Breaking Glass recording session

Recording glass breaks and smashes can be a lot of fun. The sounds are detailed with plenty of texture and interest with the many shards colliding as they break and fall. There is also a great range of tones available from the huge variety of sources such as panes, beakers, glasses, vases, mirrors etc. It was imperative, as shown in the photos, protective clothing, especially eye and hand protection needed to be worn.

Given the one-hit nature of recording glass impacts, it was crucial to have enough material to break in order to get decent recording levels and provide a high level of variation in the recordings. Additionally, like anything you record, not all takes are equal so the more material to break the better!

The basic kit here consisted of Sennheiser 416s, Rode NTG3/2 mics and a Rode NT4 microphone. These fed into a Fostex FR-2 and Tascam DA-P1. A combination of Rycote and Rode windshields were used. You may notice on some photos, that the base of the mics are covered in cloth. This is because eventually shards began flying out and hitting the mic stands and affecting the recording. The cloth solved the problem.

You’ll also notice the Gazebo. This was erected because light rain had been forecast but I didn’t want it to stop the recording. This works as long as the rain isn’t too heavy, in which case the volume of it hitting the floor will stop the recording or as long as the wind isn’t too gusty, in which case the fabric of the Gazebo will flutter too much spoiling recording.

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