Direct mp3download or play: Purr The Cat
This recording was made in the early 1970s at my home in Martinez, California. My mother, my father, my grandmother, and I are talking and a cat is purring. I sound especially “fruity.” In fact it’s a little embarrassing, but that really is how I sound. This recording was made using a Sony 560D recorder on a three inch open reel tape running at 3 3/4 inches per second. The microphone was most likely my Calrad DM-59 HL. At this time I do not have the capability of playing that tape speed. Instead, the tape was played back at 7 1/2 inches per second on a Tascam 4-track machine, and track number one was captured in Adobe Audition on my computer. While in Adobe Audition, I selected time stretch which I set to approximately 200 percent. I say approximately because I listened for 60 hertz hum and I found it to be exactly at 60 when the time stretch was set to about 198.45 percent. Adjusting the time stretch this way will guarantee the pitch of the voices to be correct. Then I used the parametric equalizer set at 60 hertz (very narrow 1 hertz width at -35 db) to filter out hum. After that, I amplified, hard limited, and finally applied hiss reduction to the wave.
The purring cat is actually a lot louder than I ever imagined, but I think Adobe Audition will have to take most of the credit. I just can’t remember which cat was doing all that purring, so I’ve included a couple of pictures. I’m quite sure it was one of the two shown here.
Sassy Sister Suzy
Tabatha Stinkaton
