Domestic Disturbance on the 7 Train

I recently overheard this on the 7 train. [ MP3 ]

Yikes.

Comments

Hey, the name sëz it all.
Have a look/see, Liz.

Regards,
North by Northwest Listener Hammie

[joe nathan]

ahhh...smell that dirty laundry.

ya can't help but want to here more, though. hey, i won't lie; i'm painfully voyeuristic when it comes to public arguments. america is never the happy pappy place so many people believe it is and i just start to grin whenever i think about that.

[craig]

woo-hoo! i'm outta the running for worst parent in new yawk!

[NXP]

WOW. If thats not sosialpornography, then i haven`t seen a train in my life. I love it. In fact i love it so much i have put music to it. Can someone contact Liz Berg and give her my e-mail adress so i can ask if it`s ok for her that i use it on my next record. And thanx for this icredably lovely MP3 blogg. My day isn`t the same without it.

[Quinn]

that was pretty good. But I think I've got a neighbor who says stuff like that on an almost daily basis, except she's screaming it down the block! I'm wondering if I had a contact mic, could I hold it out the window and pick up her shouts from above? I'm on the 3rd floor facing the street. She's on the sidewalk, but not exactly directly underneath. But she's loud and this would be a fun way to deal with her insanity in a productive way. any advice Liz or wfmu readers?

[Liz B.]

Hi Quinn, I recorded this piece using an Edirol R-09, which has a little built-in stereo mic and input adjustment. I'm not sure if a contact mic would be best for capturing your neighbor's tirades, but I've heard good things about binaural mics (the ones that look like you're wearing headphones) for field recording situations. If you really want to go pro, use a good condensor mic.

But test out any mics you have on-hand first (before spending a ton of money on something that may not perform the way you'd like it to), they might be sufficient for recording your neighbor. As long as there isn't a lot of other street noise or other sound interference, I think any half-decent mic could pick up a loud neighbor. If the recording is quiet, you can always bump up levels using software like Cool Edit or Audacity.