Direct mp3 download or play: Part 1
Part 1
Direct mp3 download or play: Part 2
Part 2
Direct mp3 download or play: Part 3
Part 3 With Effects
During the fall and winter of 1997 and 1998, I made several recordings of falling rain at my home in Martinez, California. The rain was some the most intense I had ever witnessed. California was in the midst of an El Niño.
These were made using a DAT recorder, and with a similar setup to recordings I’ve made more recently in Seattle. The main difference, however, is the distance between the two microphones was much greater (over 100 feet). One of the microphones was mounted on an aluminum pie pan, which I hung in a bush on the hillside behind my house, and the other microphone was mounted under the eaves of my house near a downspout.
I used RG-59 cable TV wire, complete with fittings for the more than 100 foot run from the pie pan microphone to my mixer. Because of my job as a cable TV technician, I had access to this type of wire and it worked quite well for audio.
The recordings are quite long and probably somewhat boring unless you really like ambience. In addition, my recording technique uses lots of compression, and tends to show itself with a lot of white noise coming up at times. The audio level noticeably increases and decreases on quieter parts and louder parts, respectively. With that in mind, I hope you can imagine what a really wet day in California can be like.
Electret condenser microphone mounted on pie pan
Pie pan and microphone hanging
Backside showing “F” fitting
