Since I can't let my guests have all the fun, today I have some cool dog sounds to share. Back in June, I recorded over a dozen dogs for my upcoming dog sound library. The library will be released in August (sign up for the mailing list at http://chuckrussomfx.com/ to stay up to date on news). One of the dogs that I recorded was a little female Pug that made the weirdest "Gremlin-like" vocals. Until I heard Bryan Jerden's dog, these were the craziest dog sounds I'd ever heard!

These were recorded using a Neumann RSM191 into a Sound Devices 744T at 24bit 192K

Dog - Pug: Weird Voice by crussom

It's time for another guest blogger to share some recordings with us. This time, we have two guests: Bryan Jerden and his dog Bahbah. Bryan is one of my "Twitter Friends". We met through Twitter and chat often, and even though we both live in LA, have never actually met in person (we should probably change that at some point!) In May, when I posted the homework assignment, Bryan went crazy! He was so inspired to go out and record, he sent me a huge batch of stuff. All of his recordings were great, but what really stood out, where some recordings of his dog. I told him that the dog recordings had to have a post of their own.

If you don't know Bryan, you probably know his work. He's worked as a sound designer on film, trailers, and games. Think of that last cool film trailer you saw....that's probably his work. Here's a short list of some of Bryan's recent projects:

Trailers:

Inception
Salt
Sherlock Holmes
District 9
2012

Films:

Underworld "Rise of the Lycans"
There Will Be Blood

Games:

Skate 1 & 2
Need For Speed: Shift
Need For Speed: Carbon


Recording BahBah by Bryan Jerden



Recording for me is a bit like photography. Maybe because I started out in life as an art student. Using a mic to capture a moment in time, the feeling of a particular place, or a performance is in many ways like using a camera. It seems like as recordist we are always listening to the sound of life, and if we don't have a mic to record it, then we try and remember the best we can.

Bahbah as he has come to be known, is a rescued shi tzu that me and my wife adopted several years ago. At the time I wasn't actually looking to take in a pet, but there were many things about this dog that had personalty- and one of them was his voice. I have recorded, manipulated and designed the sound of my dogs voice for many projects, the best known being the "Ghost Rider" trailer. I am sure while listening your imagination will remind you of many things from a creature to a motorcycle and I have used him for both.

When Chuck came up with the idea of the audio homework assignment I immediately knew I had to include some recordings of Bahbah. The point was to just have some fun with it. I am a fan of using high end mic's and pre's but I also know that sometimes you can loose the moment if you get to caught up over what equipment to use. For this recording I literally just grabbed my cheapest small condenser mic and plugged it right into my Mbox and we went at it. Sometimes I think he knows he is being recorded, because when it is time to roll he is always ready to perform!

Bryan Jerden - July 2010
Follow Bryan On Twitter

Guest Blogger - Bryan Jerden by crussom

Today I released 2 new sounds libraries: Skateboard and Fireworks. Back when I came up with the idea to release FX libraries, I wanted to keep it real simple. Just release collections of sounds from my personal library. Things that I've recorded over the years. Things haven't really gone according to plan! Rather than releasing stuff from the archives, I've been going out and recording all new material. I still have some great new stuff I've just recorded that has yet to be released, and some really cool recording sessions coming up. But I had strayed from the original plan.

For these new releases, I've decided to go back to basics. And do what I intended from the beginning, pull some sounds from my archives, and put them out as inexpensive as possible. I'm even calling these libraries "casual" releases. No hype, not a lot of time or money invested, just some cool sounds that hopefully others will benefit from.

In keeping with the "casual" theme, I decided to make the Fireworks library a "limited edition". That's right, buy it now, because it is going away. I've priced the Fireworks library at $5.00 and will sell it for the rest of July. After July, it is gone. Just like those limited time hamburgers that they sell at the fast food places. You finally get around to trying it out, and you find it's been pulled off the menu.....

www.chuckrussomfx.com

CRFX-003 Skateboard by crussom

CRFX-000 Fireworks by crussom

Today is the 4th Of July, which is Independence Day in the US.  To me, the 4th Of July means one thing; FIREWORKS!  This day always brings out the kid in me, and brings back memories of lighting off fireworks, blowing things up, and assorted acts of pyro mayhem!

In honor of the holiday, I'm posting up some fireworks recordings that I did several years ago.  These recordings feature two of my favorite fireworks; Ground Bloom Flowers and Piccolo Petes.  I can't remember what mics I used (probably a Sennheiser).  I know that I recorded to a Fostex FR2 at 24 bit 96K.  Enjoy, and Happy Birthday America.

Fireworks by crussom

This was originally published on designingsound.org back in April. Some of you may have missed it, and I really like these sounds, so I'm re-posting it here:

Slingshots can be a great source of sound recording fun. You can use them to record sound like flying debris, bullet bys, dart bys, spear bys, all sorts of cool flyby sounds. All you really need to do if find an open area where you can fire the slingshot, set up a mic, and shoot various objects at the mic. Try not to hit the mic, if you can!

I needed some bullet whizbys for a project I was working on. You can record real bullet bys and ricochets, but it takes a lot of time, some money, and often you don't get the results you are looking for. I was looking for a controllable solution that would be relatively quick, easy, and cheap. I went out and fired various metal objects and found that pennies were my favorite (and the least expensive too!). I also got some good sounds firing bullet shells and washers of various sizes.

Unless you have access to a sound stage or a empty warehouse, it is difficult to find an indoor location that is large enough to fire off a slingshot. I did the recording outside in the mountains. It was the largest, open area that I could find that was away from the bulk of city traffic. I still had to deal with the occasional car and airplane, but that is what you always have to deal with when recording near a city. Recording outside you will also have to contend with the sounds of nature, so a lot of editing and EQing will be needed. These flyby sounds are very quiet, so it helps if you use a clean sounding, low noise microphone and preamp. I ended up recording on two occasions. The first time I used my Neumann 191 stereo shotgun and I felt the mic added too much noise into the recording. I went out a second time with my Sennheiser MKH800. The MKH800 is a really low noise mic, and I felt it gave me much better results. These samples were recorded to a Sound Devices 744T recording at 24bit 96K.

Slingshot firing pennies:

Slingshot Penny by crussom

Slingshot firing bullet shells:

Slingshot BulletShell by crussom

Slingshot firing washers:

Slingshot Washers by crussom