SD078 ROTARY TOOL
Original price was: USD $99.00.USD $49.50Current price is: USD $49.50.
DREMEL ROTARY TOOL 2,000 – 10,000rpm using on plastic, wood, metal, polystyrene, fluteboard and corrugated cardboard for great scifi vehicle sounds plus constant runs at each speed.
9.84GB as 310 x 24bit 192kHz WAV files • 6.67GB download
Single user license – if you require a site license for multiple users, please request a quote HERE
Dremel is a popular handheld rotary tool that have been a favourite of hobbyists for many decades. Recording the dental tools for SD077 made me buy a Dremel as I wanted more time to experiment, and without the worry of damaging a very expensive piece of surgical equipment.
The Dremel I used is variable speed: switchable in steps from 2000rpm up to max 10,000 rpm. I used a 230V powered model as I didn’t want to be dependent on battery life when recording. At low speeds the tool does not have a lot of torque, so a light touch was required to have it activate a resonating body without slowing the motor speed. But the real variety of sounds was made possible by using the Dremel on different resonant objects, and the scale of the sound produced was greatly increased by placing a LOM Usi Pro microphone inside each resonating body.
The tools I used in the Dremel included a grinder/sander, a wire brush & also no tool, using the knurled texture on the collet nut as the activator.
Plastic objects provided the ‘nicest’ tonality. I started with an inverted 4L ice cream container and the range of loudness & scope of different textures was instantly expanded. Steady fixed speed operation, then sustained grinding at each speed, then grind to a halt/stalls. Next I used a small plastic bucket, followed by a large 40L tank.
Wood box provided a dense hard surface for grinds & moves
Metal objects provided the harshest tonality and loudness. The first metal object – a heavy hopper – was so shrill & nasty I could not sustain any high speed grinds. I switched to a stainless steel laundry sink which with careful operation sounded more useful, and similar approach was taken with a metal box especially at slower speeds.
Polystyrene Box was very quiet, but by adding a strip of gaffer tape & applying the Dremel to it, the polystyrene box then worked well to amplify the sound and provide a unique tonality.
Cardboard objects provided the surprises! I started off using the box my Rycote Nanos came in and found that when pressing hard on the cardboard surface, the corrugated ridges provided an interesting secondary form of modulation – I was effectively modulating a modulation. So I went to the hardware store & got a roll of corrugated cardboard, plus a sheet of ridged ‘fluteboard’ and had a lot of fun exploring sounds with them, at times evoking what felt like high tech vehicle sounds – fast zippy dopplers & moves. This led to further exploration of moves with skips, a bit like DJ transformer moves – intermittent skips as the Dremel rhythmically touches & skips the surface.
This library has a similar scope of coverage as SD075 AIR TOOLS but with a very different tonality.
Recording 32bit 192kHz with a MixPre10-II using:
– Sanken CUX100K stereo pair
– LOM Usi Pro inside object
Released now 24bit 192kHz with full UCS metadata and photos.
alt: soundcloud link
