If you’re a fellow audio dude, you may recognize the title of this entry as a blatant rip-off of Shaun Farley’s post on DynamicInterference.com. There’s a reason for that. I’ll get to why in a bit.

I took advantage of the long 4th of July weekend by going to visit my parents on their farm. As you may imagine, there’s all sorts of wonderfully noisy machinery hanging around a farm, so I brought the main rig as well as any extra mics and other bits I could think of. I don’t get out there much, so I wanted to maximize the recording time I had, be ready for any contingencies that arose, and come away with a bunch of quality samples. Regarding contingencies, I can be pretty neurotic when it comes to covering my bases. To illustrate, this is what I brought:

• (1) Sound Devices 702
• (3) Mercenary Audio/MA-Mfg KM-69 cardioid condensor mics (needed 2, brought an extra just in case)
• (1) Sennheiser MKH-416T shotgun mic
• (1) Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic
• (1) Beyerdynamic M88 figure-8 ribbon mic
• (1) Shure SM57 cardioid dynamic mic
• (2) Drum triggers/contact mics I found in a drawer at work the day before I left. (mine now)
• (2) DIY contact mics (I didn’t trust either set of contact mics to work correctly, so I brought 2 sets)
• (1) Palmer PDI09 DI box
• (1) Axmax DI box
• (2) Rycote WS-4 windscreen systems
• (1) Sabra-som X-Y stereo bar
• (1) K-Tek boom pole
• (3) Mic stands
• (?) Cables

For 2.5 days. <:-\

There’s a game mod project involving integrating engine sounds that I’ve been messing with for a while and the biggest hurdle I’ve had so far (aside from general lack of motivation & discipline) is lack of sufficiently detailed base source material: namely, steady engine recordings at small rpm intervals. So my primary targets on this trip were my dad’s two tractors and his F250 Super Duty pickup. I figured that between the 3 of them, I ought to be able to get something usable. The secondary target was the hay conveyor, with potential targets of opportunity including everything from broken motors to weapon foley to wildlife and thunderstorms.

“No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength.“

- Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Not that my parents could be described as “the enemy” (unless I’m needling my dad about politics, but that’s another matter…), but I think that in a general sense, Moltke’s famous quote about flexibility and the need to adapt to circumstances is applicable to my weekend back home. (I also unwittingly mirrored his hyper-detailed approach towards planning. Maybe I’ll have to read more about this guy.) I had a list of assets I wanted to capture, a suitcase full of gear with which to capture it, and an extended weekend of gorgeous weather in which to do it. I was good to go.

But I wasn’t at my parents place for 20 minutes before I came to the same realization Shaun did in the aforementioned post: I’m on vacation. I love hanging out with my family; I only get to see them twice a year, and I’m planning on spending the whole weekend listening to headphones and shoving microphones in things?

Fuck that. Recording takes a back seat to things that are actually important.

I did get a few things which I’ll detail in subsequent posts, but not nearly as much as I’d originally set out to record. And that’s ok. Instead of collecting sounds, I spent the weekend playing dominoes with my family, catching up with old friends, grilling steak, gorging myself on chocolate chip cookies, and sitting by the fire for hours staring at this:

Peace

It’s good to have your priorities in order, eh?

Some other non-audio pics from the weekend:

Doe in Front of a Turkey Blind

Me & Mom (I'm the one in the hat)

More mesmerizing than it ought to be.