Digital sound recording » phonography

A couple of demos using iSequence on iPad

jhuckle — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:03:07 +0000

Despite a few niggles I am really enjoying iSequence on the iPad.

Here are a couple of demos so far. Things are a little harsh with iSequence and there’s no eq to use so too much playing with the effect filtering can produce harsh results.

First one is the raw output from iSequence (LAME Mp3, VBR7)

Second has a touch of compression and some eq to try to deal with the harsh mids (or could be my new monitor headphones not yet broken in).

Not the best but still getting to grips with the workings. I used a couple of field recordings from a train journey recorded directly onto the iPad while creating the track.

Recording problems using iSequence for the iPad?

jhuckle — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:21:10 +0000

I’ve been using iSequence on the iPad to do a bit of tracking and sequencing and it’s a fantastic application – the iPad I’m sure will revolustionse alot of audio produciton work – and had some problems using the built in sound recorder.

If you too are getting distorted recordings I’ve found a workaround.

Power off the iPad (hold down the power button and swipe off)
Restart the iPad
Start iSequence and record sound – result is distorted
Shut down iSequence
Start iSequence and record sound – sound is good to go! (within the limits of the hardware)

The iPad isn’t very configurable for recording yet and I don’t see any devices on the horizon to support plug in microphones however for rough and ready instamatic sound snapshots in the right environments, it has interesting possibilities.

iSequence for iPad Record

Classic Aircraft Sound Recordings for iPad

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:37:51 +0000

I’ve created an iPad and iPhone friendly site for listening to the most requested sound recordings at field-recording.org.uk.

Aircraft Sounds on Mobile website

The site is available from Aircraft Recordings on Mobile

“Optimised” for iPhone OS but should work on everything else too.

Let me know what you think!

Creaking Fence

jhuckle — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:52:15 +0000

A process recording of a creaking fence. A good few days last week there were no aircraft flying which meant a good opportunity to record in the backyard.

This recording last about eighteen minutes. My intended target, the fence, lost out to repeated calls of an ice cream van. Exploring the sound a bit with some filters brought out a very eerie, ethereal feel to the plaintive calls of the speaker.

The sound of Mars Express

jhuckle — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:40:53 +0000

A French amateur radio operator was able to record and convert the signal of the Mar Express probe’s X-Band transmitter into an audio file. More information plus a sample of the recorded sound is available from here.

The equipment from an abandoned telecom uplink site used to listen in on the ESA’s Mars Express space probe wasn’t enough to allow download of the actual data.

“Listen here to the whistle of Mars Express as it hurtles towards Phobos and consider that this signal was generated on Mars Express by a transmitter only slightly more powerful than a light bulb.” – http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1058

Recording using an iPod

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:07:03 +0000

Recording using an iPod is something that I have briefly tried and always been a bit disappointed, however a new to me gadget looks like someone is trying to take things seriously with these 2 efforts from Logitec. I must admit. I’ve tried Belkin TuneTalk on my Nano and it was a bit rubbish. Mind you, Apple don’t seem to have taken anything more seriously than a ‘memo’.

LIC-iREC03P

LIC-iREC01

60163 Tornado 26 September 2009

jhuckle — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:30:44 +0000

Trackside recording of the Peppercorn 60163 Tornado passing along the old LNER route in Bedfordshire. The recording starts with the sound of the whistle a few hundred yards away and the the locomotive and train passing very close at high speed.

Sony PCM M 10

jhuckle — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:23:08 +0000

I’m seriously looking at buying a M 10 and have been doing the usual web research and conseqeuntly picked up a few interesting links to reviews, specs and opinions. Here they are.

Pricing

Product previews and reviews

PCM M 10

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=11803

A disappointing holiday

jhuckle — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:13:47 +0000

Christmas I look forwards to for a lot of reasons but an extra for me is how unusually quiet it is, making for a good opportunity to record and document the relative silence. This year however was an exception and I didn’t bother. I think there are a couple of reasons for the unexpected extra urban noise this year; 1. this year was hit quite badly (for the UK at least) by snow meaning that many seasonal travellers had postponed their journeys until Christmas day, or 2. general urban noise levels are increasing and have increased appreciatively in the last 12 months. Although general urban noise is agreed generally to be on the rise I hope this doesn’t indicate an exponential increase.

Here’s hoping for next year.

European Union MP3 Player Sound Level Legislation

jhuckle — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:38:59 +0000

Via the BBC, the European Union is proposing changes to MP3 players to prescribe default safe listeing levels for MP3 players. Current legislation mandates that “a statement be put in the instruction manual to warn of the adverse effects of exposure to excessive sound level”. The new proposals would see that the default sound setting for any device “shall be the ‘default’ settings on products”. January will see the start of a two-month consultation of all EU standardisation bodies with a final agreement expected in the spring of 2010.

The EU notes that safe use depends on exposure time and volume levels, “At 80 dB(A), exposure should be limited to 40 hours/week. At 89 dB(A) exposure should not exceed 5 hours/week”.