Train Sounds
I LOVE sounds. The way things sound to me is a big part of the experience whether it be ocean waves in Truro on Cape Cod, wind blowing through the tall pine trees in Bryce Canyon, crows calling to each other first thing in the morning at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the sound of babbling springs lapping down spongy soft moss, or rain on my tin roof in a thunderstorm, everything has it’s unique sound that I LOVE to capture.
I took some binaural recordings of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge train while we were riding.
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being there. This effect is often created using a technique known as “Dummy head recording” or while wearing binaural microphones, wherein a mannequin, or your head, is outfitted with a microphone in each ear. Binaural recording is intended for replay using headphones and will not translate properly over stereo speakers.
All of these were taken off the back of the last car of the train standing on the rear platform. The sliding noise is the sound of the wheels on the rails. The ca-chunk ca-chunk is the wheels going over the meeting points in the rails. The whooshing is the sound of the river next to us and probably the wind.
The first one is a nice slow ca-chunk for a 30 second recording.
Part1 2:01
0:30 is the train whistle
2:30 we went over a bridge
Part2 2:12
1:12 train whistle
1:43 going over a bridge with the river underneath
1:56 chuffa-chuffa of the engine
The last one is a nice 3:30 stretch of recording that I plan to put on repeat to go to sleep.
Originally published at A Well-Armed Laura Ingalls Wilder. You can comment here or there.