SD074 AIR VORTEX
USD $49.00
Powerful high pressure scifi weapon source material created via constricted compressed air release.
1.23GB download • 2.25GB as 222 x 24bit 192kHz .WAV files
Single user license – if you require a site license for multiple users, please request a quote HERE
Note: audio is from SD Challenge 06 using ten bits of SD074 as the only source material.
This library came about from a Vortex Shedding technique I discovered while experimenting with compressed air.
I started with simple experiments – performing air blasts into various objects, such as a tuba, trombone, spray tank and many sizes & types of pipes. While the sounds were good & useful, it was all predictable – I wasn’t hearing anything new… So I started thinking about how brass instruments are actually played, and I began experimenting with constricting the air flow into the objects, in an attempt to simulate embouchure (the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument)
The first surprise was from inserting long thin strips of rubber into a long pipe. When pressurised, the chaotic air flow & activation of the rubber creates a ‘tearing’ sound that reminds me of how rocket engines ‘tear the air’. I recorded lots of variations, waving a pipe around & past the mics…. But then it happened!
Some of the rubber got loose & disappeared down the pipe & jammed! I blew more air into it, increasing the pressure until the pipe started to bulge, like it was going to blow apart…. And suddenly the rubber freed itself & made a totally unexpected & very loud whizzing zippy sound as it travelled along the pipe. And when it exited the pipe it created a sound as loud as a small firework, as the bits of rubber went flying out the end!
I began repeating this experiment with this exact same setup. I then tried expanding the method to other pipes… But weirdly no other combination would produce the same effect!?! Of maybe 20 different pipes (flexible, rigid, different diameters & lengths) there was only one that worked. Even using the same type of pipe but a slightly larger diameter would not work. So I went down to the hardware store & got a 20 metre roll of the exact same pipe and recorded lots more.
Sometimes the pipe would completely jam & I’d have to cut off a chunk & abandon it.
After days of recording & then carefully trawling through the material, I captured 48 of these complex shots, along with 90 singular fast shots, pops, zips & whizzes.
The library also includes the air-blast noise-bursts into the objects, as well as some weird pipe harmonics & tonal elements.
Considering how these sounds occurred, they have extraordinary & unexpected tonalities, with very fast transients!
For the preview I have included some varispeed examples below with 1/2/4/8th speed versions.
Recorded 32bit 192kHz using a pair of Sanken CUX100K mics, this new library is now released 24bit 192kHz with full UCS metadata.
