Recording barges on the water

S

Samuel Dilworth

Well-known member
Barges ply their trade up and down the Seine river. I find them fairly fascinating and would like to do a low-effort little project about them. But how might I record their sound, which consists mainly of a deep diesel engine throb and some splashing around the bows at the other end?

A problem is that they’re out on the water, typically some 30 metres from me on the bank. There are places where the bank is quiet, though. I have a Zoom H4n Pro and a FetHead (like a Cloudlifter): the combination gives a lot of clean amplification if needed. Not sure what sort of microphone would be best for this, or whether it’s viable to record anything interesting at all. Tips?
 
morgan_moore said:
go for a ride on one?
Click to expand...

+1
And if you can't, perhaps find out where they load/unload where you can get close.

Capture sound from bridges.
Engine sound captured with a hydrophone could be interesting as well, but will not sound like what you hear from above water.
 
Thanks for the comments. I like the idea of recording from a bridge. Maybe that gets me close enough to get something useful. I’ll give it a go after Christmas.

Riding a barge is not my idea of low effort! Wouldn’t even know where to begin.
 
I dont know these barges so cant know the compexity of a setup.

Maybe you should call a habourmaster or another authority figure, they should be able to organise a 10 min spin for you.

S
 
morgan_moore said:
I dont know these barges so cant know the compexity of a setup.

Maybe you should call a habourmaster or another authority figure, they should be able to organise a 10 min spin for you.

S
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a '10 min spin' on one of those massive Seine barges! I don't think the tourist boats are viable, as they have their own noise to contend with and don't tag along next to the big barges: sounds worse than a bridge. I'd go to one of the locks downstream out of Paris, preferably one where there isn't a main road/railway adjacent: Notre Dame de la Garenne comes to mind. And if choosing a normal bit of river and recording from the bank, then I'd go a little further downstream to the west side of the Foret Domaniale de Brotonne, where the shore is normally quiet, the only road (the D65) is minor, and the trees and rising land to the rear help: should be able to get a nice sense of big barges passing by with a stereo pair. Upstream of Paris the river narrows, of course, which could make life easier: perhaps one of the quarries (I don't know this area so well)?

Cheers,

Roland
 
mico said:
The op doesn’t want to go through the effort of getting ona barge. Other than using stock audio what u got?
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As I said above, at the locks on the Seine you can get right next to the barges from the bank. They slow down, stop, moor, start up again, go through the lock: given that these locks are often away from urban areas or busy roads, they seem the obvious place to record. The main challenge would be the noise of the nearby weirs, but these aren't immediately adjacent, and you wouldn't want to be at the lock itself, but a little upstream anyway, where the barges pull over.

Cheers,

Roland
 
Boat tours of any sort are not running. Something about a virus.

The chance of talking my way onto a barge with a bunch of equipment for recording health and safety infractions are about zero. If that was even possible it would involve a long period of building trust with strangers.

I’m liking Throwback’s more workable suggestions and will give them a go when I have the opportunity.
 
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