Home alone...well except for the pets!

Location
Noosa Queensland
Equipment
Zoom H4N
NTG3 & DPA 4061
Single hand setup

Anna and her mother have gone down to Brisbane for the day so I am going to use the time to collect a few sounds that I have been thinking about since we arrived in Noosa. Like many houses in hot climates the house here has ceiling fans in most rooms. On the high setting the fans rotate pretty quickly and one in particular sounds a little like a helicopter in stealth mode. I made sure I captured some material from different angles as the sound generated from below is quite different from when the mic is positioned above the blades. Even at right angles and close to the blades you get a different sound. This material would be perfect to use for a slow motion clip of a helicopter flying or something similar.

Ceiling fan of doom

Next it was Dotti’s turn. She doesn’t bark very often but I have captured a few barks since we came up here. I wanted to record her panting as she is a fairly large dog and with the temperature being typical summer weather she spends a lot of time panting, so I got her to sit still while I stuck a mic in front of her nose. I don’t think animals like having a big fluffy mic in their face, but she was well behaved and I got some good material. As usual capturing animal sounds is a real challenge so I will always spend the time to grab anything that might be a chance for a good recording.