Bit Reduced Down Sampled Fuzzed and Resonated

Absolutely nothing is distinguishable in these samples after all the processing that has been applied. My goal was to make a sequence of random samples sound as nasty as possible by applying down sampling, bit reduction, and distortion, then bring it back into something tolerable by applying some resonance filters and reverberation.

I automated the frequency and dry mix of the resonator so I could create some Theremin like pitch sweeping as well as bring in and out the noise of the bit reduced samples throughout the piece. What I ended up with is a palate of odd textures and diffused noise suitable for frightening the neighbors on a chilly Autumn evening.

Downsampled Fuzzed and Resonated

Minneapolis Skyway Buskers

I captured this Minneapolis skyway busking regular playing a mean version of Moonshadow by Cat Stevens on his accordion today during my lunch break.

Sadly it is approaching that time of year when Minnesotans start to abandon the sidewalks in favor of walking between buildings in rectangular tubes suspended above the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Moonshadow

 

Kitchen Sounds on the MacBook Pro

Subconsciously fulfilling the ACB metaphor, I recorded these sounds as I was preparing a spaghetti dinner in my kitchen tonight. I used my Audio Technica AT822 stereo condenser running straight into the MacBook Pro line in port. To my surprise I managed to get levels, but had to turn up the input volume in the preferences almost all the way up to get a good strong signal. In the preferences you can adjust the input volume, so the signal is running through some sort of pre-amplification.

Getting signal is probably the result of the condenser mic having a fresh battery, high sensitivity, and a short cord built specifically for the mic. It would probably not work as well with a dynamic mic. I wouldn’t recommend recording this way (without running the mic through a preamp), but I would be interested in knowing the specs on how the input volume is being powered on the MacBook Pro. Any Apple experts out there have any inside info?

Filling the Pot

Post Train Gravel Foot Stomp

As the sound of the freight train faded off into the distance and the railroad crossing bells came into view, I continued recording while deliberately walking on top of the large gravel that surrounded the train tracks. I particularly like the course crunching sound my footsteps made on the large gravel in contrast to the the softer sound of the finer gravel path leading away from the tracks. The wind screen helped but you can still hear some of it on the diaphragm giving the recording some lackluster, non-technical characteristics.

Post Train Gravel Foot Stomp

 

Sweeping the Front Walk

Here’s another recording made with the 3g iPod field recording kit I described in the last entry. This time I managed to get the device to record properly using the 96kHz sampling rate. I’m using the mic input on the iPod via the headphone jack, so the recordings are still in mono.

I held the Audio Technica AT822 with one hand as I swept cedar berries off of my front walk with the other. The cedar tree has produced hundreds of these fragrant berries this fall, so I need to sweep them away frequently to avoid litigation from the mail carriers.

Sweeping the Front Walk