How to get into trouble...

[Toaster]

Hi folks,
I thought i`d share an experience with you folks. Its somewhat comical and the end result was still to my favor.
I do live digital recording of varying things.
I had a need for updated source media for 2 home AV systems and 3 car audio systems. All the above are high end and I needed fresh new "very taxing" digital recordings for testing purposes. I grabed my DAT recorder and off I went seeking this new media.
Fist stop, a local train yard (freight). With permission, I was allowed to set up and record provided that I not endanger myself in any way nor record "people" in conversation without consent. I was even granted a written pass to do so. I also have an experimental "transducer" of sorts that picks up only low frequencies. This transducer is actually a "matt" of sorts about 2 feet square. This, with 2 microphones, I set out to record an incoming freight train of about 20 cars. I layed the "Matt" between the tracks and tacked it down with 4 nails. The 2 microphones are fairly directional and were placed on stands about 4 foot high and 5 feet on either side of the track. I started a few trail recordings to reaquaint myself with the recorder and the "mics" to get levels and the like. The yard keeper informed me that the incoming train was about 10 minutes out and I was to set my levels and stay clear of the track by at least 25 feet. I set the levels as best I could estimate and done as the yardsman wished. In about 10 minutes, in comes the frieght train at about 30 MPH. The yardsman said the train was going through to Canada and would not stop at the yard.
I allowed the recording to continue about 5 minutes after the train had passed so that all ambient noise would return to its nominal values as when the recording started.
I then was asked to leave the yard politely and was even offered help with stowing my gear.
Next stop, the closest "international" airport.
This is the Bangor International Airport (folks call them jet ports here) and I proceeded to the security area to ask permission for access to the apron. Security could not grant access and neither could the airport manager so my recordings would have to be made in normal civilian areas.
As luck would have it, the wind was coming from the west southwest and the departing aircraft was directed over a large field. I gained permission from the land owner and set up right close to the perimeter fencing of the airport.
Here, I recorded several 7x7 class aircraft on departure, 2 "civilian" aircraft and one rather wonderfully loud military helecoptor. Odd as it was, the helecoptor returned several times overflying my posistion. After about an hour of recording, I assembled my gear and set home for audition and editing. After about 5 minutes on my drive home, I was stopped by local police who later was joined by military personell and airport security. A search of my person and my vehicle ensued which resulted in a half filled soda and my recording gear. I was arrested for trespassing on airport grounds when no legal access was granted. My charge was called "non-malicious trespassing". I informed the authorities that permission was granted by the land owner and was written. I provided this written permission of which I followed to the letter. It stated simply that this was temporary access for "non-hunting" and "non-intrusive" and "non-destructive" which could be revoked by the owners wish.
I heeded the permission to the letter, left no trash and I did not contact the fencing in any way but I was quite close. (2 feet)
Then, I spent 3 days in jail. The "jailer" was very very interested in my recordings and I permitted his auditioning them. In return, he placed the batteries of the units on a charger and made some suggestions as to other material.
On the third day, the land owner appeared and asked of my release as I held to the contract. Within hours, I was released and all charges dropped. Now, I have some great material, a new friend with the same interests and a land owner I also call friend. I also recieved from the airport manager an apology for the instance and that I call for access which would next time be granted to airport grounds.

The recordings:
These are awesome! All of which exceeded the capabilities of my recorder but the sound quality is first rate and damaging to playback equipment.
First, I dubbed via optical outputs to a mini-disk recorder so that I could playback via a portable player.
First stop, my best friends home where I assisted in an AV set-up. His set-up is quite high end and is THX certified.
This thing sounded absolutely first rate. The tranducer I made has a few bugs yet but performed well and allowed the microphones to work within thier respective specs without overloading. I however set the crossover points to high but still the recordings were fantastic. The deep bass from the frieght train was gut wrentching and even burred ones vision at high volume. My friend had the most strange grin all through the audition. In the train sequence, as the train is passing, the squeeks and squawks of the steel wheels and tracks was painfully loud but clean. During this portion of playback, the amp shut down due to overcurrent limits. The total system power of this system is 1KW RMS and had about 3db of headroom for an effective 2KW of power for limited duration. After allowing his equipment to cool and our ears time to heal (hey...someone get the phone!), it was time to try the recordings at the airport.
First subject was a large passenger liner (747 I think) taking off. This was one loud mutha humpah!
My friends video tape collection spilled onto the floor and you could hear things all over the house rattling and banging. (his wife fled for outdoor safety) Again, the amps overcurrent limiters tripped and we both dashed for the volume knob to thwart another physical beating from his speakers. After all was said and done, a speaker fuse blew and the amp was too hot to touch for nearly an hour.
His speakers are the legendary Infinity referance standard array made about 15 years ago. They boast to left and right towers housing "emit" tweeters in one tower and 6 6.5 inch polypropylene low frequency drivers plus the sub woofer enclosure we built and attached to the buildings floor joists. (2 12 inch IDQ12`s in a 1.4 foot enclosure, sealed)
The subs are powered by another legend in my eyes, a "Threshold" A500 boasting 500 watts output total and an incredible 6db of headroom. We broke 1 window, damaged a glass table top and caused a minor plumbing leak in his kitchen! Awesome, truely awesome!
After helping with damages and calming his nervous wreck wife, I set out to an car audio system I done about a year ago. At my other fiends home, he trys to reproduce these recordings on his home system. Not a bad system as a whole but it was totaly unprepaired for this type of beating.
The system clipped redily and shut down on numerous occaision. (we are now confronting the local stereo shop for upgrades BTW )
Next victim, the car audio system! I warned my friend that these recordings were *very* dynamic and could pose a hazzard to gear of any make. He urged I continue to the point of begging. The car audio system:
4 Furi HC-50`s (amplifiers, high current, capable of handling 1 ohn loads. Rated at 50WPC into 4 ohms)
4 Image dynamics IDQ10`s in 1.2 foot enclosures attached to the sub frame of the vehicle. (`2000 chevy suburban)
2 Image dynamics HLCDs (horn loaded compression drivers)
2 Image dynamics IDQ6.5 midbass drivers in custom "kicks".
2 IDQ32 active equilizers (mono, one per chan)
One Phoenix gold line driver.
One Phoenix gold 3 way crossover.

This system rocks bigtime!
I designed the system from the ground up for compitition use with which he nabbed 2nd place in the IASCA regionals.
The recordings posed a great hazzard however. First try at a moderate volume, the mains fuse blew (100 amp) With a 150 amp fuse the system performed very well but overtaxed the charging system of the vehicle in short order. (10 minutes @ 120 amps) Until the host battery faultered, the system was ultra clean and EXTREMELY powerful to the point of cracking the windshield and knoking the rear view mirror from its mount on the windshield. The ash tray emptied, the glove compartment lid popped open to spill its contents upon the floor and damaging his speedometer! Loud folks, plain and simple and sounding great. All the time I was poking my friend advizing caution and descretion with the volume control. Damn the torpedos he yelled, the insurance will cover it! Within about 10 minutes, the sagging output of the host vehicle alternator halted our fun and gave his suburban a reprieve for further abuse.
In the plans now are an additional battery and alternator.
All the audio equipment survived unscathed. Again, the amps were too hoot to touch for about an hour and the sub cones emmited the smell of heated voice coils.
Still, after a few checks and a jump start all was well and back to nominals. His insurance did in fact replace the windshield due to "underlying manufacturing faults" which GM is said to reimburse to company.
With a satisfying grin, I shook the hands of my impressed friends and parted for home.....this folks was fun....!
Soon, my new friend (the jailer I call jailer Jim) an I are going to the ship yards and a few other places of interest.
I hope you folks enjoyed this......

[HAL9000]

Toaster, all I have to say is, someday, somewhere, I have to meet you personally, you really intrigue me. Anyone that would go through that much effort and spend three days in jail for it has to be a very interesting person to get to know on a personal level

[Floppyman]

WOW, that is just plain simply awesome! If you ever get a chance record these sounds onto a cd and send them to me if you can, it's one thing to imagine it, but another to actually hear them.

[mosquito]

Can you put the tracks on-line somewhere? I would loooove to test this in my car.

And toaster, you are a freak...

[Toaster]

Hi folks,
First off, i`d like to meet many of you one day and maybe we shall. Second, I am currently working with a friend in the recordind industry and before too long, a CD will be made for those that wish to punish their own systems. As far as a "MP3", the MP3 format cant handle the signal quality/quantity very well at all. At best, with 192 KB/sec recording, the output is almost acceptable but still lacking. One file I made is nearly 40 MB just for an exerpt of the "airport" recordings. This was a mere 18 minutes and the output falls way short of "DAT" quality. I`d perfer to wait until a few CDs are recorded. I do not have yet the ability to make "suitable" recordings to CD, at least of the quality these recordings exhibit. A side note might be helpful here.

These are the frequency response and noise figures of the recordings:

Frequency response:
5HZ-28KHZ +/- .2 db (the train sequence) The extreme high frequencies are the "squeaks" and the extreme low end is the "ground rumble" and low frequency noise of the several engines of the train itself.
S/N ratio:
As best I can tell and estimate, this exceeds the capabilities of the DAT recorder and are:
94db
The dynamic range of the DAT recorder and the recordings are about the same as the S/N ratio. (impressive! and VERY loud)

[reboot]

I'd still like to download (or email me) the "excerpts" from the train and the airport in MP3.
Just a teasing listen would be probably enough for me to spend a buck or two for a CD.

[mosquito]

If you can convert them to .wav and zip te files, they should have acceptable quality, and the size to download should be ok.

[Floppyman]

Cool! I'm thinking of buying the SB Live 5.1 plantium this summer to finally take advantage of the digital out on my speakers...what better way to test it. I'd love to hear those sounds. If you get them availabe on cd or downloadable, let me know. I'd be gladly willing to pay you a couple $ for a cd of this stuff.

[audiyoda]

Toaster,

Just read this -- great stuff. Sounds like the antics I used to pull with my recording gear. If you'd like , i can use our mastering DAT at MSU (102 db S/N) to burn you a CD or two.

-Craig

[Toaster]

Having you do a mix at MSU might be an option if studio time can`t be gotten in reasonable time.
I take "audio reproduction" very seriously and I am most difficult to impress. If such recordings as these produce effects that could be "life threatening" or at least "unhealthy", I`m interested AND impressed. In the next 3 weeks, another recording "spree" is slated and i`m anxious as all get out. I still in this time need to work out a few bugs with my transducer and stands. This coming weekend, my new friend and I are to go equipment shopping for him (ok...ok...me too).


Also, another side note:
GM replaced the speed-o-meter under "warranty" and also the windshield of the suburban.

[Jenni]

I also have gotten in trouble around the local airport. My son loves to go sit out at the end of the runway (pulled off the side of the road, nowhere near the airport fence). One night a local cop came up behind us. He said it was "technically illegal", but didn't make us move. Turns out he was a former Marine, and after talking to my son about the C-130's (my son's favorite, anytime we see them doing "touch-and-go's", he insists that we go to the airport and watch), he gave us a warning. I guess you aren't supposed to pull off the road unless it is an emergency. After all, it can't be because we are "in the flight path" as my dad suggested, because there is a Wal-Mart supercenter just behind where we park, and several motels and restaurants, and a bunch of apartments and stores off the other end of the runway. Heaven help folks if they ever have a crash out there!

Toaster, last summer the airport (which is home to the local Air National Guard) had 4 B1-b Lancers fly in for a couple of days. Talk about LOUD! They put everything else to shame, none of the passenger jets even came close (of course, this is a regional airport, biggest thing we get is a 707) and neither did the F4's or F16's that we usually get.

[Toaster]

Hi Jenni,
Your son and I share some interests.
I love the WW2 aircraft and I hope to attend a "fly-in" of several vintage aircraft. My fav to date is the B-17. This aircraft is a masterpiece in design and former function.
Some time ago, I got the chance to attend a "confederate airforce" fly in and paid 200 bucks for a 30min "ride".
An awsome machine, even by todays standards. Ive been in numerous aircraft but this one is something else. History with wings, class and beauty.

[Jenni]

We took him to see the Blue Angels in Pensacola, FL. last year. He had a grin on his face a mile wide the whole time. His current favorites are the Blue Angels (doesn't matter, if it is an F-18, it is a "Blue Angel plane"), the C-130's that fly all the time around here (Keesler AFB in Biloxi is home to a group of Hurricane Hunters, so they are always training), and the A-10 Thunderbolt (or as he calls them "big gun airplanes"). Who knows, maybe he'll join the AF or Navy and be a pilot one day...

[mosquito]

My favorite is the de Haviland Mosquito (just look at my nick )



[Edited by mosquito on 03-29-2001 at 01:29 PM]

[HAL9000]

Yup... that's an interesting plane with an interesting look all of it's own.

[Toaster]

My dad served on the Lexington in WWII when the vessel was sunk in the battle for the coral sea. My interest in vintage WWII aircraft began when he showed me a magneto (ignition part) from a Mistsubishi Zero that had crashed into the fantail of this massive carrier. Some hours later, after many other attacks, the "Lex" was abandoned and later sunk by allied ships because the ship just wouldn`t go down on its own. The hull of the "Lex" glowed a dull red as the internal fires raged. My dad was an ack-ack aft gunner and was nearly hit by debris from the Zero of which he kept the magneto. So, since then, Carriers and aircraft of WWII were a facinating subject.

[mhayes]

Hey Toast your a fascinating subject all by yourself. Good luck on your next recording adventure, try and stay out of jail.......!