Listening - vibration recordings with the Geofón

There was a break in the rain yesterday so I decided to go out and search for some sounds. I took the back roads to Weed and continued down them towards Lake Shastina. I stopped along a barbwire fence and attached my microphones right outside the car window. The wind was really wiping as it usually does over there in Weed. I jumped back in my car and with my hands squeezed the headphones to my ears. I can only imagine what this must look like to a rancher driving by… seeing some stranger on his or hers property acting all peculiar listening to a fence. Luckily no one came by and I had the whole road, fence, and landscape to myself.

This particular microphone is called a Geofón and is made by a little company in Slovakia called LOM.  It’s a sensitive omnidirectional geophone adjusted for field recording purposes. Originally designed for seismic measurements, it can be used with regular field recording equipment to capture very faint vibrations in various materials and even soil (info from the site). Quite different than a regular contact microphone although similar the Geofón is more focused on the low end frequencies.

So then why listen to fences?

I only just started to listen to various fences around my area when I purchased both a contact mic and the Geofón. I never even thought to listen to one until I came across Jez riley French. He has many recordings of fences and they are quite beautiful to listen too.

So lucky me I had two Geofóns which allowed me to capture this fence in stereo. The sound of the wind running through the barbwire and the tension of that wire being thrown around by the wind created an unique listening experience. The other thing which I’ve brought up before is vibration recordings have this inner sound quality that is vastly different than a air recording. With a good pair of headphones you really feel like you are inside the wires of this fence!

I continued on down to the lake and captured two other recordings at a boat loading dock. One was a giant hollow steel pipe that ran along the ground to stop cars from driving off the dock and the other was of a steel cable that stretched at least fifty feet. This cable was probably my favorite listening of the day. The low end vibration that the wind was creating by blowing across it was incredible. Very much like a giant bass guitar string.

Below you can listen for yourself what I’m trying to describe. Like I always say headphones are going to yield a better listening experience, but listen how ever you like.

Geofón - Back Road - barbwire fence

Geofón - Loading Dock - large pipe

Geofón - Loading Dock -steel cable