April 2008 Mixes

We posted 25 sounds this past month. I sort of went a little crazy with mixes, producing three of them.

First is the compiled mix, which focuses on (what I felt were) the best sounds of the month:


Link

Second, if for some god awful reason you're aching to hear every sound we put up this month AT ONCE, here it is! Brace yourself, it's cacophonous!:


Link

Or, if you'd rather hear them all in a more mellow fashion, listen to the linear mix:


Link

See you next month!

Street Light Buzz

The ultimate 60 Hertz electrical noise! One of those buzzing street lights. In the background are a bird and a police car siren.

Railroad Crossing

I was walking by the railroad tracks one day when a freight train came by. Here's the tail end of the recording: the passing of the train and the end of the bell dinging.

The dings are some note between A4 and A#4.

Clothes Dryer, Plus 60 Hertz Electrical Song

As promised, here is the fluffy, soothing sound of my clothes dryer recorded in hi-fidelity audio. It's a hum near an A#2.



That's more 60 Hertz electrical noise, of course. So, I have put together this little song with a bunch of samples of 60 Hertz electrical hums.



It uses hair clippers, microwave, refrigerator, box fan, washing machine, clothes dryer, and as-yet-unposted clips of a vacuum cleaner and a street light buzzing. If you listen close you can hear a bird and a police siren in the background.

Cathedral Bells

Strolling north on 6th street in Springfield, Illinois the other day, I noticed it was near 2 o'clock and I was approaching the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which has bells in its clock tower that chime:

• on the hour with a melody and then a number of dings announcing the hour
• on the half hour with just the melody (no dings)
  
• and on the quarter hour with a shorter melody

This recording, then, captures the full melody plus two dings. Hang in there during the 28 seconds between them. I always enjoy the sound of these bells when I catch them.

The four bars of the melody are G#3, C4, A#3, D#3 ... G#3, A#3, C4, G#3 ... C4, G#3, A#3, D#3 ... D#3, A#3, C4, G#3.

The dings are D#3.

Idling Bus

I was out walking on my merry way one day when I turned a corner and there pulled over idling at the side of the road was a Springfield Mass Transit District bus. Luckily I had my Microtrak with me. This is recorded about ten feet from the back side of the bus. I think it turned out pretty cool.

I hear spot on a B2.



Now, here it is slowed down 200%.



And sped up 200%.



Play all three at once... if you dare!

Get It On

Years ago when I was in college and needed one badly for a band (or so I thought) I bought a gong with with what I could scrape together and some student loan money.

Here I strike it once. Typical of gongs, it's hard to say what note it plays. I hear a bunch of tones... various C's and F's.

By the way, feel free to download this and use it as your doorbell.

Lawnmower Flange, Plus Bonus Repeat Track

They were mowing the lawn of the funeral home across the street from where I work recently. The guy was on a riding mower, and for some reason as he turns from mowing parallel to me to coming toward me, there's a subtle flange effect. It's very cool. The note is close to an A2.



But it really comes to life on repeat. As a bonus (scoop) here is one minute of it! Crank it up!

(Unfortunately) Not The Sonic Youth Album

Sunday is laundry day at my house. So you can vicariously partake in the profound experience, here is the sound of my washing machine.

It's one more electric motor humming near an A#2 probably caused by 60 Hertz electric cycles. Yep...

Tune in next week for the exciting sounds of my dryer!

Kooky Cow Toy

I found this strange Mardis Gras necklace at my friend's house where it resides as a toy for their 3 1/2 year old daughter. You push a button on the back and it makes a mooing sound three times. Cute. I also like the gaudy beads.

As it moos, the pitch rises somewhat slowly, plateaus near a D3, and then falls off rapidly.

Box Fan

Who doesn't enjoy the calming sound of a box fan? I put the microphone right up to the motor to capture its hum as well as the background drone of the blades.

I hear simultaneous notes A#2 and C3. Probably the A# is the motor. Most motor hums in my house seem to be near A#, as evidenced here, here, and here. According to yet another article at Wikipedia that doesn't cite and references or sources,

Electric hum, mains hum, or power line hum is an audible oscillation at the frequency of the mains alternating current, which is usually 50 or 60 hertz depending on the local electric utility configuration.... Assuming a tempered scale with A=440Hz, a 60Hz tone is almost exactly halfway between A# and B two octaves below Middle C....

So perhaps I'm hearing a 60 hertz tone in the electric hum of these motors.

Hearing Chords In Drum Cymbals

For cymbals, my current drum kit came came with a crash and a hi-hat.

Here is the crash. Typical of cymbals, there are many overtones in it; the loudest ones here are G#4 and a C5.



In the case of the top hi-hat, this recording will demonstrate how complex the tonality of a cymbal can be. I strike it twice in two different places, the first time between the bow and the rim and the second time between the bow and the bell. In the first strike, there are distinct tones of B3, D#4, and E4, forming something like a B4 chord. In the second strike, the notes are tougher to discern, but they sound to me like A3, B3, and D#4, forming a nice B7 chord.

Warning! Bridge Raising!

Last week I was walking down Harrison Street, headed towards Printer's Row for a leisurely lunch. Wouldn't you know the bells of the Harrison Street Bridge were a-banging, as the bridge was about to go up.

It's two notes played together at an octave interval -- a B♭3 and a B♭4.

Yomega Yo-Yo

This Yomega brand yo-yo has ball bearings inside it that spin and make a sound when it's in "sleep" mode after a throw. From the Wikipedia entry on "yo-yo":

[I]n 1980, Michael Caffrey patented what would later become the Yomega Brain, a yo-yo with a centrifugal clutch transaxle. Designed with a free-spinning ball bearing linkage, "The Brain" could spin much longer than previous fixed-axle designs. In addition, the axle was "clutched" with spring-loaded weights which would pull away from the axle at higher speeds and grab again at lower speeds. The result is an automatic return of the yo-yo when speed drops below a given threshold.

The noise is very cool, and if there's a note it's close to a B2:

Different Gas Pump, Same Notes

Splotchy shared the notes of his gas pump experience.

As for my own recent visit to the fuel trough, the notes turn out to be the same, even though the gas station brand was different!

As before, the machine plays a D5 to ask me if I want a receipt, and then it plays a C6 when I push "NO".