Wind and Metal explores the awesome ways metal responds sonically under the influence of wind. Large objects like modern wind turbines, old-fashioned windmills, a geodesic dome, an overhead power line transmission tower, a fire tower, flag poles and a giant crucifix, were recorded under varying wind speeds from airy breezes to howling gusts. Each structure produces resonant tones unique to its design, location and weather affecting it. There’s the sound of wire fences too, of course.
Here you’ll find eerie low-end drones plus piercing and painful high-end squeaks. There’s animalistic groaning and scraping. Some serious banging and thumping. Plus rattles and rumbles, deep impacts and rhythmic whooshes.
I captured the rhythmic whooshing sound of modern wind turbines, at varying distances, on expansive wind farms placed smack in the middle of Iowa farmland and Idaho’s high desert. In addition, I visited working wind turbines at county parks and museums. I found one in front of a dentist’s office. This one produced one of the most irritating, grating sounds I’ve ever heard. Far worse than the sound of any dentist’s drill.
There’s plenty of old-school metal windmills featured in the library. The kind with sails instead of blades, and used for pond aeration and water pumps down on the farm. I recorded many of these on Amish farms in Ohio. This was my way of slowly introducing myself to the Amish community in order to cover them in more detail for my Amish sound effects library.
Geodesic Dome
I recorded an 80-ton, 103-foot high (31 meters), 250-foot (76 meters) diameter geodesic dome. It is made entirely of extruded aluminum pipe, with a lot of nuts and bolts thrown in. More than 65,000 parts in all according to ASM International’s website. Standing under this structure is pretty cool. Listening to its low drone and rattle under a strong wind with the aid of a pair of contact mics is even better.
Overhead Power Line Transmission Tower and Fire Tower
I sat at the base of a 345 kV overhead power line transmission tower and did the same atop an 80-foot (24-meter) fire tower that looks down upon a state forest. I captured these in the dead of winter, practically guaranteeing no one else would be around. An otherworldly drone emanates from the transmission tower. Likewise, a clanky, rattling drone emerges from the 90-year-old fire tower.
Flagpoles and Crucifix
I affixed contact microphones to hollow flagpoles, one being 100 feet (30 meters) tall. Things get interesting when the wind kicks up and the rope attached to the flag hits the pole. I hiked to 3,600 feet above sea level to stand beneath a six-story tall, 4,500-pound (2,041 kilogram) lighted metal crucifix atop Table Rock in Boise, Idaho. The controversial cross has beckoned religious followers and graffiti artists since the 1950s.
Wire Fences
No sound effects library involving metal recorded with contact microphones would be complete without the sound of wire fences captured on windy days. The wind ‘plays’ these wires like a low-toned instrument in the band.
Create something soothing, eerie, impactful or in between by inserting Wind and Metal into your next project.
Captured with either a pair of full-frequency Barcus Berry 4000 contact microphones (with their dedicated preamps), or a Sony PCM D100. A Sound Devices 702 recorder and Mixpre D mixer were also used.
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