Field Recording

Our first recording lesson in experimental sound was very interesting. We learnt a lot about amplitudes, and the different types of microphones and their outputs. The main points I learnt from that part of the lesson were:

• The difference between cardioid, hyper cardioid, omni-directional, and bi-directional.
• That halfing the distance means doubling the gain when recording sound (Similar to the inverse square law)
• The different types of microphones that I will be using for my project, and what they are best suited for.

 In the second part of the lesson we went out in pairs to do some location recording of sounds that we found interesting. I found the exercise really interesting as it made you more aware of how the world around you sounds. Myself and Thomas went to a record shop and Waitrose to records some sounds:




This first one was the recording of the record shop. Tom flicked through some records and CD's, while I recorded him and a music video was playing in the background. I liked this, although I learnt that air was being pushed out to the mic and made a harsh sound as it did so, so I should have placed the mic further away.




This second one was in Waitrose, and I much preferred this one to the last as it gave a real sense of place because the sounds were exactly what you expected them to be. It was obvious the shop was busy, but the recording wasn't taken so loudly that it was over bearing.

Overall I really enjoyed the exercise, it showed me how technical taking a specific sound recording was and so it will help me make decisions based on what I learnt, when I come to do my own experimental sound piece.