[Bell Historians] Bell Recordings

[Simon Daw]

Mike

I've got a little bit of experience in this area. At my home tower in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, we are going to be undertaking a major refurbishment of the bells, with work due to start in January 2012 (see http://www.flitwickbells.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details).  The refurbishment includes tuning the bells, so I am keen to make a recording of the bells as they sound currently, for comparison.  I have done some recording experiments over the past year and am happy to share some of my findings.  I don't have any experience of playing back recordings through a PA but can offer my opinions.

Probably the easiest option is to make a recording from the Churchyard with microphone(s) directed up towards the bell chamber.  The advantage is that standard vocal or instrument microphones can be used without any concerns of overloading them. A recording of this type will capture the natural ambience and will sound fairly realistic, but has the disadvantage of capturing other ambient sounds such as birdsong, dog barks, traffic noise, and worst of all, the person who comes up to you and asks you what you are doing and ruins the recording!  This type of recording should be played back from roughly the same location that it was recorded from (i.e. the churchyard), which avoids lugging PA equipment up to the bell chamber, but it may sound a little odd in that the sound is not emanating from the tower.  This may not be an issue for a wedding. This type of recording is best not played back from within the bell chamber, because it already contains the natural ambience.  Playing it back from the tower will add further ambience, which will muddy the sound.

The alternative option is to make the recording from within the bell chamber.  This will capture the 'real' sound of the bells, and when played through a PA located in the bell chamber will most likely produce a fairly convincing result.  The main issue likely to be encountered on playback is the power/volume/quality of the PA system required to produce a convincing sound.

The problem with recording within the bell chamber is the high Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) encountered when the bells are ringing. High quality microphone(s) that can handle high SPLs are required, which usually means a large price tag.  I have however found a less expensive solution that yields reasonably good results. The answer is a Pressure Zone Microphone (PZM). Basically a PZM uses the floor or a wall as part of the microphone.  Tandy (remember them?) used to sell an inexpensive PZM (http://www.uneeda-audio.com/pzm/) that can nowadays be picked up on eBay and modified for use in the bell chamber. 

I purchased a couple of non-working PZMs (33-1090Bs) fairly cheaply from eBay and modified them as described on the above web site.  In my tower I have found that the best placement of the PZMs is on the floor in front of the bell frame.  I connect cables down to the ringing chamber to a portable digital recorder that can be operated directly from the ringing chamber.  Experiments have produced good results and we will be looking to make some recordings of our bells later in the year. I am using two microphones for stereo effect, but a single microphone would be all is required if the recording is to be replayed through a PA in the bell chamber.

Lastly, if it just the 'sound of bells' that is required and/or recording the bells is not an option, then this company (http://www.cantate.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/page11.htm) offer a CD containing high quality recordings for public broadcast (note: they are nothing to do with me, but I have heard some of their recordings).

If your correspondent wants to find out more, I can best be contacted via this web page: http://flitwickbells.blogspot.co.uk/p/contact.html

Simon

Sent from my iPad

On 13 May 2012, at 20:33, "Mike Chester" <mike at MuN7irSnN5lw-wNgZ4_Yzl1K9_70vT8t2w4WPsWkHN0Gy5NkKH1Nsb1uneZqMUZTm0qS80RgxtZzgn_TWE2g5qBdCzdE.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

> I've received this - what is the best advice to give the correspondent? I've only done simple recordings of a few seconds for my website.  I am not sure what to suggest if the recording is to be played back at some volume from the tower - except to consider asking some handbell ringers to ring for them instead!
> 
> Mike