T04:15:00Z

Episode 7 of the Tonebenders podcast is available now at Tonebenders.net. This episode is all about the art of recording firearms. Recently I did a shoot recording fireworks which is something along the same lines, but obviously having live guns on hand is a whole different dynamic. To get a better understanding of how it's done, we reached out to a few seasoned professionals and asked them to be part of the podcast. Among the experts we contacted were Charles Maynes (one of Hollywood’s go-to guys for gun effects), therecordist.com 's Frank Bry (did you know his last name is pronounced Bree?), Axel Rohrbach of Germany’s Boom Library, and renowned firearms recordist Watson Wu. We were very fortunate that all these top pros agreed to join our conversation. Amazing.

Watson Wu with his gear set up to record at a gun range.

As you'll hear in the podcast, Charles Maynes and Frank Bry appear live, we sent Axel a list of questions beforehand and he sent us back his recorded answers. (Since English is not Axel's first language, he suggested taking part in the interview in this way so that he'd have a chance to better express himself.) Unfortunately Watson Wu could not take part in the live conversation because... he was out recording machine guns that day. That is basically the best possible reason to miss being a part of a podcast about recording guns - he was too busy recording guns! Watson was kind enough to write down some answers to our questions so that we could share them during the podcast.

As things played out while we were conducting the interview, we didn't have the opportunity to include all of Watson’s answers in the podcast. So I will include the full interview here (as well as on the main tonebenders site)

Here is a brief rundown of Mr. Wu’s work. He specializes in field recording of authentic weaponry, vehicles, and hard to find exotic and muscle cars. He has been in the industry since 2001 and some selected credits on video games include Assassin's Creed 3, The Need for Speed franchise, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Warhawk, and many other games.

Given the written format we used, Watson didn't go deeper into some of the details we drew out in the conversation found in the podcast but I think his answers still cover a lot of ground and show why he is one of the top guys in the field.

Tonebenders: First off, to give people a little bit of your history, how did you get interested in sound design/field recording?

Watson Wu: I've always Loved sound. When I was a young child, my father owned an arcade which I had full access to play all of the games. It was fun to be surrounded by lots of interesting sounds. During late high school & early college, I often performed in bands and did live mixing of classical and rock concerts. These hands on experiences were stressful, as there were always tons of gear with something always breaking. Learning to listen and make quick adjustments were some of the skills I acquired from schooling as well as from those fantastic performances.

TB: What research and prep do you do that might be unique to recording firearms?

WW: With my collection of short and long firearms, I often get to try out various microphones while shooting at a few exclusive private ranges. The invitations I also receive to attend machine gun shoots allows me to experiment more. After some years of this I can most of the time tell which microphones are ideal for various placements around certain firearms.

TB: What criteria do you look for when picking a location for a firearms recording session?

WW: Whenever I come across a potential quiet location to record at, I will have someone do some test shooting for me. Most often I would stand behind the shooter using only my fingers to cover my ears. After each of the shots I would quickly release my fingers to hear how the shot tail travels. This process is repeated until we find the least echoing location and angle. Fortunately one of the best sounding areas is at my favorite shooting range here in Florida. I have rented the entire place for myself. :-)

TB: How many crew members do you like to have for a record?

WW: It depends on how many microphones we need. Ideally I like to have at least two assistants to help me set up, adjust, and do the clean up at the end of the day.

TB: How do you gain access to the weapons?

WW: Just like attending car shows, I also often attend gun shows. I have friends whom I shoot with, who are Class 3 Dealers. These great guys also know of other guys who have incredible toys. Serious gun guys are different people, but knowing who I am and who I associate with, they do become approachable. :-)

TB: Can you go over what types of microphones you use for a multi-mic set-up during a gun record session?

WW: I own a lot of different mic brands. They range from AKG, Audix, DPA, EV, Neumann, Rode, Sennheiser, Shure, etc. For firearms I like to use pencil condenser mics as well as a few shotguns.

TB: Any special equipment you need for a gun record?

WW: I really like Sound Devices mixers as well a certain Zaxcom recorders. The limiters have to be fast enough to handle to fast-traveling super loud sounds. My Remote Audio headphones also allow me to monitor loud sounds.

TB: What safety precautions do you put in place when recording guns?

WW:I like to only bring people with me who are experienced shooters. It's easier to bring a shooter than a master recordist who might freak out. During recording, all non-shooters must stand or sit at least 20 feet behind the firing line. We always bring along safety glasses as well as enough ear plugs and ear muffs for all. Safety is Always The Priority!

TB: Top three tips for recording guns/weapons?

WW: Learn to safely shoot and get used to the explosive sounds. Learn to move the microphones closer or further from each of the firearms. Of course one should never place anything valuable in front of a firearm. Log what sounds good at what distance. It's almost like learning to mix live concerts, so you should never stop learning and experimenting.

TB: What's your favorite weapon to record?

WW: Machine guns and high power rifles are my favorite weapons to record. To name some, they are the M16 variants, Kriss Super V, AK47, AK74, M60, 50 cal Ma Deuce, and the famous MiniGun, which fires 50-60 rounds per second!

TB: What is the gun you are shooting in this photo?

WW: This "Turkey Gun" is a 3.5" Shotgun. Normal shotguns shoot 2 3/4" to 3" shells. It was painful to shoot this thing!! The armor guys made me shoot it because I was laughing at them. Then, it was their turn to laugh at me reacting to the BIG recoil. Haha!

2 Year Anniversary

2013-02-20T03:17:09Z

When I started the Azimuth blog I was a busy sound effects editor, spending long days in the windowless edit suite in my house. I was doing a lot of work but it was a somewhat lonely way to go about my days, as my interaction with the outside world and other sound pros was limited. I had worked at larger facilities in the past that meshed the technical and social aspects of the business much better then freelancing. So I decided to start a blog as a way of engaging other audio people and gaining new social outlets to learn from and pass around knowledge. It has been great to meet so many people, some in person but most through the amazing online sound community.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of this blog. So I thought I would celebrate by going over a couple of milestones of the last year. By far the biggest news for me was the launch of the new podcast on sound design and recording, called Tonebenders. Taking on the dual roles of a co-host and co-producer has been a lot of fun, as well as an education unto itself. If you follow this blog at all you have read enough about the podcast already so I will leave it at that. Another cool innovation from the past year has been the addition of the free downloads page on this site. Instead of just writing about some of my field recording adventures I am now able to share some of the sounds with everyone. I have been amazed at how many people have pulled down these collections. I plan on including more sounds for download in the coming months, so stay tuned.

Finally I am going to repost a few of my personal favorite articles from year 2 of the blog.

I got a lot of great feedback from this post on the various forms of wind protection I use in my field recording kit.

Before I did my first multi-mic vehicle recording session I did a ton of research on the subject and made this post with links to a bunch of the info I was able to dig up online.

After doing all the research mentioned above I put all that information to work by doing a full coverage recording of an Argo amphibious ATV.

This diary of my various attempts to record the wing flutter from tiny hummingbirds tells how tricky the little guys were to capture sound from. This post includes a free download of some of the results.

This post covers my recordings of the burners that heat the air in hot air balloons. I love the pictures of the Arizona desert in this one.

This was a fun post about the signature sounds of various cities around the world.

This is possibly my favorite of the last year. My trip to Iceland was really a life changing experience.

Here is one is really only going to be important to me - but I still like it a lot.

There was a lot of discussion created by this post and it got passed around quite a bit. I did a bit of research into what kinds of projects various soft synth manufacturers actually allow us to use their sounds in, according to their various End User Licenses.

Here are my thoughts as to what we can all do to make the Sound Collector’s Club even better then it already is.

Finally if you scroll down to the bottom of this post (or even read the post too) you will find my supercut of quotes from the SoundWorks Collection that all mention how sound is there to help tell the story.

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog over the last year and especially those of you who reached out with comments and questions. I always like hearing from others in the online sound community, so reach and say hello some day!

Field Recording in Cold Conditions

2013-02-05T03:53:43Z

A cold wind is blasting your face. Your hands are shaking and your teeth are chattering. Your legs are caked in white powder from trudging through the high snow drifts. And you have not even set up the gear yet... It's going to be a long day.

On a field recording assignment there are a million things to think about, both technical and creative. Sometimes you also have to worry about the environment in which you are recording as well, specifically the temperature you can expect to be working in. Both hot and cold extremes call for special preparations if you want to have a successful session. Extreme heat might come with the humidity which can wreak havoc on electronic gear and the inner workings of microphones. Heat can also lead to human error as a result of dehydration or even heat stroke. Today I am going to focus on what I think is the more difficult weather extreme, and the effects freezing cold can have on a field recording session. Plummeting temperatures can create obstacles that are difficult to overcome.

Living in a area of the planet that gets pretty cold for a good part of the year, I have had to prepare to record in cold conditions many times. The first thing you will notice in frigid temperatures is that you'll get dramatically reduced lasting-power from from any battery-operated gear. The power-producing chemical reaction that happens in a battery depends on extremely fast moving ions - and cold temperatures prevent this process from being efficient. The cold effect on batteries is no joke, the difference is drastic. So cold temperature sessions require first of all a comprehensive battery strategy if you don't have access to plug-in power on the shoot. You'll need more batteries than usual and you will also have to keep your extra/back-up batteries warm until they are put to use. If they're already cold when you need them, then their performance will be even worse. This can be tricky to overcome if you don't have a heated place to store them until they are needed. Using your own body heat by keeping batteries inside your jacket is usually the best way to keep your spares warm until they are pressed into service. And make sure all your batteries are fully charged before you head out into the cold. A half-charged battery in normal temperatures is a dead battery in chilly conditions. I find that “AA” batteries are affected quite significantly by cold temperatures and will drain much faster than the lithium-ion batteries used in some recorders (for ex: the Sound Devices 7 series.) So think ahead and stock up on extra batteries and organize and charge them up the day before.

So your spare batteries are being kept nice and warm in your inside pockets, but you want to keep the batteries that are in use as warm as you can too. This can be done by having blankets to wrap your gear in. The blankets help in two ways, shielding the gear from wind and falling snow as much as possible. If there's snow on the ground I find it's extremely helpful to bring along a smallish sled. The sled can be used to help you transport everything to your location through the snow. It can also be used as a dry work surface for your equipment set-up.

You will have to keep yourself warm as well. The answer here is layers. When you're running around setting up all your gear you will find things a lot warmer than when you are sitting still waiting for things to happen. Having the ability to drop and add warm layers will allow you to adjust as the day goes forward. Lined boots, gloves and a warm knit hat, or a toque as they are called here in Canada, are extremely important. Gloves can make operating gear difficult though. They can make clumsy work out of simple scroll dials and button pushes. I find that gloves with with exposed fingers and a mitten flap are great to use on a recording trip. These gloves keep you warm when you have the flap over your fingers but allow you to easily push small buttons and accomplish fiddly tasks with the flaps back and your fingers exposed.

Although these gloves are good for using gear with small buttons and dials, if you are used to using any touch screen devices on a shoot you are better to leave those gadgets at home. In general they do not perform exceptionally well in the cold, and your small motor skills deteriorate as the temperature drops too. It's hard to work an iPhone's keyboard if your hand is shaking in the cold. 'Smart' gloves, which have electro-conductive thread woven into them, are becoming popular, allowing you to use touch screens with your gloved hands, but I still think that in cold weather using a paper and pen for notes is much better than a tablet, since you won’t have to worry about the batteries failing with a pad of paper (although it is possible for the ink in the pen to freeze!) and if your notebook falls into a slushy puddle or a snowbank you can just wipe it off instead of crying all the way to the Apple store at the end of the day.

Human ears were not designed well for cold conditions. They stick out, basically defenseless against the elements. Your ears are among the first parts of the body likely be affected by frostbite (along with fingers and toes.) You have to keep them covered in sub-zero temperatures. Yet on a recording field trip your ears are the most important tool you have. How can you get the most out of your hearing if there is a dense layer of fabric between your ears and the sounds you are trying to record? There is no simple solution here. If the temperatures are very low and you are planning to be out in the cold for a long time you have to cover your ears to stay comfortable (no recording is worth messing with the functionality of your ears!) I find that in short stints you can get away with using your headphones as earmuffs. That will only work for so long though, since headphones are optimized for sound reproduction, not heat insulation. The best way to tackle this issue is to wear a warm hat with the headphones over top. This will affect the sound from the headphones but not so much that you don’t have a decent idea of what you are recording. Every couple minutes you can pop the hat off your ear and listen for a moment to make sure all is still good. With experience you will find that the hat is not much of an issue.

Another thing to think about when shooting in snowy conditions is the noise interference you yourself are going to create. Every move you make will be noisy. Synthetic jackets create a lot of cloth movement noise with every little body shift. The simple act of taking a photo on the fly will ruin a take as you fumble around through your gloves and big winter jacket, generating a blizzard of nylon swiffling noises. Nope, you must stay as still as possible... not fun (or easy) when freezing your butt off.

You will also find that in the snow, every step you take can be really loud. Snow is an amazingly complex-sounding substance. Sometimes it's crunchy, other times mucky, while still other times it can be fluffy or even glassy. The temperature of the air will affect what the snow sounds like: the colder it is the more dry crunchiness you will hear, but there are lots of other factors at play too:

How deep is the snow?

What surface is under the snow?

Has it been compacted down in tire tracks or footsteps?

Has any ice formed in the snow from a fast drop in temperature?

Is there any slush as a result of a fast rise in temperature?

Has the area been salted? (rock salt is spread on pavement to melt ice)

Depending on these variables, and many others, you get remarkably different sounding snow under your feet. Yet they are all loud and distracting unless "footsteps in snow" is what you are actually setting out to record. So for this reason too, you will be forced to stay still once you are rolling.

Another thing to plan for is acclimatizing your gear to the cold before you start rolling. This applies mostly to the microphone. Most shotgun microphones work very well in the cold (DPA tests their mics to -25°C or -13°F) but issues can crop up as the microphone itself cools down to the ambient temperature. So ideally you want to have the mic out in the cold for an hour or so before you start rolling. I have not always been able to follow this rule and have actually not noticed any problems, but if you have the time it is a good idea to plan for enough time to cool down the mic in advance. The main thing you want to do is keep the microphone as dry as possible. Since water expands when it freezes you really don’t want any moisture in the mic that will cause a problem. Humidity in a mic can also interfere with the electric activity in a condenser mic. This really comes into play if you have multiple transitions between warm and cold environments. Condensation can develop when you bring a mic in from the cold, and if moisture has collected in and on the mic you won’t want to bring it right back out to freezing conditions. To avoid this, try to find a place to put the mic for a bit that is somewhere between freezing and normal room temperature. Then bring it all the way in to normal temperature after a while. Normally the car ride back to the city is perfect for this. The car will slowly warm up over the drive home, making for a good transition. Any condensation that has formed will have a chance to evaporate.

Another tip I can offer is to avoid recording near your vehicle unless you have lots of time to set up. If you drive to your location in a car or even a snowmobile you will be shocked how long it takes for the vehicle to become silent. As the engine cools it will sizzle, ping, and pop for a lot longer then you'd think. The hood will give little metal flexes as it cools, water will drip down and melt the snow below the exhaust. Lots of other little noises will continue on well after the ignition is shut off. If you are there to record a chainsaw, then this will not be an issue. But if you are looking to record blustery winds or the delicate ambience of a winter wilderness you'll end up with an editing nightmare when you go to master the file back at your studio.

Winter conditions make for a fantastic recording environment if you have planned properly and come prepared. Specifically recording in nature. The blanket of snow covering everything acts as massive sound insulation system, dampening distant echoes. As a result the sound of deep winter is very different. And also eerily silent. The leaves are all off the trees, so the wind makes very little noise in the woods. The vast majority of the birds have flown south taking their daily chatter with them. When the wind is calm, standing in a northern forest can be as silent as the most expensive acoustician-designed floating recording booth. It can actually be a little disorienting when you find yourself surrounded by such an enveloping quiet - it's not something we city folk are used to. Yet these conditions can be perfect for a field recordist looking to record clean takes of explosions, firearms, or anything else that needs a wide open quiet space.

Just remember to stay warm, keep your wits about you and bring a lot of batteries.

Finally, just be glad you are not recording on the ground in this picture, which I took while flying over Greenland. I have no idea how cold it would have been down there but I am sure most of us are dealing with much more hospitable conditions!

Plugin Use/Abuse Month at DesigningSound.org

2013-02-01T14:46:44Z

I wrote an article, along with the other co-hosts of the Tonebenders podcast, for the awesome website DesigningSound.org I am a big fan of this website, so it was a big honour to be asked to contribute to their Plugin Use/Abuse theme of the month. If you are not familiar with this site, then get ready for a great new resource all about the art and tech of sound design.

The article I contributed is about using convolution reverbs with sound effects as the impulse response. This is not really how the plugins were designed to be used, but you can get some great results with this technique. So please check out the article and let me know what you think.

http://designingsound.org/2013/01/the-tonebenders-share-plugin-secrets/

Here is a quick string of audio examples using the technique I talk about in the article.

Big thanks go out to Jack Menhorn at Designing Sound for his help and patience in getting these articles posted.