Digital Camera Sounds

My old digital camera makes a creaky D4 noise when the lenses open and retract, and it plays what's just flat of a B7 for its beeps, a very high note indeed.

Digital Camera

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June & July 2008 Compiled

We posted 16 sounds these past two months. I figured it was time for some compilations, so I whipped up the typical formats:

"Linear", a quick chronological run through all the sounds set to a beat.

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"Layers", i.e. all sounds at once. About a minute and a quarter long.

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"Mix", whereby I hone in on a few sounds and spin that off into something. 1 min, 39 sec.

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Til next time.

Aerial Truck Platform Backing Up Beep

For a week or so an aerial truck platform thing lumbered like an hydraulic dinosaur around the building where I work. The property owners were either cleaning or painting or treating the stone at the top of the chimneys and stuff. It seemed like important work--important enough to use a SkyLift, exactly as in this image I have stolen off Flickr.

Anyway, at one point the beast was inching its way down the alley outside my office window, all the while sending out its mating call: an E7 beep. And I captured a little of it. At the very end of the recording there is a cool sound of engine noise as well, something very brief but Death Star-ish.

Aerial Truck Platform Backing Up Beep

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photo by CovLtwt, used fair 'n' square

Microcassette Transcriber Sounds

Presenting the M-2000. And hey, that's no microcassette, that's a Transformer!

Listen to these euphonious sounds from yesteryear of an old piece of analog electronics.

Here's rewinding a tape. I hear simultaneous A3 and A#3.

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Now here's fast-forward. I hear A#3 and D#4.

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DVD Burner Fan

A small fan. In the white noise there's a faint whine sharp of a G5.

DVD Burner Fan

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Unidentified Spooky Sound

One night a few years back I was in my bedroom and heard a spooky sound coming from outside in the distance. I sought my microcassette-corder, opened the window, and captured a couple minutes of it on tape. I never figured out what it was. Motorcycles on the highway, racecars at the fairgrounds, an extraterrestrial spacecraft dropping a monolith for some apes? I hear G3, G#3, C#4, and D4.

Unidentified Spooky Sound

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Answering Machine W/ Mysterious Message

Someone left a brief message on my home answering machine tonight. It appeared to be a wrong number as the caller says nothing and you can hear a mysterious siren in the background. Wonder where in the city it came from? And if it was them being chased. I love this kind of stuff. Thanks for the call, anonymous person! The beep is a B5.

Answering Machine W/ Mysterious Message

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Weed Trimmer

Captured out my living room window, across the street. Guy was putting the finishing touches on a lawn with an old weed trimmer. It wavers in pitch around an A3.


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Pan Clang

Since dish washing is among my regular duties, clanging a pan of water against the sink is one of my favorite sounds. Here I clang an F4.


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Little Wedding Bell

I attended a delightful wedding last weekend in Madison, WI. On the reception tables were little bells to ring during happy couple kisses or just if you felt like it. Well of course I kept mine to turn it into a post here. It's spot-on an F5!


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National Weather Service Alert

I caught a strange weather alert on the radio from the National Weather Service in nearby Lincoln, Illinois the other night. They'd been broadcasting a few of these ones with clipped announcements. I never found out why. It has a comedic effect, though, because the tones are such dramatic attention-grabbers and then the announcement just goes kaput.

And those tones are: Middle C (the short opening and closing tones) and a long note middle-way between G#5 and A5 (played before the announcement--probably some thousands of Hertz).


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I wonder, are these tones nationally standardized across weather stations, or do your radio weather alerts sound different than mine? Same computerized voice?

I wasn't sure what picture to post this time, so I went with what I thought was cool: shots of doppler radar stations. Enjoy.

Leaf Blowers

Two guys were using leaf blowers to blow grass clippings off the pavement of the funeral home across the street from where I work. The tones waver in pitch around an A3. Some might call it noise pollution. I call it a duo of groundskeeping drones. In stereo...


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Toy Bee, Plus Bee And Elephant Mix

This toy bee makes an awesome vibrating noise similar to the toy elephant I posted back in April.

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Toy elephant's central note was close to an F#2 whereas this is more of a C#2, a fourth lower. Mix them together with a dance beat a little bit and... I call it "Be And Elephant Are Friends". It's just a short, simple ditty.

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May 2008 Compiled

We posted 16 noises this month. So what could it sound like, put all together?

This is the Linear compile, all the sounds posted this month in chronological order to a beat. This month I twisted it: the second half is the sounds played in reverse chronological order IN REVERSE. You'll see--er, hear.

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Now here is the Mix: selected sounds from this month made into something song-like. Helicopter, car, and train are key. Are you ready to rave?

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Finally, here are the sounds Wall At Once. I think the aggregate noise of this past month is rather pretty, with major sevenths resonating. Ghost Train holds it all together.

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I really wanted to hear Wall At Once with a lot of delay on it, so ta da.

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See you next month!

Drive-Up ATM, Plus "Nucular" Beat

The musical sounds of money being dispensed! My recent visit to the local drive-up ATM machine. The notes are sharp of an E4 (button beeps) and A#5 (prompt beeps).

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Now here it is mixed with a jaunty beat and George W. Bush saying "nucular arms".

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Toy Castle Flag Whapping

I was over at a friend's house recently where his kids are lucky enough to have an original Fisher Price Castle. I was pulling the springy flag pole on it back and letting it go when I noticed it was making a cool sound, so I recorded it. It's less musical than percussive, but knowing I'll probably be glad to have it in the soon-here May mix(es), I'm going to post it anyway and call it a Middle C, which it actually sounds a little bit like to me.

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Sequence of Sounds By A Roboraptor In Play Mood

Dern, my Roboraptor:
Isn't he cute? Yes, that's a crude mod (the toes).

I recorded some of the sounds he makes in play mood.

His starting roar is a D then a D#--ah heck, I won't even pretend like the rest of them are notes of any kind. I just thought they were some cool sounds and would be fun to play with in the month-end mixes. Do I hear electric guitar in there?

Anyway, the sounds are:


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1) 00-05 seconds
Opening Roar
the Roboraptor emits this roar when it's switched on

2) 05-11
Wagging and Woofing
now in play mood, wagging tail and making woofing noise

3) 11-19
Nuzzling
when you place your hand near Roboraptor's face, Roboraptor nuzzles it and makes this pleasing sound

4) 19-25
Biting and Tug-of-War
when you place your finger in Roboraptor's mouth, a sensor senses it and Roboraptor bites your finger and plays tug-of-war with it

5) 25-29
Laughing
my favorite sound, Roboraptor laughs and sort of dance/waddles

Roboraptor videos on YouTube...
Roboraptor videos on Google...

What's That Doorbell Song? Plus, Sync Up With Churchbells

This is the doorbell that came with my house when I bought it. It's not the most pleasant tune of tones you'll ever hear, but I have yet to get around to replacing it.


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My question is: does the song have a name?

Wait--it's the same song as the Immaculate Conception Cathedral bells! Or at least part of it--the last two measures--C4, G#3, A#3, D#3 ... D#3, A#3, C4, G#3.

In fact, let's play that part of the cathedral bells song and the doorbell at the same time. In your speakers/headphones, the cathedral will be on the left and the doorbell on the right. Aaaaannd go!


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How neat. They're in the same key and nearly the same tempo. What a world. But what's that song?? Anyone know?

Air Conditioner Conditioning With A Hum

This giant, industrial strength air conditioner sits atop a building on the campus of Sacred Heart-Griffin high school near my house. The other day I was walking by and noticed it emitting a loud musical hum. It's a note just sharp of a D4.

Helicopter In The Mix

I liked Helicopter In The Sky so much I mixed it with a few other sounds and some drum tracks. It's nothing special, really. Just a short experiment, it clocks in at 1 minute 29 seconds; Emerson Lake & Palmer music this isn't!