Lets get a little perspective!

I grabbed the vacuum in from the broom closet to tidy up a little before a presentation.  I noticed that this vacuum had a lot of audio character and after doing it’s job I set about seeing what sounds I could coax from this red beastie!

 

I have been using a Sony PCM-D50 for a while now, and have found an interesting application of perspective by using the wind sock to act as a vibration dampener, while the metalic roll cage inside acts as a piezo mic combined. This combined with the little air that the microphones record has yielded some very nice sounds from various sources.

 

When recording moving the mic just a few inches/cm can provide different tones and nuances of the same sounds.

Here’s some examples for you to hear.

By shifting the microphone off the vent hole, I was able to pick up more of the joint noise from the handle as it twisted.

With the engine sound, i got more of the motor whir than air and brush whirr..

 

With this perspective, I used the fluffy to act as a barrier to stop contact noise – while the metalic sound cage of the portable recorder acted as a piezo sound transmitter.

 

The mic is placed over the vent hole. This gave our sound a little more air while retaining the nice thick sounds of the contact and proximity effect.

 

 

In this example, I used the metal part of the handle to transfer sound from the spring to the recorder.

A typical recording of a spring this size close up would still yield a little twang, with no depth.

Recording at 96khz ant 24bit and playing back at 48khz gave me this epic twang!

USS STARSHIP – VACUUM

Taking various perspectives and using a little EQ and creative processing I made this starship engine sound as an example of how to combine source recordings to make something completely new.