Gear Acquisition Syndrome, an ailment all photographers and sound recordists suffer from. At least once they admit they have it, that is. It’s very common and hard to avoid. After all, we all want the best in both photography and in recording gear.

When I took up field recording (at last) a few years ago, I didn’t think this would be an expensive hobby.

I have often wondered if it were possible to see sound. I know that sounds weird. Long ago, a favourite HiFi store of mine had the slogan “Sound and Vision”. They always boasted that both go together and if well done, one could be the other. You could “see” the sound and “hear” the images.

That went a bit far for my “sober” taste, but hey, the HiFi gear from those guys was excellent.

Wintertime in the countryside is very quiet. Hardly an animal to make a noise, forget about the birds as well, except for some Chickadees here and there. Even the crows are quiet. For field recording that leaves you with banging on things or recording flowing water and waves.

I am not one to bang on things, even armed with a recorder, it looks like people around here LIKE it quiet. A nut with a stick banging on things is frowned upon.

Back when I was a kid, those vinyl records with sound effects were all the rage. Even more, if you wanted to make your own slideshow afternoon for the whole neighbourhood. The only way to not have everyone fall asleep after 5 minutes of vacation slides was to include some serious sound.

Sound recording devices were in very short supply back then, so the next best thing was to get the records with sound effects.