SD073 HAND CRANKED

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I’ve always been fascinated by vintage sound effects and how they were created. I found this 1931 photo of a sound effects studio and would so love to borrow some of their collection. But even identifying what each object is used for seems lost to the passage of time… When I noticed a vintage wind machine for sale locally a few years ago I jumped at the chance and recorded it, eventually including some in AMB015 WIND IN TREES library… and then put it in storage.

But when rearranging my mess sonic prop collection I realised I hadn’t really explored it at all, beyond its use for pseudo-wind. Removing the canvas meant I could access the interior for sound generation, so this library is a deep dive into using a wind machine for mechanical effects, partly motivated by bad memories of having to cut sound effects for hand cranked occurrences, winches etc in the past when I didn’t have good or appropriate source material.

The first aspect I noticed occurs when you stall the rotating drum: the metal handle and axle creaks, squeaks & groans like crazy!

Next I started exploring other surfaces & objects which could be activated with the hand crank, including:
– wooden mallets/sticks
– ribbed pipes
– corrugated cardboard
– rubber balloons
– polystyrene blocks
– resonant metal objects ratchet
– resonant metal objects edge & base friction

The results are a large collection of useful organic sounds in their own right, as well as components for more complex design.

Captured 32bit 192kHz with Sound Devices MixPre10-II and a pair of Trance Audio Acturus Contact Mics.
Released 24bit 192kHz with full UCS Metadata and photos

Soundcloud link