Recording at it's Finest

Okay, so y'all, I keep talking about a project with no context. I just say "Experimental Recording," or "I'm putting a microphone underwater and seeing what happens"

I thought this would be a good time and place where I could go into detail about what it is I'm doing. Also if you stick with this post, I'll show a list of planned experiments I plan on doing.

Basically I'm taking 5 original recordings of different instruments with different timbre* then playing them back in different scenarios while recording the sound a second time.

So let's take the "I'm putting a microphone underwater and seeing what happens" as an example.

So theoretically I have these 5 sounds, underwater speakers, and a hydrophone**. Now I take those 5 sounds and see how the sound is altered when I send the sound through water. If you have ever swam in a public pool, you would know people sound different when your underwater, so obviously there should be a result, I just want a solid copy of that sound.
Now let's get more abstract. If the acoustics*** of the room change when your in a big room and a small room, do the acoustics change when you are in a big pool or a small pool?

So, that's basically my dissertation: Taking a sound, and messing with how you perceive it.

So, here's a list of ideas of experiments I would like to try:
(I lost my physical copy so this is a new list I can't actually loose...)

Underwater Volume Acoustics
Underwater Pickup/Distance Testing
Transmitting Sound Through Light
Tin Can Recording
Recording Through String****
Transmitting Sound Through Phone Lines
Recording on Multiple Mediums~
(This experiment has multiple parts and is just a collection of different experiments)
Contact Recording (recording through solids)
Pickup Recording
Digital Compression
Heat Distortion (mostly with tapes)
Recording (Via Walkie Talkie)

Most of these experiments shouldn't make much sense right now, but as you progress through my blog over the next couple months, It should all become clear.

Looking forward to the vast amounts of work....
Kai

* Timbre is basically how when a man and a woman sing the same note it sounds different, this applies to different instruments as well (this is a really stupid explanation, if you really care to know go look it up on Wikipedia or something.)

** A mic you use for underwater. Speaking of which, I read today that with a condom and a couple rubber bands you can convert your old mic into (drum roll) A hydrophone!!!

*** Very very basically how sound moves according to it's environment. Ie. Being in a small room and talking hearing very little echo vs. being in a church and hearing an echo after speeking.

**** Remember making those walkie talkies out of cans and string? Yeah, it's one of those with a mic on the other end