Topic: audio recording of fireworks..

[ellaguru]

are the spl's / rumblings / shock waves of fireworks too much to record?   for some reason im thinking it'll be ok, but what do i know   

they launch them less that a half mile from my apt

chris

[rastasean]

having never recorded such an event, i can't give specific examples but I tend to think there wouldn't be any issues. on the audio archive there is a guy who has recorded many space shuttle launches from a good 1-3 miles away. I would think those launches will be louder than anything produced by your fireworks.

[boojum]

I have a recording of fireworks on an LP that is about 50 years old.  I think you are safe recording fireworks.  Have fun!

[ellaguru]

ok...now for what mic patterns 

i have roof access and can do what the hell i want....i was thinking spaced akg 414 omnis with my mg210's din-ish or pointed right at the sound source..kinda a-b style..run cables back down to apt to the multi track....or a blumlein with the 414's might be fun for all the reverberation as well..

chris

/edit
  ...perhaps aim the gefells into the crowd for that reaction?

[boojum]

Omnis (AB) have the bass you want.  How much precise location do you expect to have with card ORTF/DIN etc.?

[Patrick]

I would recommend setting your mics up in a quasi-binaural setup, I think that something like that will reproduce what you actually heard rather than the "room" sound of the fireworks. Splitting them might work just fine, but I think I'd rather have a J-disc or a binarual head recording of such an event.

[unclelouie]

I agree on the omni / binaural setup. Wear the mics over your ears or use a Jecklin disc and space the omnis around 14 inches.  The omnis will not only give you the bass response you want, but they aren't as susceptible to wind as directional mics like the figure-8's used in the Blumlein technique. I have taped fireworks on several occasions and found that the the crowd response is what makes it worth-while to listen to, so you may not even want to set up on the roof unless you've got a party going on up there. 


 

[dream]

I recorded the new year firework in Berlin which can be quite extreme with a lot of far and near explosions (sometimes of very powerful illegal fire crackers). I had safety glasses and ear protection because the stuff was sometimes flying around me. For the actual recording I made it easy for me and placed my Neumann RSM-191 in a Rode blimp (+mic stand) on the terrace from above. The mic went into a Lunatec V3 and from there with SPDI/F into the R-44. The difficulty was to cope with very far and very close explosions and very high frequency material when firework rockets were flying by. The RSM matrix was set to X/Y and I was very satisfied with the sound quality and the stereo image. I set a quite low recording level and compressed the final result and had still a very low noise level because of the V3.

[guysonic]

Used both personally headworn and baffled HRTF mics I make to record many fireworks displays both close and distant.  Don't worry about the quick overloads from the explosions, they will sound fine and the overall low ambient echo sounds loudness level can be increased in post leaving the fast overloads as-is or be rectified with clip restoration edit feature, but will sound fine in any case.  I record in 24 bit depth when available, and suggest this works best for later working with software editors.

My personal fireworks recordings (with photos at: http://www.sonicstudios.com/firework.htm), and some more I recorded and more made by others are easily found posted at: www.sonicstudios.com/mp3.htm