FX015 BALLOON WHIZZ

This library explores the sound of spinning objects inside a balloon.

The first successful attempt caused the balloon to pop within 10 seconds, but with some practice I managed to achieve a degree of control. And the tonality is really surprising.

Objects inside a small balloon spin faster due to the obvious size restriction, while large balloons provide a wider spinning centrifugal path. The inflated pressure of each balloon also contributes to the tonality. At times, turbulence interrupts the flow of the spinning object, causing odd skips, skitters & discontinuities worth further investigation.

In a performative sense, it is like learning to play a very strange musical instrument where the most difficult achievement is to maintain a constant speed & pitch. I suspect this is related to the weight of the spinners, in that they are small and weigh very little, so there is little momentum. As soon as external centrifugal force stops being applied, pitch drops & they drop out of their orbits…

At high revs it’s almost trance-inducing, as the fast repeating cycles require maintaining a weird harmonic motion, and it’s easy to forget the physics and become absorbed with the sound, meanwhile forgetting a small object is circling at very high speeds. A couple of times while recording I managed to take a direct hit to the knuckle and OMG it freaking hurt!! So if you ever attempt this, please be careful. A little bruise is one thing, but a damaged eye or broken screen or window is another.

Recorded 32bit 192kHz using a close pair of Sennheiser MKH8040 along with Sanken CUX100K mics spaced a little wider. Delivered 24 bit 192kHz with full UCS metadata and photos.

recording studio or play room? the only correct answer: BOTH!