Richard Broom Photography

Photographs, Video and Stuff

Posts from the ‘SFX’ category

The Other Sodding Tractor

Please see my previous post and then join me as I try to record the tranquil sounds of the River Deveron, near to Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It clearly isn’t my day for field recording! Today is a public holiday and I would expect any self-respecting farmers to take a day off. Not in Banff. So please enjoy the tranquil sounds of the River Deveron passing you by and the delightful sound of a f**king tractor pull a rake around a nearby field. Using my directional parabolic mic (DM), I can hear the sounds of tractors and other industrial noises several kilometres away.

The Other Sodding Tractor

The Other Sodding Tractor - Richard Broom Photography
The Other Sodding Tractor – Richard Broom Photography

The Sodding Tractor!!!

Join me as I try to record the sound of birds today. It is public holiday here today in Scotland. There is no wind. It would have been a perfect day to record bird sounds in the woods near to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff_HouseDuff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire. Wonderful bird sounds but oh my, the noise of a f**king tractor on Banff Golf Course provided unwanted background noise to the recording of the birds who were really going for it in the woods today. Pah!

The Sodding Tractor!!! - Richard Broom Photography
The Sodding Tractor!!! – Richard Broom Photography

The Cave and the Libyan Sea

Join me in a cave close to the Libyan Sea in Crete. The cave was a natural echo chamber. Listen to the waves breaking and the echo as the sound of the waves bounced around inside the cave. You will also hear me tramping about in the cave. There was no sand but plenty of gravel underfoot.

The Cave and the Libyan Sea – Richard Broom Photography

The Cave and the Libyan Sea - Richard Broom Photography
The Cave and the Libyan Sea – Richard Broom Photography

The Sound of Cretan Sheep

Join me here in wonderful Crete as we listen to a large herd of sheep passing close to the chalet where we are staying at the Vritomartis Naturist Resort in Crete. The sound of sheep bells (the sheep have bells around their necks for some reason) really is one of the wonderful sounds you will hear on this most delightful Greek Island. I can also highly recommend the Vritomartis Naturist Resort. A wonderful hotel in all respects.

The Sound of Cretan Sheep – Richard Broom Photography

The Cornish Pastie Shop

Join me at the Cornish Pastie shop at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham in the UK. The Cornish pasties were edible but not the best I have ever tasted. The NEC is generally very busy (as you’ll hear) and the food outlets do charge top dollar for their mass-produced products.

The Cornish Pastie Shop
The Cornish Pastie Shop - Richard Broom Photography
The Cornish Pastie Shop – Richard Broom Photography

British Airways Blues (‘Your call is important to us’)

Join me as I listened for a total of over 3 hours to of ‘music on hold’ and ‘your call is important to us’ messages whilst I waited for British Airways to answer the telephone today. After a total of three hours of no reply, I gave in. British Airways, and before it BOAC and BEA, is or was something we British used to be proud of. I did get hold of one unhelpful chap from BA who dismissively gave me another number to call because I had ‘the wrong kind of Business Class ticket’ (yes, Business Class!) and the number he gave me promptly disconnected me and so I went to the back of the queue again.

Sadly… we live in changed times. Is the UK going down the tubes and taking British Airways with it? It’s certainly beginning to look like it.

British Airways – such a disappointment (and I speak as an IAG shareholder!!!!).

British Airways Blues
British Airways Blues - Richard Broom Photography
British Airways Blues – Richard Broom Photography

The Sound of Swooping Swallows…

Join me as I try to imagine the sound swooping swallows would make as they fly around the sky over our heads. I always think that swallows are avian jet fighters and yet so graceful. I could watch them for hours…

All sounds created on my Machine Mikro (what a clever little box it is!)

The Sound of Swooping Swallows
The Sound of Swooping Swallows...
The Sound of Swooping Swallows…

The Golden Age of BBC Radio – Come in Tokyo

Join me and listen into some clips from the golden age of BBC Radio Comedy from the 1950s. I remember listening to the radio (no TV in those days during the day) to BBC Radio Comedy programmes on a Sunday afternoon. Names like Tony Hancock, Keneth Williams, Keneth Horne and many more spring to mind.

Radio always had the best scenery…

I created the background music (if you can call it that) on my Native Instruments Maschine. I have no musical knowledge or training it (and it shows). I just plug noises into the spreadsheet arrangement (image below) which is the Maschine 2 software, push the button and see what pops out. It seems to work and, of course, it is royalty free!

You can listen to my musical efforts on their own by clicking here.

The Golden Age of BBC Radio – Come in Tokyo
The Golden Age of BBC Radio - Come in Tokyo
Tony Hancock – courtesy BBC
Mashine 2

The Cacophony of Birds

Join me at a bird colony on a rock which sticks out of the sea just West of Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. If you listen, you will hear the sea washing around the column of rock and the birds, who cling to and nest of the sheer rock face (see image) and make an almighty noise. You can hear the natural echo as the bird sounds bounce off the cliff faces which surround the rock column. You will hear seagulls, gannets, razorbills, cormorants and many other birds – all squawking away. You’ll hear ‘peak squawking’ at about 2 minutes.

Recorded using my parabolic mic and a Zoom H6 (my Zoom F6 still missing in transit!)

The Cacophony of Birds
The Cacophony of Birds - Richard Broom Photography
The Cacophony of Birds – Richard Broom Photography

The Sound of Portsoy Beach

Join me and listen to the waves crashing onto Portsoy beach. Portsoy is in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and was the setting for a Peaky Blinders episode last year. Portsoy has some wonderful walks in and around this most delightful town. The harbour is also well worth a visit. By the way, I used my panoramic microphone (1 dish, two mics) to record the sound.

The Sound of Portsoy Beach
The Sound of Portsoy Beach - Richard Broom Photography
The Sound of Portsoy Beach – Richard Broom Photography

The Crow and the Tractor

Join me as as I tried to record the sounds of a crow but then a tractor came along and ploughed the nearby field. The field was close to the woods at Duff House, Banff, Aberdeenshire. You can hear the tractor driver lift the plough, rotate it and lower it again before turning round in order to plough in the opposite direction.

The Crow and the Tractor
The Crow and the Tractor - Richard Broom Photography
The Crow and the Tractor – Richard Broom Photography

The Annoyingly Talkative Woman on the Train

Join me on a train where, unfortunately, I found myself sitting next to an annoyingly talkative woman who spent over an hour talking unrelentingly into her mobile telephone, and my ear. Later in her conversation (I have spared you), the woman went on to give some highly personal details about people she worked with (names, departments, the lot). I can only assume she didn’t realise other people on the train could hear her every word (loud and clear!). All I was trying to do was record train sound effects…instead, I had to put up with an appallingly unpleasant blabbermouth! This unappealing woman was the audio equivalent of a photo-bomb. I have two words for her – live mic!

The Annoyingly Talkative Woman on the Train
The Annoyingly Talkative Woman on the Train - Richard Broom Photography
The Annoyingly Talkative Woman on the Train – Richard Broom Photography

The Train Snack Bar Announcement

Join me on one of our British trains. Over the years I’ve learned that the food on our British trains generally is massively overpriced and doesn’t taste so good (French trains so much better in all respects). Please note that it is the train loudspeaker system that is delivering quite badly distorted sound (along with the badly distorted sandwiches!). Brexit = terrible food!

The Train Snack Bar Announcement
The Train Snack Bar Announcement
The Train Snack Bar Announcement - Richard Broom Photography
The Train Snack Bar Announcement – Richard Broom Photography

The Walk in the Woods…

Join me and enjoy the sounds from our dog walk in the woods near to Duff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire, this morning. You’ll hear the sounds of woodland birds, including a fine woodpecker, streams and all the other sounds (including, if you listen very carefully, golf ball hits from the nearby Dufff House Royal Golf Club.)

All sounds recorded on my parabolic (directional) microphone using a ZoomH6 recorder (My Zoom F6 still hasn’t arrived!). The sound was mixed (using adaptive noise reduction) using Adobe Audition.

The Walk in the Woods…

The Walk in the Woods - Richard Broom Photography
The Walk in the Woods – Richard Broom Photography
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