Metal goodness

After a last minute call today, I threw my sound kit in the car and headed to Mt Roskil as a friend I have been hassling for ages finally cranked up his arc welder for some work he had planned...
I managed to capture a lot of the welding, from long intense runs to short bursts of crackle and hiss.
Imagining quite a rich, intense sound, I was stoked to hear how crisp and gloriously harsh it actually was in real life....
Back to the studio to clean it up and mangle it beyond recognition!!

Happy 50th Birthday

Happy 50th birthday to Doctor Who today!! And whilst its an impressive feet for any television show to make it 50 years, a tip of the hat is always in order to Brian Hodgson, Dick Mills and the rest of the Radiophonic Workshop, who created some of the most amazing sounds with very little gear and alot of imagination.  The sounds of Doctor Who and alot of other work done at that time can be found in the documentary 'The Alchemists of Sounds' - an absolute must see.  For now, check the below!!

New mic's for Field Sampling....

Hibernation sickness complete...

House purchasing, studio arranging, gigging, real world jobs, quietening of Foley work in Auckland and a very expensive root canal.... Hell it's been a busy 4 months!!

Very quiet sound wise though and with quietness comes time to build up the sound library...

And with the requirement of a real world job to secure the mortgage, my ears have been introduced to a whole new environment of sounds that would'nt have been available prior....

Food processing plants, immense factories, old buildings and warehouses, and the pipe laden corridors that lead to the old boiler rooms and workshops that linger in the heart their basements. 

Most of which are accessible in the dead of night when the workers have long departed....  

Perfect recording environments...

The decent begins into the heart of it all, armed only with a portable recorder.

And amazing discoveries like these are what makes it all worthwhile.... small devices housed in a stand alone room, that seem regulate detergent output in a wash down bay in the main building.
They appear to have a plastic body and a metal internal spindle that loudly clicks and whirs as it turns at various, unpredictable speeds, even slowing to a creepy creaking sound. They start un-expectantly, emitting a burst of various creaks, increasing groans and whirs before suddenly stopping dead.
And when there are 12 units on the wall, all coming to life at different speeds, pitches and times, it makes for a very creepy, un-nerving sound bed.

And this was only the first night.
So many more areas to explore....

Field Punishment No: 1

A.Barber and myself descended upon the Foley Room in Ellerslie this week, prepped for 5 days for World War 1 Feet Foley!
Mud, gravel, grass, fields, snow, concrete (dry & wet), wooden shacks, hospital floors, wooden walking planks, building debris and steel ship decks were some of the surfaces we had to cover.
It was an epic and very creative week, and such a rewarding experience.
Many thanks to A.Barber for her awesome recording skills, encouragement and long hours during an already busy week. Can't wait to hear the final mix!!

Rugs pulled back for maximum surface space

Grass, dirt, mudpit, snow and rickety wooden floor boards

Maximum coverage!

A sheet of Steel dropped off by Bruce for ship deck feet

Rubble!!

Mud feet in the pit

Mud scrapes, slides and scrambling 

Preparing for World War 1

Prepping up for 5 days of World War 1 Feet Foley starting tomorrow - mud. building debris and the epic struggle of war!!! Bring it on!!!

Sayonara PP....

Mr J.Bruce departs our shores this afternoon, in search of Foley, fortune and Otto von Shirach in the concrete jungles of Los Angeles. Take care out there mate, have lots of fun and can't wait to hear about your adventures in sound!!! Pass cEvin my regards too eh:)

V48Hr Film Fest 2013: Location Sound & Foley for team Club Palermo

Club Palermo contacted me this year and asked if I'd assist in the Sound Dept for their short film.
They got 'Immobilized' as a theme and spent friday night scripting a Hitchcock type thriller of a woman trapped inside a house. We met up on Saturday and headed out to Dr John's beautiful old style home on the Shore, which provided the perfect backdrop for the film.
I spent the day on location sound, capturing what I could in the confines of the house and also managing to sample odds and ends, such as creaky old rocking chairs, doors and ladders for use later on.
Shooting wrapped around midnight and after a few hours sleep, I headed into the studios to assist Marcel in soundscaping and the Foley work. We spent the day tailoring the sound as the other half the team started the B/W processing on the footage. The end result was pretty cool given the time restraints!!
It was a great project to be involved with and a huge thanks to Marcel for the invitation, and to Dr John and Bess for their awesome hospitality and the use of their amazing home.

Setting up for the first shoot of the day upstairs

Close up's for the lead actress

Checking levels for the stairwell scene

A very tired team in Post Production sunday afternoon

A rainy day's Foley

After Guild plans to visit the Abandoned Freezing works fell through today, due to change in property managers, and me being all hyped up to record, it was time to do some Foley takes in the basement whilst the house was empty. Factory/construction/industrial type sounds were the go today and will form the basis of a sound backdrop for the intro to a track for a local band.
Big thanks to Drew for the lend of the Blofeld to enhance the atmosphere of the intro as well - dam thats a mean little synth!!

Guild Field Recording Day

The Masters of Foley Guild arranged an impromptu day of field recording on Sunday.
Armed with 3 recording kits and a few location ideas heading from Ellerslie up to Red Beach, we embarked on a great day of recording!! J.Bruce led the intrepid journey, assisted by A.Barber,
G.Van Niekerk and myself.
Firstly we stopped in Birkenhead to visit an old Punker with a serious WW1 and 2 rifle collection.
He is so passionate about his guns and gave us great histories of each for accurate sound usage and also an amazing array of rifle sounds - bolt actions, loading, shell ejecting, magazine loading and general handling just to name a few.
Next up was Red Beach and some feet in wet sand, general ocean noise and some water to add to the library. Suburban recordings were also taken in Red Beach, including general neighborhood ambience, creaky stairs and the inner workings of a car.
Finally, to wrap up a great day, an undercover Supermarket ambience record and out to the forest for ambience and car exterior.

It was a wicked day out and about and we came home with some great new sounds for our libraries.

Rifles actually used in WW1 and 2

The assortment of vintage rifles and shell casings

Chris Bass and J.Bruce capturing the rifle handling

Army Helmet Handling

The sounds of water dripping

Mud Feet

G.Van Niekerk recording the ambience

A.Barber, myself and G.Van Niekerk perspective shot

J.Bruce and A.Barber ocean bound

Abandoned Freezing work on the East Coast

As we were heading to Gisborne for a long weekend, I threw in my Field kit and headed out to this awesome site on the outskirts of Ormond. Long since abandoned, earthquake damaged and also an alleged drug storage area for one of Gisborne's more notorious dealers decades earlier,  these picturesque ruins contained some nice derelict items under the main structure. Motors, shelves of tools, a truck cab and an old furnace all provided for great recording, focusing mainly on scrapes and strikes, and allowing the concrete structure to provide some very nice natural reverb. Next time I'll take a rifle to scare off the noisy magpies!

Some light Winter reading...

As the weather grows cooler, its always good to curl up with a good book or two...

Journey West in search of Sound

We got up early this morning and headed out West in search of possible abandoned locations for metal scrapings and the other such recordings that only ruins can provide. After a hearty breakfast in the metropolis of Helensville, we descended upon the abandoned Dairy Factory located in the town centre.
To our dismay, this once amazing site had been mostly demolished in wake of a new purpose for the property. Sadly, this combined with an unscalable electric fence meant the end for another
one of Auckland's abandoned sites.

Carrying onwards, we came across an abandon School Hall located out in the countryside.
Awesome little site but the location next to a busy road and there not being one creaking door in the entire place meant very little of use to us recording wise.

The morning was not a loss though, as we found a weird little Junk store on the main street of Helensville that had a $5 bin crammed with Ceramic bottles and cups. After listening intently to each one, the below two were selected and will come in very handy for cup/bottle pick ups and general handling.

For to End yet again....

Final day in the Foley Room for Spartacus DVD extras today - it seems as if we have ended a few times already but today was the last time. Quite a few more scenes had been added to Ep's 8 to 10 so we had a busy day ahead. As always, massive thanks to Mr J.Bruce for the opportunity to assist him on this epic foley adventure - what an experience!!!

Final Mix of Spartacus Ep 10

Went into Digipost today for the final mix viewing of Episode 10.
Absolutely epic effort on everyones part - it looked and sounded amazing on the big screen,
and is a tribute to everyones hard work on this season.

Spartacus DVD Extra's

Arrived at the Foley Room today alongside Mr J.Bruce to make a start on the Foley needed for the DVD extra's. There was around 14 mins worth and it was taken from Episodes 1 to 7.

 An array of Props used today

View from the helm

New Sound Creation device

Whilst returning from playing a gig in Whangarei, we came across a reasonably epic second hand junk store on the outskirts of Wellsford.
After a good rummage through the junk and trinkets, this little gem was found lurking down a dark isle.
Old and creaky with parts loosened by years of grinding, just the turning of this hand grinder alone made sounds one can only dream of!! And being able to be attached to the edge of any surface, the choices for resonating goodness are endless!! And all for a cool $40.
The perfumed soaked counter lady's expression was priceless:
"Doing some grinding are ya love..?"
"Nope, gonna take it home, mic it up and record it"
"Yep thought you all looked a bit odd when ya came in"

Spartacus Ep 10 pick up's

Pick up's completed today with Mr J.Bruce at the helm, for the last episode of Spartacus - the epic  Episode 10!! Oh yes there was pit action:)