Pumps, engines and tesla coils…
Today I went to the Cambridge Museum of Technology to record some tesla coils. I found this website in my search for UK tesla coil builders, and noticed that they had a public event coming up in this very museum. As I’ve been wanting to capture high voltage sounds for a while now, this was a great opportunity to give it a go.
However the irony was that, although I got some nice recordings of loud and vicious tesla coils, the museum itself had some unexpected gems – a great selection of old fashioned steam, oil and gas engines in all sizes, all of which produced a large variety of sounds. I will definitely have to come back to this museum one day when it’s not so busy and bring multiple microphones to capture these glorious old machines in full perspective!
Small Steam Pump Engine – Perspective 01 by Daan Hendriks
Small Steam Pump Engine – Perspective 02 by Daan Hendriks
Small Steam Pump Engine – Perspective 03 by Daan Hendriks
Small Steam Pump Engine – Perspective 04 by Daan Hendriks
Old Fashioned Oil Engine by Daan Hendriks
Squeaky Rattly Hand Pump by Daan Hendriks
Huge Gas Engine Shutdown by Daan Hendriks
This picture was made by Haydn Payne, who was also at the event to make sound recordings. I heard some of his results and they sound great, as they were tracked in stereo using a MKH30/60 M/S setup. I need me a figure of 8 mic next!
Tesla Coil arcing noise by Daan Hendriks
Tesla Coil Single Burst by Daan Hendriks
All sounds recorded with a Rode NTG-3 shotgun into Tascam DR680 recorder at 96 kHz/24 bit
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New articles by Daan & Durk ‹ Audiomotif
[...] Besides being occupied by our audio work we sometimes share a bit of our knowledge, field expeditions and sounds. This last month Daan has been busy recording all sorts of things and started a blog on his personal website. It’s a great opportunity to see how we like to spend our time, looking for new sounds and ideas. Make sure you check out the article “Pumps, engines and Tesla Coils”. [...]
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