Freesound Forums

Thanks to Microscopia for the "What's In Your Bag?" post.
http://www.freesound.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24514#24514
Very detailed and informative. I am sure this will be a reference for anyone looking for info on field recording. (also, you will know which users you can politely bother should you have a question in this field :wink: )

I am fascinated by the professional recording and sound engineering techniques and equipments, but I sit at the opposite end of the spectrum: an amateur (hobbyst, if you prefer) with some interest in sound. But sound is not related to my profession and I have very limmited (and low quality) equipment, and little hope of being able to purchase something a lot more advanced.
So, I direct my question(s) to poorman hobbysts like me:
What is in your (poorman's) bag?
What have you done / enjoy doing with your low end, non-professional or homemade equipment?

I would like to know more about other users of Freesound so, please, also check my other post: "What do you look for in Freesound?" and post your answers.

Thanks

I did answer in the other "bag" post, but I firmly feel like an amateur in all respects. And beyond that, what's in my bag hasn't changed all that much. My first recorder was a Zoom H4 and a mic that I already had. Granted I do work in a somewhat related field so sometimes it makes sense for me to buy audio equipment, but my hobby of making music and sounds started very early when I was in bands.
But despite the fact the H4 is a "cheap" recorder, as are the binaural mics I purchased later, I made some quite nice recordings that you can find at Freesound. When I upgraded my recorder and mics, I had to sell a bunch of stuff, the H4 included, so it wasn't as though I could just afford new stuff because I felt like it. But while I was waiting for stuff to sell, I was doing research and looking for used gear and looking to get the best value I could.
The way I look at it now is much like an SLR camera versus point and shoot. Sure the SLR gets really great pictures, but it can be a hassle to carry, maybe you need some lenses and a flash and a tripod, so maybe you don't carry it all the time. The point and shoot, well, you have that in your pocket all the time, so the quality is a bit less, but the point is that you have it and you get the shot. With my setup now, I only have an SLR, by the time I set up my recorder and mics maybe the sound I wanted to record has passed. Eventually I would like to get another "point and shoot" recorder as I believe they both have their place. What's better, a hissy recording of some magical instant or no recording at all?
Obviously this is in regards to field recording, which I enjoy quite a lot, but I also enjoy other types of sound creation as well, and the easiest way to do that is with a computer of course with all the free sound creation tools available. The software I mostly use is Mackie Tracktion, which is only $99 and comes with some great effects, but most importantly it has a modular rack area where you can create some very interesting signal flows. All the hardware things I own are used, which is a great way to save money.
The most important part of course is doing it. I try to set aside some time every day to work on creating sounds, or maybe plan a weekend to go record somewhere. I've just got a book called The Sound Effects Bible, I haven't even started reading it yet, but I hope it will give me some new ideas to try.

Hello Corsica_S,

Thanks for your answer.
I think it is great to interact with other users. When i first discovered Freesound, for quite sometime (a year or more) I downloaded samples but did not contribute any of my own. I thought, as I am sure many others do, that my samples "would not be of sufficient quality" or "would be of no interest to anyone".

After one of my many experimental, mocking-around-with-sound-sessions, I had a bunch of samples I was realy happy with and I thought "what a heck, I will upload them anyway". After all "what is the worse that can happen?".
These samples are all in my 'Alien Sounds ' pack. I still think they are quite nice. All recorded with a webmic costing less than £5 and using VST effects that I downloaded for free. So anyone can do that, as long as they have a computer.

I started posting on the forums too and got great feedback, suggestions, ideas...
Contacted a few users who seemed to be doing similar things, and again it was great because we all got new ideas out of it.

Bottom line.
To any "shy" users out there who don't post samples
Don't be embarassed of you kit. Get your samples out.
Talk to other users. Get feedback and ideas. You will be surprised at how much you will get out of it and how much you can actually do with your limmited equipment.