So I'm recording a band inside a nuclear reactor cooling tower...

[Graham Tobias]

Anyone have any experience recording bands inside cooling towers for power plants? There's an abandoned power plant near my apartment that I received permission to use for a recording. Can't wait. The reverb should be rather interesting.

[Rick Sutton]

Don't forget to wear your lead undies.

[ajfarber]

Maybe you can call it "The Power Station II"?

[tms8707056]

I want pictures of that session!

[rainsinvelvet]

I'd love to just get a tour of a place like that.

Talk about overkill on everything!

ERic

[just.sounds]

Wow a round concrete space "interesting acoustics" This is one tough puppy me thinks.

Try to put a mic perfectly in the centre of the circle this should be very interesting!

[marty lester]

Originally Posted by Graham Tobias

Anyone have any experience recording bands inside cooling towers for power plants? There's an abandoned power plant near my apartment that I received permission to use for a recording. Can't wait. The reverb should be rather interesting.

that rules. good luck, and yeah, take pix!

marty.

[thedoner]

Sounds like a cool gig. I think you biggest challenge will be figuring out how to monitor through your radiation suit!.

[Mike O]

Lot's of nuclear facilities were started in the 70s and 80s and then were abandoned due to lack of contnued public support and subsequent funding.

I worked on a non-audio project in Tennesee. Somewhere I have a picture of me standing in the middle of one of the cooling towers. Depending on your goals for the project, type of music, etc. I believe you will have SIGNIFICANT challenges.

The towers are of course round and to make atters worse due to their conical shape reflect sound 'down'. Although several hundred feet acress at ground level (per my recollection) - it's been a long time you can talk at norm speaking volume and QUITE some time later get destinct echo with very clear enunciation.

Curious: What will you be doing for power? What will the 'band' and your recording rig look like?

[Graham Tobias]

Power is going to be a 250 foot extension cord. I'm going to be using my mobile rig... though I'm thinking I'm going to go with the laptop rig to keep the dust out of my G5.

It's the small rack on the left with a macbook.

and the band is a psychobilly band from portland. They have a pretty awesome image and an abandoned power plant suits it. I am pretty sure a photographer will be at the session. Possibly a 2 person video crew too.

[Mike O]

How many recordists can claim they did their work in a $100 million $ facility (TVA's stimate of the cost of the cooling tower alone? Never used in their case.

Let us know how it works for you.

[tuRnitUpsuM]

> I'm recording in a 100 million dollar facility and there isn't a single neve module nor couch.....what's up with that? <


jokes aside....


pretty darn cool (pun intended)


cheers

[TobyToby]

Don't forget to catch some beasty single snare & kick drum hits. Have fun !

[Chaellus]

for that matter nuclear reactor impulse repsonses too

[Blast9]

Originally Posted by thedoner

Sounds like a cool gig. I think you biggest challenge will be figuring out how to monitor through your radiation suit!.

Well... It is a cooling tower

[Jules]

Its my understanding that inside those towers there is a lot of wood planks crisscrossed. Its the wood that the steam condenses on. It needs to be a particular type of wood too..

I don't think they are totally empty spaces inside...

So you might need to saw out a drum area..

Anyone?

[danijel]

get the biggest whisper room (MDL 10284 (8.5 x7)* MDL 6084 (5 x 7)) take it to the tower, and close mike them inside. you can still say it was done in a nuclear plant. then get an impulse, like someone suggested.

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by Chaellus

for that matter nuclear reactor impulse repsonses too

+1 to this idea!

-Matt

[XLR2XLR]

Just make sure you don't peak higher than 0VU on the geiger counter (or something like that, check with your local radioographer)

Seriously, I would not be going anywhere near a F******** disused nuclear
power plant, you have to be nuts.

Even if it was U2 or someone.

[Graham Tobias]

It was never an active powerplant.. the construction was abandoned before completion... so there's no radiation.

[ExtremeSound]

This does sound interesting, pics and sound clips would be cool. Would be a cool promo thing for the band.

[Sevitzky]

Your geiger meter should make for a good click track!

[Kadden Heart]

you have to post us some pictures,

and i wouldn't argue with an impulse

awesome little job i bet,...have fun
thumbsup

[threesymbol]

Originally Posted by just.sounds

Wow a round concrete space "interesting acoustics" This is one tough puppy me thinks.

Try to put a mic perfectly in the centre of the circle this should be very interesting!

Maybe it would create an oscillating node...

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Graham Tobias

Anyone have any experience recording bands inside cooling towers for power plants? There's an abandoned power plant near my apartment that I received permission to use for a recording. Can't wait. The reverb should be rather interesting.

I don't have any personal experience with cooling towers, but I am in the midst of a massive ethnomusicology type project (documenting Appalachian musicians in their native settings) and I have recorded a couple in root cellars and grain silos.

One of my favorite albums ever was recorded in a Silo also..

Great Lake Swimmers S/T from 2003.

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS - DISCOGRAPHY

[Story]

Sounds Interesting for sure - one of the things that popped into my head was the part in Sigur Ros' Heima where they play a show inside a round fish oil storage tank somewhere in the boons in Iceland. Maybe that has some information about playing with sound in something like that? I imagine it might have been interesting and a PITA to set up and play in but I remember it being one of the favorite sounding parts of the film.

[minor_glitch]

Originally Posted by Story

Sounds Interesting for sure - one of the things that popped into my head was the part in Sigur Ros' Heima where they play a show inside a round fish oil storage tank somewhere in the boons in Iceland. Maybe that has some information about playing with sound in something like that? I imagine it might have been interesting and a PITA to set up and play in but I remember it being one of the favorite sounding parts of the film.

I had the same thought!

[JoeDeF]

Anyone interested in this kind of sound/space/music might want to check out Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening project (and the original CD).

Here's a cut:

YouTube - Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis - Lear

Here's info on the very much worthwhile CD (if you like this kind of stuff):

New Albion Records - NA022

Pretty cool to hear the 45 second reverberation time inside a huge cistern....

Joe

[edwinhurwitz]

There's a building right next to the leaning tower of Pisa that is a big cylinder with a very long reverb time. You can climb up the stairs that go up the inside. When I was there last, one of the security guys would sing for the tourists and stack chords up using the reverb like a looping device.

Pisa Baptistery is a Giant Musical Instrument by Rory Carroll and the Guardian for the Nexus Network Journal vol 2 no 2 (April 2000)

[amfortas2006]

Originally Posted by Sevitzky

Your geiger meter should make for a good click track!

+1 don't forget it