Silo chamber

[Ben M]

Just throwing this out there...for anyone interested.
In early March I'm going to be using two empty silo's on a farm in Kangaroo Valley as reverb chambers for an Ep I'm recording.
If there are any t'rockers that would be interested in having a file (drum, guitar, vocal..etc..) recorded in the chambers please feel free to get in touch and we can do the consolidated file through Dropbox thang.

For reference: the silo is approx. 12m tall x 3m wide (there's two of them side by side)
Cheers

[Futureman]

There was a website that had the ability for you to upload a file and it would do just that.. Play it in a silo and record the wash.

It was a while ago tho, and the max file size was rather small.. 2 secs etc.

[Chinagraf]

Wasn't it called Silophone?

[Ben M]

There was a website that had the ability for you to upload a file and it would do just that.. Play it in a silo and record the wash.
It was a while ago tho, and the max file size was rather small.. 2 secs etc.

Wasn't it called Silophone?

Just had a look at the Silophone site... looks a bit old and clunky but a good/fun idea nonetheless.

I'm expecting to spend a few hours at the silo passing audio into the chamber so thought I'd offer it here for anyone interested in getting a bit of quirky silo-chamber-verb on a track or two... (no cost of course)

[Vic]

Hey Ben,

As you know, we intend to install a silo permanently wired into our control room. So I would love if you could post photos of your set up and sound samples up here if you could.

And have HEAPS of fun, I can't wait to hear how you much you enjoyed it
Vic

[Ben M]

Hey Ben,

As you know, we intend to install a silo permanently wired into our control room. So I would love if you could post photos of your set up and sound samples up here if you could.

And have HEAPS of fun, I can't wait to hear how you much you enjoyed it
Vic

Hey Vic, I've been thinking about your permanent silo install as I've had similar thoughts in the past. Have you considered burying it underground?..this would be a good way to be able to capture the subtleties of the reverb tail without background interference...and totally insulate it against roaring winds, rain, creaking metal in the hot sun.. etc..I know it's a big task but it would make it usable 24/7.

I'm going to pick my day carefully when I do this to eliminate as much background as possible. The Silo's I'm using are made of concrete so there should very little noise coming from any part of the structure itself. Just some background nature'n'stuff. I'm sure it will be an enjoyable experience.

Thanks for the well wishes with it. I will do my best to get some pics and sounds up on this post at some point.
cheers

[wez]

I'm definitely up for this... I have something quite spooky that I'd love to give the silo treatment!

[Hookemeister]

(there's two of them side by side)

So that would be a stereo chamber?

Wasn't it called Silophone?

Wez, as there's 2 of them I think that would make it a Stereo Silophone!


Hey Ben why don't you make some impulse responses of the silos, upload them and then we can all have our own silo plugin.

Just a thought.

[Ben M]

(there's two of them side by side)

So that would be a stereo chamber?

Hey Ben why don't you make some impulse responses of the silos, upload them and then we can all have our own silo plugin.

Just a thought.

Hey Greg
Yes! I was thinking stereo as well.

The impulse responses are a good idea.
I haven't created impulse responses before but seeing that I visit a lot of interesting spaces it might be a good idea to start.
What would you run for the IR? a sine sweep or some sort of clapper??

Having said this though I'm focused on recording the chamber as is, but would love to hear the difference with the IR..

[jasound]

Hi Ben,
Sine sweep gives a better overall idea of freq response in the space.
If your going to use Altiverb it has its own unique impulse tone that you have to use.
But sine works with most others.
Remember to do at least 3 sweeps in each position so you can average out the extraneous noise that may happen.

[Ben M]

Hi Ben,
Sine sweep gives a better overall idea of freq response in the space.
If your going to use Altiverb it has its own unique impulse tone that you have to use.
But sine works with most others.
Remember to do at least 3 sweeps in each position so you can average out the extraneous noise that may happen.

Cool thanks Jason.

I'll delve deeper with the IR and see how I go.

[The Tasmanian]

Ben - will you be doing both silos simultaneously?
L&R chambers?
I'd love to run a snare sample into a stereo silo reverb - maybe a kick too?

[Ben M]

Ben - will you be doing both silos simultaneously?
L&R chambers?
I'd love to run a snare sample into a stereo silo reverb - maybe a kick too?

Hey Chris, yes both at the same time with mono or stereo signals.

At this stage I'm aiming for 13th March so if you'd like to process some samples I'm happy to shoot them into the chamber.

Wez, I'm also very happy to process spooky sounds. No problem.

Upload to your favourite file transferrer and link me via email guys -
ben at harvestrecordings dot com dot au

cheers

[Vic]

Hi Ben,

While you are at it, I might do a short Clarinet improvisation for you to send through the space

And burying a silo, boy !!. I see what you mean, but what a big task. Let me think that one through for a day or two


Vic

[Ben M]

Sounds good Vic.

re: burying the silo.. hahah....i guess you'll need an excavator
As a second use, it could make an excellent Fire/bomb shelter for when the shit goes down.

[audioio]

Don't want to rain on your parade, but...

How big is the opening? Not for acoustic reasons, but how do you get in that enclosed space which has maybe been sealed for a while, stored who knows what, and if it has a small opening has little air exchange with outside?

Have you got a self-contained breathing apparatus?

[rightintheface]

Ben, I'm definitely interested in this! Will drop some stuff onto dropbox and PM you the link before the date. There's probably a bunch of places in kanga' valley and that area that you could use, what a playground! (I grew up in Kiama)

What a gent for the offer too, much appreciated

[Ben M]

Don't want to rain on your parade, but...

How big is the opening? Not for acoustic reasons, but how do you get in that enclosed space which has maybe been sealed for a while, stored who knows what, and if it has a small opening has little air exchange with outside?

Have you got a self-contained breathing apparatus?

No need David.
The silo's are similar to these but taller.

silos.jpg

Plenty of ventilation with openings at the bottom and as you can see nothing would be fully sealed at the top...in fact too much oxygen for my liking.
Although wearing SCUBA while doing this would be quite a fashion statement.

Ben, I'm definitely interested in this! Will drop some stuff onto dropbox and PM you the link before the date. There's probably a bunch of places in kanga' valley and that area that you could use, what a playground! (I grew up in Kiama)

What a gent for the offer too, much appreciated

All good Mitch. Thanks. One thing...please keep in mind that I'm just offering a couple of files at most due to time.

[rightintheface]

No worries, it'll most likely just be a few drum samples and a short vocal (a few secs). If you don't have the time don't sweat it either!