Fire Engine

  • Thread starter Thread starter tc4b
  • Start date Start date
tc4b

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
At the memorial day parade, I heard the horn of the fire engine (not the whiny siren, but the dissonant blast) and instantly needed to sample it and make music with it. Bad idea? Maybe, but I gotta try it.

The guys at the fire station near my house have agreed to let me over and honk the horn while I record, but I'm not sure how to approach it. It will be parked in the garage, but the garage doors will be open. This sucka is LOUD. I mean LOUD. It's designed to be heard by motorists who might be cranking their stereos when the truck passes.

I don't want to take up too much of their valuable time when I get there fooling around with zillions of combinations of mics, pres, comps, limiters, eq's, gates, and whatever else the hell I'd need.

My best guess so far is, two 57's with a comp set to the quickest attack and a high ratio, and/or a brick wall limiter, and maybe a couple yard away from the thing. I don't want too much reverb from the garage, but it's so damn loud I'm afraid my mics will freaking melt or disintegrate or something.

Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions that I'm WAY off on how to go about this. Thanks!
 
Fire engine sirens are rated to produce 120db at 50' of distance, so if you mic closer than that you're going to have an SPL level much closer to 140db.

If your company is a volunteer fire department, you're unlikely to have any problems whatsoever with "wasting their time".
 
First, I'm not sure I understand the need for TWO 57s unless one was meant to capture ambience. But I think in a firehouse - and for the source - that would probably be unnecessary.

I'm not sure also exactly what you're actually looking for as far as actual results, but I think maybe you're over-thinking it a bit. Maybe a brick limiter might not be a bad idea just as a safety, but otherwise I'd just stick up a mic and hit the record button with your pre gain set way low.

It might help if you could set up a situation where the truck were outside, like when they are out practicing or testing their hoses, which they are want to do fairly often.

G.
 
Just see if they can move the truck just far enough out of the station so as the horn is out side ,it shouldn't be all that far for it's mounted on the cab.
Then record it. You don't have to be to close just say like 30 to 40 feet in front (or possibly to the side-off axis) of the truck and get the mics up in the air.
You shouldn't have to limit the horn on the way in, just attenuate so as your not clipping ...just have a compressor on and for that just in case moment.



:cool:
 
dude. seriously. this is damn near as dumb as that stoner guy that suggested putting microphones inside of drumsticks.
 
A 441 or 421 mic would probably be better if you have access to one. In the 70's they had an ad for a 421 with a starter pistol in the picture, the brag was that it could handle that kind of SPL.

Where's Joe Meek?
 
I recorded a train passing by with horn blaring with nice results. I used 2 AKG perception 100 condensers about 40 feet away from the tracks, set the recorder's pre amp very low and It sounded pretty good. Got a nice reverb from the horn bouncing off the buildings I was between.
Here's a sample:

http://plunder.com/147817edb6
 
poor sod should have stopped after the first stoned post...
 
leaningpine said:
I recorded a train passing by with horn blaring with nice results. I used 2 AKG perception 100 condensers about 40 feet away from the tracks, set the recorder's pre amp very low and It sounded pretty good. Got a nice reverb from the horn bouncing off the buildings I was between.
Here's a sample:

http://plunder.com/147817edb6
Click to expand...

And I think with tryin to record the fire engine horn blast...the key is gonna be to keep your trim low. If those guys are willing to give you a little time, you should be able to get that set in a couple of honks. :D
Maybe a couple inside the station and a couple outside.
Luck man.
 
leaningpine said:
I recorded a train passing by with horn blaring with nice results. I used 2 AKG perception 100 condensers about 40 feet away from the tracks, set the recorder's pre amp very low and It sounded pretty good. Got a nice reverb from the horn bouncing off the buildings I was between.
Click to expand...
^^^
I asked my 5 year old son what he thought this sound was and he said "A bee buzzing", followed by "An earthquake" tooped off with "A horn....".
 
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