Not_Tape

Recorded on my Zoom H4 from my dashboard, once we broke through the worst of the storm. 

My wife wanted sound of the trees up on the mountain, so she dropped me off at the head of a trail and headed back to town with the kids. (I’ve tried to tape nature with them in the vicinity before…their voices carry.)  I hiked in with my field kit and a camera. I’d gone up with the Lewitt airs in mind, figuring I would need the better wind protection I can fit on those mics but the weather d...

Recorded from just inside the open door of my garage during a fast-moving Thunderstorm. Thunder and rain on concrete along with the same traffic sounds I always get and a train, which I wanted to leave in. Storm tape never turns out how I like. I need to get rain on a tent, but who has time for that?

Fourteen minutes from the front porch of the cabin we stayed in outside Flagstaff, Arizona, this summer. Late evening, I left the rig on a mic stand zip-tied to the railing in case the wind knocked it down. Ang really wanted the sound of the wind in the aspen trees, a few of which were growing next to the stairs leading up to the porch. You will also hear the birds come up to the feeders nearby.

I’ve wanted good campfire tape ever since a certain episode of Nocturne , from a few years ago. Unfortunately, the only times I’ve been camping since then have been places with fire bans in effect. I may take this down later, it’s only up here right now so my wife can listen and tell me what she thinks. I used a very cold night in January to burn off a lot of fallen wood in our backyard fire pit....

I’m standing on Jupiter Beach, facing the sea. I’m right where the waves break, although the water touches my tripod legs once or twice. What you hear came through a matched pair of Lewitt 140 Airs into my Zoom F6 field recorder at 96k, 32bit. I stood there with my cans on the whole time. Jupiter Inlet is about 30 yards to my left, and you will hear boats coming in an out along the beach on my sid...

About fifteen minutes along the Guadalupe River where it passes through Kerrville, Texas. I had been to this crossing several times before over the years, but not this particular spot. This is a spot my wife liked when she visited, so I went back a few days later to make this tape for her. It was on a weekday morning, however, so there was more traffic noise on the nearby roads than she had on her...

I’ve used a Zoom H5 in some capacity or another since 2017 and I love everything about it. (Perhaps because it was my first digital recorder I ever worked with.) The display is simple, I love the gain knob with the safety bar across the front. It’s simple and straightforward. Even when I picked up more advanced equipment— either for work or for my own stuff— the H5 lived in my camera bag. And for...

Setup in Grenwelge Park along the Llano River just below the suspension bridge. Recent rains meant the river was higher than normal (hence the noise) but I’m only here once a year, and I wasn’t as far in as I wanted to be. To the left, sound of traffic on the suspension bridge and just beyond that water over the lake dam. To the right, the river this out, sounds of wind through the long grass.&nbs...

A thunderstorm rolling through Waco. Recorded from the porch of an events center in Waco. Traffic sounds from Bosque Boulevard. We were setting up for the state art competition but the rain meant most people were holding off bringing in the art. I set this up and left it recording while I worked on other things. I just needed a few thunderclaps to put in our piece about this event in next week’s p...

It was cold and raining and the sun wasn’t even up yet. We couldn’t set up all of our equipment with the rain so I went out and put my recorder on the dashboard of my car. I let it run until busses started showing up to drop off teams. It’s an H5 and the gain wasn’t set correctly, but I still like that sound. Recorded on H5 mics with it’s X/Y capsule at 48khz 24mps. I’m thinking about one of their...

I spent summers in Midland as a kid. Dad would take us out here almost every other weekend. It seems to be a lot more popular now than it was. (Although a woman we spoke with in Marathon—a town just an hour and a half drive south—had no idea what we were talking about. So maybe it’s still a bit of a secret) The park sits in the high desert of West Texas on the edge of the Davis Mountains and consi...

I was heading to Austin for an assignment and traffic had been bad all day. (I even witnessed a crash in the first 30 minutes of the trip. Pro tip: do not linger in the left lane: even if you spot the slowdown in time the car that hits you won’t.) Having diverted in Waco for nitro, I was feeling better by the time I reached this stretch of road. Driving south on 35 through the city always feels li...

I wanted this to be better than it was. I’ve been up in this forest before but never with the intention getting tape. There’s just too much traffic on the roads, and the hikers mostly casual and noisy. This heavily edited segment was recorded in a bend of the road where a creek crosses under on its way down, right were the aspens begin. This is first of a series heading up the mountain, but the ot...

Almost a year since I published anything here. Time for another thunderstorm as we ease back into it, and this one is perfect for that mood. The rain is soft here and the thunder itself is distant, spaced out among other night sounds. There’s a slow build to this recording. I’m saving the meat of this storm for another file.  Recorded at at 96kHz on my personal Zoom F6 via a matched pair of C...

It’s been a while since my last update, but not from lack of tape. Here’s a welcome thunderstorm recorded from my Dad’s front porch in Midland, Texas this October. This trip was over a weekend to give my kids a chance to see their grandparents before my work schedule really gets complicated. It felt like much of it, for various reasons, took place late at night. It was a good visit.  Recorded...

The train tracks cut right through the middle of the town of West, Texas. If you’ve only ever stopped there for kolaches you might not know that. I like it when we have events in West. It’s quiet, the food is good, you can get coffee late, and there’s always a longer drive to the hotel at the end of the night.  The view from the back of the high school is nice, too.  The media people are...

I was driving to Waco for an assignment when I hit a bad thunderstorm. Pulled into my usual stopping place in West for a bite to eat and to stretch my legs. I left my H5 rolling on my dashboard to try and catch some of the storm as it moved on. It was one of those storms that caused flash flooding in some places and possible tornados in others. I’ve always liked the sound of rain from inside a car...

The headwaters of The Wind River, this lake sits in the Rocky Mountains east of Grand Teton National Park. Recorded by a small waterfall downslope from the lake itself. Edited to remove the noise of passing traffic on HW26. You cross the parking lot in front of the lake and climb down among the trees in a space between the lake and the highway to find this waterfall. You can hear it from the road...

Along Bear Creek before it takes a turn and empties into the Wind River. Recorded from the property of our friends on a F6 via a matched pair of Lewitt 141 Airs inside ball windshields.  They said it’s running higher and faster than normal for this time of year. That there is construction work being done on the damn that feeds this creek, and they are letting out more water than normal. It re...

The Sinks Cave, Wyoming. Recorded from a perch on the rocks just before the water disappears under the mountain. Recorded on a Zoom F6 via a matched pair of Clippy EM272s.  The Sinks are a series of limestone caves that swallow the middle fork of the Popo Agie River in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. The river is low enough in the summer to actually enter part of the cave, which is where...

A slightly different walk thought the area around my hotel in San Antonio. Same neighborhood, slightly different path through the buildings along 410. Hotel coming and going, some talking, car music, traffic, insects, a water fountain, and a staircase.  This recording was also an experiment. I’d wanted to record in 32 float in order to compensate for sudden loud sounds (car’s coming close, hi...

Recorded on a Zoom H5 set on a tiny tripod a few feet from the edge of the warm-up pool at one of our State Swimming Championships. Loud as it may seem it’s quite a change from the competition pool.   Episode page here .

Sleet and ice falling from our front porch. Recorded on a Zoom H6 mounted just under the cover of the porch. Most of the storms have recorded are at night, so it’s odd to me to hear as many cars as there are. Wind chimes are prominent.  Episode page here .

Recorded with the stereo X/Y capsule on a Zoom H6 mounted to a ceiling beam in my garage, pointed up, about a foot from the roof. Rain of course, thunder, traffic, sirens at times. The nice sound of rain on the roof is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rain falling, but that tapers about at times.  Episode page here .