Sound Design - Lasers From transient source

Date:

07/6/2022

Time of day:

Morning

Subject:

Lasers

Location:

Home Studio

Notes:

For this year's field recording "julibrary", I wanted to challenge myself to create more sounds using my synths. I've always used them for more "musical" sounds so it required me to think about "what and how to" create the sound. initially, I wanted to make a laser "pew" using just the synth but Due to the limitations of my Arturia Minibrute (no envelope for pitch), I decided to use it to create a single transient that I could further manipulate to create a laser.

Once the transient recording were in reaper, I wanted to go in a sci-fi direction, taking heavy influence on the sound design of Returnal to create weird transient textures. Following a massive plugin chain later, I think that something cool got created.

Field Recording - Roomtone Clocks

Date:

06/24/2022

Time of day:

Afternoon

Subject:

Antique Small Clock in a room

Location:

Home Studio

Notes: Suddenly today there was a power outage, thinking it would only last a few minutes (it ended up being 4 hours) I decided that the best way to make use of my time was to record this old wall clock I had in the living room for quite some time but never got around to recording. Hearing that there was still a fair amount of traffic noise outside, I decided to move the little clock over to the studio and record it in the booth. Luckily, I had charged my batteries after the last recording session so the recorder was all ready to go. Using a pocket flashlight I keep in my record bag, I set up my USI Pros on a stereo bar and placed them low on the floor about 3 feet in front of the clock. Admittedly, I could have centered the clock more after listening back but this can definitely be used to liven up an environment.

To my surprise, the clock was nowhere near as consistent as I thought it was. It had quiet moments, loud moments, more clacky moments, etc. It was quite the expressive clock and I had no idea the house had not completely quieted down (makes me wonder if ANY clocks are as consistent as they are in media). I learned sometimes the best thing I can do is listen, really listen to each element in an environment, and appreciate what it has to offer.