SPRINGS!

I’ve had too much fun making this library – should be all finished & released tomorrow, more of the trials & tribulations then!

8 Responses to SPRINGS!

Christine White says:

December 15, 2011 at 12:55 pm

Awesome! – so have you seen Eric Leonardson’s instrument The Springboard? http://ericleonardson.org/instruments/ i’ve been working with a self-made instrument called The Workbench based on Eric’s one – a great visual on your vid of bolting up the springs on the block – i’ve considered doing this for the workbench because the workbench is a Black and Decker workbench with contact mic attached to a metal plate – an extension on it would be to drop blocks of wood with different sound making defices into it – so fab to see the one you’ve devised above – awesome spring sounds!

Philipp says:

December 15, 2011 at 2:48 pm

Yet again another nice video,
I really like those where you documented your recordings as a making off,
it gives one good insights in what you do.

As contact microphones are still a new topic to me,
I wondered why you always use two contact mics.
With e.g. dynamic microphones it makes sense for me why one would go for the second microphone to have a stereo file, but I guess I did not understood the technical side of contact mics yet.

Say I would like to produce a song with the contact mic samples I made with only one contact mic,
I could easily create a stereo effect in Ableton as I am doing the panning in the production process anyway.

I think I might have a fundamental failure in my thougts,
hope someone can help me out.

tim says:

December 15, 2011 at 2:57 pm

There is a huge difference between having two discrete sounds & panning them left and right, vs taking a mono sound & panning it within L&R…. take the slinky as an example: I stretched the slinky across a 5m distance, with one contact mic at far left, the other far right. When I hit the slinky, vibrations travel backwards & forwards in very complex ways between L&R…. Recreating that from a mono sound would be near impossible! It takes time for sound vibrations to travel along the wire, and then reflect back – all that interaction is complex, but the beauty of recording it in reality is that nature is beautifully complex!! The more interesting your original recordings are, the easier it is to make them interesting when used in context… Leaving such things to be done later, or ITB can be a missed opportunity & a waste of valuable time….

Reply
- Philipp says:
  
  December 15, 2011 at 3:33 pm
  
  Thanks for the quick reply.
  
  Your explanation makes very much sense to me,
  now I better understand the opportunities (and even importance) that come with the second contact mic.
  
  I really like your passion in recording that I feel by reading the answer,
  its very important that one really likes what one does,
  I believe thats one thing why you deliver such high quality products.
  
  Thanks for the help.
  
  Reply
  - tim says:
    
    December 15, 2011 at 3:41 pm
    
    its all good, and remember: there are no rules! every situation requires a unique approach – there are plenty of times when a single contact mic would be fine, it totally depends on what you’re doing!
    
    Reply