Scrap Yard
Brutal metal zine from the PitGoddess. Interviews, reviews, and more....

Field Recording
Get out of the studio and record the sounds around you.

Bobcat in my Backyard!
What looked like a common housecat when its back was to me then turns to reveal something wild!

Iguana Invasion!
Thousands of giant reptiles call Gasparilla Island home. But are they welcome there?

Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision's Michael Oster has recorded music, thunderstorms, F-18s, wild animals, kitchen utensils, celebrities, strange insects.... He also makes the coffee and takes out the trash.

Recording the Sounds of Thunderstorms....
WARNING: be careful when recording storms. Lightning can kill.

Don't try this with a camcorder. OK, you can record storms with your camcorder (please be careful), but don't be surprised if the sound quality is a bit "lacking". Why? Even though the device might say "digital" or "CD quality", there is a big difference between true professional equipment and other stuff. Even the $50,000 pro news cameras don't have true PRO sound quality (in my opinion). How come?.... Audio is "second seat" when it comes to video cameras. Manufacturers put most of their resources into the picture part of the device. I've used plenty of broadcast news cameras over the years. I'm only saying this from my experience.


Also, consumer (and some pro-sumer) camcorders use something called AGC (automatic gain control) which is supposed to prevent loud sounds from clipping and make it so that you can hear the softer sounds (think of it as a compressor limiter that you can't control). AGC usually can't be turned off in these devices and is not recommended when recording storms (or anything as far as I'm concerned) as it can change recording levels at virtually any time causing potential post production nightmares.


Below is a picture of a thunderclap recorded in 24 bits (the lightning strike was probably around 200 to 300 feet from the microphones). The volume of the thunder is much louder than the other background sounds (rain, wind, whatever else). That's pretty obvious.


If you want to record thunder without clipping (distortion), you've got to set your levels for the thunderclap and not for the background sounds. I don't recommend putting a limiter in line, though. 24 bit capable digital systems offer enough headroom to allow for a decent thunderclap to be recorded. The one below easily made it without distorting the microphones or overloading the digital converters. Recording for the thunder meant that the background sounds were barely heard when monitoring. That's OK, because 24 bit systems still have enough resolution to get a decent recording of the softer audio.

Up until 1999, I was recording storms (and most other sounds) to DAT. But, thanks to more affordable CD recorders and the mass production of blank CDs, it became cheaper to record on CD-R than to purchase fresh DAT tapes, and you can't accidentally erase a CD-R! Today, however, the laptop (or 24 bit portable flash recorder like the Sound Devices 702) is my first recording choice. My field recording page talks more about specific equipment.

"the Difficult Listening Channel" podcast where the sounds in my head become the sounds in yours.

Edirol R-09 review
Hands on review the R-09, 24 bit WAV / mp3 pocket recorder.










The thunderclap to the left was recorded on the Edirol R-09 through the LINE IN (level set to 1) with a set of Earthworks QTC-1s and a Grace Design Lunatec V2 preamp (25dB of gain).

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Thunderstorms 2007
The Best Storms from 2007! Over 66 minutes of all new thunder from the '07 rainy season.