Halloween Plans
Home > Home Recording Forum > Talkin' Smack > Halloween Plans
Posted on Oct 25, 2008 08:47 pm
Herb Utsmelz
Ne'er ate 'er
Member Since: Apr 05, 2006
This year, I'm setting up one of my studio monitors behind a thin curtain in the bedroom window next to my front door, using my studio mic and amp for the PA.
You should be so lucky as to be a 5-year-old trick or treater on my porch next Friday night.
Mooooowaahahahahaha... this will be fun after a couple of beers. Or it'll get me arrested ;-)
Can't wait.
Inspiration by Wes Harrison. www.homerecordingconnecti...14237&frm=4
[ Back to Top ]
Oct 25, 2008 08:59 pm We did something similar to that a few years ago. What we found, is that if you use a large sub. We have 21". And pump the living day lights out of the thing. Just the bass alone scares the crap out of the kids.
We used a heart beat, that got louder and louder as the kids came closer to them. After about 5 steps, the kids would stop, look back at their parents, and slowly start walking towards the house.
Just might have to do that again this year.
Oct 25, 2008 09:24 pm Yeah. Halloween. The only time that society allows and even encourages child abuse. Today, I was thinking of the possibility of one of those "helicopter parents" showing up at my door and giving me the harangue about how cruel and evil I am for torturing their poor little kid. Fffertz. It's a rite of passage.
A 21" sub? I need me one o' them! Hmmmm.
Here's the Harrison bit I was referring to: www.homerecordingconnecti...ype=2&src=2
Oct 25, 2008 09:45 pm Oooooh! I need to sample that. I don't think that I can do it justice on my own.
For the sub. Turbosound TSW721. It will pump 40 Hz's at about 135 dB.
Oct 25, 2008 10:54 pm 135 dB at 40 Hz? That's just basic human abuse. I hear enough of that from boom cars. :-/
I'm thinking full-spectrum. I don't have any outboard effects, so I may create a few wav files featuring me, Audition effects, and CDs. It will be a good time for sure.
Oct 25, 2008 11:23 pm Quote:
Oooooh! I need to sample that
No worries. I just allowed the download. Wes approves.
Oct 25, 2008 11:59 pm Cool! Thanks Herb!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Oct 26, 2008 06:56 pm I've been known to set the PA up in the garage, since it is right next to the front door. And yes, lots of low end.
I've played back bits from Dr. Phibes and a few others with lots of scary bits and pieces. But indeed, having a whole arsenal of effect to choose from makes it even more fun. Scary church organs twisted with howling vocal bits and all sort of other good bit.
Its too bad this year that Ray is going to a couple of parties, otherwise he could be a live portion of the audio and scare the neighbor kids. But maybe I'll take a year off and concoct some new scary bits.
What I really need is one of those skeleton rigs that I can have it drop down out of the sky, or off the roof right in front of unwary children.
I wonder how many wet costumes that might cause??
Oh ya.
All hail Wes!
Oct 27, 2008 06:27 am Infrasonic 17 Hz tone experiment
On May 31, 2003, a team of UK researchers held a mass experiment where they exposed some 700 people to music laced with soft 17 Hz sine waves played at a level described as "near the edge of hearing", produced by an extra-long stroke sub-woofer mounted two-thirds of the way from the end of a seven-meter-long plastic sewer pipe. The experimental concert (entitled Infrasonic) took place in the Purcell Room over the course of two performances, each consisting of four musical pieces. Two of the pieces in each concert had 17 Hz tones played underneath. In the second concert, the pieces that were to carry a 17 Hz undertone were swapped so that test results would not focus on any specific musical piece. The participants were not told which pieces included the low-level 17 Hz near-infrasonic tone. The presence of the tone resulted in a significant number (22%) of respondents reporting anxiety, uneasiness, extreme sorrow, nervous feelings of revulsion or fear, chills down the spine and feelings of pressure on the chest.[14][15] In presenting the evidence to the BA, the scientist responsible said, "These results suggest that low frequency sound can cause people to have unusual experiences even though they cannot consciously detect infrasound. Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost—our findings support these ideas."
The Ghost in the Machine
Research by the late Vic Tandy, a lecturer at Coventry University, suggested that the frequency 19 hertz was responsible for many ghost sightings. He was working late one night alone in a supposedly haunted laboratory at Warwick, when he felt very anxious and could detect a grey blob out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to face it, there was nothing.
The following day, he was working on his fencing foil, with the handle held in a vice. Although there was nothing touching it, it started to vibrate wildly. Further investigation led him to discover that the extraction fan was emitting a frequency of 18.98 Hz, very close to the resonant frequency of the eye (given as 18 Hz in NASA Technical Report 19770013810). This was why he saw a ghostly figure—it was an optical illusion caused by his eyeballs resonating. The room was exactly half a wavelength in length, and the desk was in the centre, thus causing a standing wave which was detected by the foil.
Tandy investigated this phenomenon further and wrote a paper entitled The Ghost in the Machine. He carried out a number of investigations at various sites believed to be haunted, including the basement of the Tourist Information Bureau next to Coventry Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle.
Oct 27, 2008 11:42 am Now why did you have to go and post that?
You know I am just going to pump 19 Hz into the sub's now. I might even scare myself with this one. =)
Oct 31, 2008 09:10 pm Well, a good time was had by all.
I spent a few minutes this afternoon gathering all of my appropriate sound effects into one folder for easy access. I created a few myself, using wacko pitch bending effects, reverb, reversals, etc.
I connected the right channel of my studio rig to one Infinity 1500 out on the front deck. A couch pillow was placed on top and covered with a spooky thin blanket and a pair of frightening eyes. Back in the house, I turned up the bottom end as far as it would go. Tambra and I did a sound check.
She and I had walkie-talkies. She would signal me. "Here comes a man and his 7-year-old," "It's a bunch of tween girls," or "They're really little," and I would adjust the sounds accordingly. Of course, the mic was at the ready and I used it.
I heard one little fella say "Hey, that's a guy with a microphone." I said back in my deepest most sinister schtick, "And don't you wish you had one as big as mine, young man?" His parents' laughter drowned out whatever else he had to say.
Our studio window is right at ground level on the front deck. I had the window half open so I could hear the feedback from the little folk. Tambra would come back and tell me how the kids were totally terrified but their parents were grinning.
Alas, the video was unusable. A better camera with better sound will happen next year!
I love Halloween
NightcapVeni, MIDI, ViciMember
Since: Jul 02, 2008
Oct 31, 2008 11:25 pm Seems like you had your share of fun tonight. Too bad about the video. Would have been great to watch it. :-)
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 01, 2008 05:44 pm Bummer on the video Herb. Glad ya had a good time and it entertained the kids and parents though. That is what having fun is all about.
