Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Experiment 1: Can Phone String Lengths

Experiment 1: Can Phone String Lengths

In this experiment, the setup was I connected two 14oz cans together with thick cotton string. The plan was to play my recordings at a volume on my amp that wouldn't shake the can on the other side causing the contact mic to vibrate. Basically, only the can next to the amp would pick up the vibrations. Next the vibrations would go through the string causing the other can to shake, which would shake the mic, and the mic would convert the shaking into sound again.

Here's how I set up each experiment:

Test 1
MP3: 10
Amp: 8
String length: 10'
Can Size: medium
Gain: Max
Mic: Contact

Test 2:
Test 1
MP3: 10
Amp: 8
String length: 7.5'
Can Size: medium
Gain: Max
Mic: Contact

Test 3:
Test 1
MP3: 10
Amp: 8
String length: 5'
Can Size: medium
Gain: Max
Mic: Contact

The challenges I faced while recording were as follows:
  1. I had to keep the tension between two cans that were 5' to 15' away while manning the computer. I came up with a solution. I have one window in my studio that opens and is very sticky. So I stuck the can in the crack in the window, and held the can on the other side. I couldn't directly man the computer so I had to do 6 to 8 recordings for each test
  2. The can kept sliding in the window which created bumps in the recording
  3. Because the window was higher than the amp, The string was catching on the window pane which caused the string to stop vibrating. Apparently I didn't realize this until about an hour later, at which point I had to start from the beginning
  4. Software crashed which deleted some of my recordings
  5. Every recording was really quiet. Normalizing causes lots of static. I'm working with my committee to find a good solution through editing
Possible causes of error:
  1. How I held the cans. most of it wasn't choice, I tried to hold it as little as possible so that I wouldn't stop the edges of the can from shaking so that I could get the best sound possible.
  2. Distance from can to amp. Most of the time it was about a millimeter away
  3. Where the can was placed relative to the amp. The best spot to hold it is at the edge of the cone, but it meandered from the middle to the edge.
  4. Disruption of the string. I'm pretty sure that I didn't touch the string, but I didn't keep note of that until the end.
  5. As seen in post "Noooooooo!!!" I forgot there was noise from the highway being picked up.

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