019 – The Sound of Ice Melting

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For a while now, I’ve been wanting to freeze a contact mic and then record the sound of the ice melting. This is a popular thing to record with contact mics, but I’ve never done it before. I got the best results when I poured hot water into a bowl with the ice – that helped to start the melting process. You can hear the bubbles that came off the ice too. The contact mic was recorded using my Zoom H4N. After recording it, I brought it into Soundtrack Pro on my mac to EQ out some of the noise. The picture is a spectrum view of the sound in Soundtrack Pro.
 
I recently ordered a hydrophone from Jez Riley French based on a recommendation from Seth Chrisman, who is a very talented guy – definitely check out his music and field recordings. It will be exciting to use the hydrophone when things warm up and I can record the sounds of rivers, ponds, and lakes (I plan on incorporating these sounds into my music). If you are interested in field recording, you might also enjoy the work of Chris Watson as well as Matt Rösner and Seaworthy.
 

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