How to send us YOUR Sound of Summer
Would you like to send us YOUR sound of summer? Please do!
We need at least 30 seconds of it - up to a minute is fine. You must also send a note of what it is, where and when it was recorded.
There are two ways you can get it to us - you can email it to us as an mp3, or put it on CD and mail it.
MP3:
Email to pm@bbc.co.uk. It's very important you put SOUNDS OF SUMMER CLIP in the strapline otherwise we may not see it.
BY MAIL:
Send your CD to PM SOUNDS OF SUMMER, Room G601, ´óÏó´«Ã½ News Centre, London, W12 7RJ.
In any case we will NOT be able to return anything you send us, so if you can't afford to do without it, please don't send it. There is no guarantee either that we'll be able to broadcast your item so please don't be sad if yours doesn't make it on. Sending us the sound also means you're happy for us to broadcast it and we can use it freely in any form without giving you a damn thing in return. It means we own you and there's nothing you can do. Nothing, do you hear??? (To be read as if a villain in a cartoon or horror film: HAHAHAhahahaha.)
If having read all that you're happy to give it a spin, please do. We can take sounds from anywhere in the world, and we'll be running them for at least a month from Monday August 13, so if you're going on holiday and want to send us something on your return you can.
Have fun with it!
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Listen to PM
Hello,
A remarkably pedantic set of questions as I didn't hear PM so didn't hear it (I presume) being launched.
1) If we are at festivals etc can we do recordings there or would that entail too many difficult copyright problems if it involved music being performed?
2) Do you want a constant sound or a 30s package?
Not that I'm promising anything, just playing with ideas at the moment
Regards
John
Morning, Eric. What've you been up to? Dirty stop-out, mebbe? Have a quadlatte. There's coffee, cookies and croissants at the NC Bar on the Beach.
Meanwhile, I have an idea for what a certain part of MY summer usually contains. Now to work out HOW to record it in modern, 21st century technology. Any hint/tips?
FAQ.....why can't we send wav files, or if I have a wav file how can I change it to MP3?
John (1) there might well be copyright difficulties with music but you could try us. Similarly with your other question - we want to encourage creativity rather than set down too many rules. See what you can do!
DI (3):
MP3s are smaller files than wavs so more convenient to send. Audacity is a freeware music editor that will do the conversion:
(there is a Mac version too.)
HTH.
Eddie - its a great idea. But can yor help me? I've a few questions for you about this MP3 thing.
What is Winamp?
How do I make an MP3 from a CD?
How do I make an MP3 from a Album or cassette?
How can I make my own CD's from my mp3's?
How do I convert a MP3 to Wav?
How do I convert a WAV to MP3?
What is MP3?
Is mp3 legal?
What are MP3 ID tags?
What is Shoutcast?
How do I use the WinAmp MiniBrowser?
How do I play .mp3 files with my browser?
What is Normalization?
Quick as you like Eddie :0)
You do realise that you're going to end up with a load of summer bird "song" don't you? Grr.
GR (5)
magic.....thanks.
DIY
(3) WAV sounds are fine, but Geoff is right when he says that MP3s are smaller and less of a faff to send. I hope that we would be able to deal with most audio formats. When I say 'we', I mean the techical people.
And Eddie (or Jock as he insists on being called in the office), everyone knows that cartoon villains go "Mwa, mwah, MWA, MWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHH... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAAAAAARRRRGH"and not "HAHAhahahaha" as you wrote on the blog. Please try to get it right, otherwise disciplinary procedures will have to be opened.
Rog
Ap (6) - do give over you old misery!
I'm looking forward to being creative here.
DIWyman - If the .WAV is around 45 seconds you will get away with it - alternatively you can convert it withn Windown media player.
As an audio engineer, can I offer few tips.
Always use your ears to really 'listen'
to the sound (the ambience) before recording. Our brains are very clever at automatically filtering or masking out unwanted sounds but the microphone doesn't have that ability.
So if you are going for birdsong - don't forget the drone of traffic in the background may appear louder than you imagined on playing back the audio, or someone hammering nails in a fence.
Watch out for wind noise on the microphone - so try and monitor the recording with headphones.
If you have a recording level indicator make sure you don't over record (especially if using any digital equipment) On analogue - cassette's etc - make sure you don't under record - the tape hiss will mask your chosen ambience.
I'm happy to help with any technical issues if they arise. A great recording source is a mini DV video camera, as it's digital, and the microphones are normally quite good - I'm happy to copy and email up any material if it's of help.
jonnie (11)
thanks for that, you are mine of information!
.....but i think the sound of two P&W powerplants at full reheat blasting an F15-C fighter bomber down the runway at RAF Lakenheath will drown out most spurious noises, except perhaps for farting wales?
I would like to point out that as these sounds are going to start after the 12th of August, any sounds of birds are likely to be accompanied by shotgun-fire, dogs barking and posh female voices saying "Ohhhh, what a luuuuverly shot Reginald! Did you hit it?" Does that make you feel any happier, Appy(7)?
H.
DIY (12) I'm sure at some time there has been somewhere that has been called the as**ole of Wales but I'm not sure that it makes the sound that you refer to. Don't you mean whales? :o)
RJD (14)
LOL..I have been plying that 'fly' for several days. Eventually got a bite.......well taken!
Jock? I am out of touch, I always thought it was Eric.
DIY (15) - You obviously missed posts 4, 5 & 6 on the "Our item last night on choosing a Big Ben replacement is" thread yesterday. Post 6 being me! :o)
RJD (17)
LOL......yep missed those!.....nice one
RJD (10), Why have you got it into your head that I am old lately?
Humph (13), Not really -- I have no desire for cruelty, I merely object to:
a) the twitterances of birds being referred to as "song";
b) the broadcasting of bird twitterances on the radio -- it seems so utterly pointless -- if I wanted to hear that I would switch off the radio and go outside; when I have the radio on I want to hear human voices!
AndyCrHello (16), Shouldn't you be rehearsing your lines?
Ap - OK, you 'young' misery then!
And are you inventing words now or is "twitterance" something that I have somehow missed in all my many years on this panet? (Make that many, many years.)
RJD (20), And what, pray, is miserable about wanting birds to twitter only in appropriate places?
Okay, Appy (19), bad call on my part. I just thought, maybe, fewer birds = less birdsong = happier Appy. I thought about it before posting and was not able to find a crystal clear way of expressing it. I still cannot!
Just remember that when it comes to "creatures wot twitter", Eddie is now one of their number - see the box at the top right of every Frog page. If you want the removal of twitterences from the radio, just be careful of what you wish for.
H.
Ah, come on Ap, there are many things on the radio that are not appropriate - Chris Moyles for example.
Ap(21)
you what?!!?!! Tell *that* to the birds!!!
n-n
PS My bird can twitter in even the most inappropriate of places...
Ah but Humph (22), Eddie doesn't twitter on the radio; he twitters on the blog and -- shock revelation warning -- I don't read his twitterances anyway... perhaps it's the name that's put me off :-)
Mr Noodle (23), Did you mean for me to have to hie me to the Naughty Corner after reading that???
Andycr! Where've you been?
Now. Let me get this straight. For those of us who ain't sound engineers (big reespek, jonnie), what we do is borrow someone's digital video camera, right? And then download the resulting sound recording. Always supposing they can find the lead.
It was easier in the days of cassettes. Huh.
I can still probably remember how to use a Uher, but that's no good, either.
Frances, it's just an idea - many people have nice digital video camcorders but not many cassette recorders around these days.
So yes, do your recording on the camcorder, then find a minijack to minijack (3.5mm stereo) and stick it in the line-out of the camcorder and the other end into the line-in on the laptop or PC.
Then find the windows sound recorder on XP or Vista (not sure about mac's) and dub the audio to the computer.
Save it and send it. However it really needs to be converted into MP3 which windows media player will do.
Otherwise mail me the mini DV tape or mini VHS, or audio cassette, and I'm happy to do it for you - or anyone, I can't do the sony 8mm types though.
Oh and Frances, gosh that's taken me back - and aged us both somewhat!
Frances O: You are so reassuring (Uher). The only decent recording apparatus I have is/was a Philips reel-to-reel (oo-er), and at least one of its belts has rotted, so prospects here are poor.
That's all very clever, and I don't 'get' any of it .. but what ARE the sounds of summer?
Some early thoughts:
1. 'Rain stopped play at the Oval....'
2. 'Got ma-self a cryin' talkin' sleepin' walkin' livin' doll...'
3. 'Remember to take your wellingtons, dear, just in case...'
Fifi
Another trio:
1. Zipping up of cardigans to the sound of windows being shut, and a general 'brrrrr, thats better'
2. the sound of one Swallow.
3. And, apparently, Delhi. Just that. Just so!!!
n-n