Below are two of the sound clips my partner and I recorded during our tutorial using the Zoom H2N sound recorder. After a brief introduction to the equipment, we set out to record a variety of different sounds, including “silence” in different sized spaces, conversations, modes of transport, etc. The aim of the task was to get a feel for recording and to start paying attention to the considerations we will need to make when working to create our own original recordings for project briefs. The thing I noticed almost immediately when I started to pay close attention, is how difficult it is to differentiate between different noises coming from every direction. In our clips, the sound we intentionally set out to record was sometimes muffled by outside noises, and this is especially difficult to control in a public space such as the city.

The major issue we encountered with this task was that after setting the decibel level to the recommended level and taking a sample recording, we couldn’t hear the recording in playback. We tried changing the recorder settings, recording in different locations and trying to find louder sounds, but still had no luck. We concluded that because we couldn’t find the issue, it must have been in the playback not the recording, so we continued, in the hope that all would be resolved once we transferred the sound files to our computers from the device. However, what we didn’t realise was that there was a small dial on the outside of the recorder (right in front of our eyes!) that showed the volume level that would be recorded, and ours was turned almost to zero! This is a mistake I won’t make again, so I’ll put it down to a learning experience.

Below are two of our loudest sound recordings, which are audible but still fairly quiet.

Birds and water:

Trams: