Musical Snowman Lighter with Pub Ambiance

Now that the holidays are behind us I think it is safe to post the sound of this very odd musical lighter shaped like a snowman. It plays a high frequency medley of Christmas tunes that will drive you and your family and especially animals crazy.

In spite of this, for some reason I had a strange affection toward this bizarre instrument. Perhaps it was the cheap metal construction, or the glistening lead paint. In any case, instead of engaging in the conversation with my companions at the pub, I pulled out my PCM-D50 and proceeded to made a recording of the lighter’s despondent squealing.

Musical Snowman Lighter in the Pub

 

Squeaky Toy

As I was editing this document two dogs came running into my studio. They were very attracted to the squeaky toy sound for obvious reasons. I only have one dog so it might seem a little strange that two dogs came into my studio.

The answer is that we have a friend staying with us for the month of February who has a charming female boxer named Georgia. Here’s the squeaky toy sound, recorded in stereo on the Sony PCM-D50, and a photo of Georgia in front of the Rhodes suitcase model.

Squeaky Toy

 

 

Weird Noisey Spark Shooting Guy

I got this strange plastic wind up toy at a work event several years ago. I wrapped a rubber band around his neck because he started falling apart and spilling his guts all over the place. A little glue would probably fix that, but after this experiment I suspect that he is likely to get forgotten in a drawer for another few years. He shoots sparks and walks in a not so straight line. His labor intensive stumbling gate also makes quite a racket as you will notice from the recording.

Weird Guy

 

 

Central Avenue Bridge Recording

I made this recording half way across the Central Avenue bridge from Northeast Minneapolis, to the downtown area. This bridge crosses the Mississippi, which was virtually frozen over except for water flowing rapidly over stages of a lock and dam system.

Huge formations of ice were hanging over the falls collecting on logs caught in the flow. The stereo image of the recording consists of the raging river below on the left hand side and sparse traffic on the right. I used the built in mics on the PCM-D50 covered up with a nice fuzzy wind screen like a winter hat.

Central Avenue Bridge Recording

 

Creaks ‘n Groans


Hey Audio Cookbookers,

I’m Tom Player and have been a reader of ACB for a while, and a sound recordist for a long time. I run a website lostrack.co.uk where I store some commercial and personal work. I’ve got a huge archive of great recordings, some of which I plan to unleash here soon!

About this time last year I was in New Zealand, exploring and recording everywhere I went. I was fortunate enough to meet one of the captains of the NZL14 racing yacht who invited me on board with their crew, to record the sounds of them all in action. What I didn’t expect was the sound of the boat to be so fascinating!

A bit about the yacht, it’s a work of engineering excellence. The sail is one piece Kevlar, the hull carbon fibre, and the keel is 16 tons of lead. It’s formula 1 on the water – she makes beautiful groaning, creaking noises, like nothing you’ve ever heard before.

Gear: Fostex FR2-LE with matched stereo pair rode NT5 mics.