stephan schütze
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Stephan Schütze
    • Biography
    • Scores
    • Music
    • Professional Services
  • Listen-Blog
  • Reel

Thunder and Lightning

4/3/2009

1 Comment

 
Location
Melbourne
Equipment
R09 hand held

I’ve been waiting for a storm like today's for about 5 years. At various times over the last few years I have tried recording thunderstorms but the circumstances were never ideal. The main issue with recording thunder is that the best position to be is directly in the storms path. The low rumble sound that most people associate with thunder is the sound of distant thunder. When it occurs directly overhead it makes a loud sharp crack sound as if the sky has just been torn open. It is a sound with an incredible amount of power and another indication that we humans just can’t compete with nature when it comes to making loud bangs.  Of course predicting where a storm is going to go and being in it's path ready can be a little tricky, then of course you have the issue of, if being in its path puts you in the middle of a noisy street then the sounds get contaminated.

Melbourne traditionally gets a couple of big thunderstorms every summer, and so far this season we hadn’t had any. Being at work meant that I was right in the middle of the city, but it also meant I had access to the roof of our building. Initially I was disappointed I didn’t have my main gear with me and that I would have to rely on only the R09, but I have been finding more and more lately that the R09 is the best unit to be using under certain circumstances and this was one of those. The nature of the R09 means it has less direction and less sensitive mics than using the shotgun mic with the H4, but when dealing with really loud sounds this has worked out well. Also the relatively short range of the mic pick-up meant that on the roof I didn’t capture the sound of all the air conditioning units. Basically the mics won’t pick up quiet sounds that are more than a few meters away, but the thunder was so loud that it was recorded very well. The end result is some great material from the thunderstorm without any peaks and without much contamination at all so I’m really happy with the results.
1 Comment
Lydia Crooks
2/26/2015 09:07:38 pm

I can't figure how to download the thunder link. Would like to use with students... Help?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stephan Schütze has been recording sounds for over twenty years. This journal logs his thoughts and experiences


    Categories

    All
    Aircraft
    Animals
    Aomori
    Articles
    Audio Production
    Augmented Reality
    Canberra
    Creative Industry
    Equipment
    Firearms
    Fmod
    Foley
    Game Development
    Hachinohe
    Historical
    Industrial
    Japan
    Korea
    Melbourne
    Military
    Musical
    Nsw
    Queensland
    Sannohe
    Sound Effects
    South Australia
    Sport
    Trains
    Updates
    Vehicle
    Vehicles
    Victoria
    Virtual Reality
    Work Life Balance
    Work-Life Balance

    Archives

    April 2019
    August 2018
    June 2011
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    August 2007
    March 2007
    December 2006
    August 2006

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Stephan Schütze
    • Biography
    • Scores
    • Music
    • Professional Services
  • Listen-Blog
  • Reel