Immersifi Recording Services LLC

12/15/2024

GOT HEADPHONES? Got the winter blues?

Is spring too far away for you? Try this:

https://immersifirecordingservices.bandcamp.com/.../sound...

What's that you say ? "But Mark, you're no musician!" TRUE.
I made this recording - two versions, actually: one stereo and one, binaural - back in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, when the sound of cars and trucks was noticeably less than normal..
However, this is a recording of a rolling brook, recorded here in Ann Arbor. Yep, for the most part, natural sounds abound in this track.

This version is BINAURAL - made using a Neumann KU 100 mannequin head microphone (see comments) - and as such, requires Airpods, headphones or similar for you to get the sonic effect; you'll feel like you're seated at the edge of the brook.
You can find it at the URL shown and download it if you like (you can audition it for free).

What's that you say ? "But Mark, you're no musician!" TRUE.
I made this recording - two versions, actually: one stereo and one, binaural - back in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, when the sound of cars and trucks was noticeably less than normal..
However, this is a recording of a rolling brook, recorded here in Ann Arbor. Yep, for the most part, natural sounds abound in this track.

This version is BINAURAL - made using a Neumann KU 100 mannequin head microphone (see comments) - and as such, requires Airpods, headphones or similar for you to get the sonic effect; you'll feel like you're seated at the edge of the brook.

You can find it at the URL shown and download it if you like (you can audition it for free).

Send a message to learn more

11/04/2024

Check this out - it's a video of some of the Acoustic yest facilities (reverb room and anechoic chamber) at my Alma mater, the University of Hartford.

These chambers were engineered by Dr. Bob Celmer of the University of Hartford.

Check it out:

Learn about soundproofing, absorption, and reverberation from Dr. Christopher Jasinski, program director of the Acoustical Engineering & Music Program at the...

10/15/2024

EDIT: I'm so happy that the client elected to have the transferred L.P. cleaned up. I managed to get pretty much every last tick and pop out of the transfer, and took out some other surface noise as well. It now sounds pretty much as good as the day it was first released - AND - my client will be hearing a record not heard in 20 years. How cool is THAT?

Back to the original post...

Another client L.P. format conversion has begun.

Using my SONY Biotracer PS-X500 turntable, my reference-quality DB Systems DB-1A preamp (ruler-flat RIAA equalization). From there we'll convert the .wav files produced by the process to another "phone-friendlier" format such as flac, ALAC, et al.

I have had this since 1980 and she's probably my favorite analog stereo preamp; the power supply is separate from the chassis of the preamp, resulting in a phono preamp with an insanely high signal to noise ratio - no added hum or noise for the client.

Oh, and the L.P.? It was recorded by none other than Glenn Brown (I believe it to be THE Glenn Brown), who was once my instructor at Lansing Community College for classes in multiracial recording.

Should the client elect it, we'll then de-noise the record, taking out all of the ticks and pops should the client wish, basically restoring to almost-new condition.

Some clients love the surface noise on their records, and for them, we just do an "as is" transfer.

09/30/2024

Ooops, I did it AGAIN!

Normally, when we do tape transfers for clients they are either on a 7" or a 10" reel, but these guys shown in the picture are all of three inches in diameter and as such, are each about ten minutes in length. You can see that I left the corner of the wireless keyboard in-frame to give a sense of scale as to the size of the reels.

The client told me that his dad had a very small AIWA reel to reel recorder back in the 1960s that only accommodated the small reels. He has no idea what's on each tape because the boxes themselves, rather, what's written on them, don't necessarily match the tape within.

Pay dirt.

Some of the recordings sound surprisingly good. Others are pretty rough - due in part to the condition of the tape, but also, because they were recorded with the levels set too low (making them noisy), or too high (making parts distorted), or recorded in a very reverberant space making those on the tape rather difficult to understand. I'm still not through the lot of the tapes, and I don't know if all can actually be saved, but as he put it "I haven't heard these recordings in almost sixty years - neither have my sibs, and it's our dad on those tapes, so..."

Onward. Once transferred he has to listen to them and decide which ones he would like cleaned up (if any).

That's one great thing about a seemingly low-key tape transfer job; you have a chance to wind back the emotional and auditory clock for people, and given them a chance to relive those memories; I'll bet when he hears them he'll be right back at that Christmas tree in the family home, and it'll be 1967 all over again.

08/22/2024

Things Beyond Price

This morning I decided to take a break from some audio transfer work and spend 20 minutes with my dad, Leonard.

Sadly, we lost him to cancer back in 2007 (probably due to exposure to radiation while in the Navy, supporting Operation Castle Bravo), and during his days of chemo and radiation I decided to record many sessions with him, talking about his upbringing, his family, and the family business on Chene Street in Detroit.

Recording family histories can be a bit tricky. I have to be honest: I was spurred into doing this knowing my dad's condition and while hoping he'd beat it, I was also keenly aware that he night not.

Why do I say they are tricky to record? I don't mean that from a technical perspective, rather, it's something that few of us want to think about - the prospect of having to say goodbye to a loved one is something upon which few of us dwell.

Part of what I do under the auspices of immersifi recording services is just that - recording family histories for clients who have come to realize that family history matters - especially in these days of DNA and distant connections.

I guess what I really want to convey in this post is this: while I am a businessman who provides such services, I am also someone who knows just how treasured can be such recordings. To that end I offer this advice:

Whether you have me, or someone like me (i.e. an audio professional) record your family history - OR - whether you choose to do it yourself (your phone can be quite handy for such recordings), this is something that you SHOULD do. Indeed, while I always focus on delivering the utmost fidelity and realism in such recordings, sometimes simply having a "warts and all" recording is better than not having it at all (AND modern technology often allows many such recordings to be cleaned up after the fact).

Best of all? You get to have a "forever" memory / keepsake that can literally keep alive the memory of a loved one; their humor, warmth, compassion, regrets...all come across in such recordings.

Many believe that the manner in which we speak is reflected in the way we write. However, for me, I have found that having such audio "documents" helps to decorate stories and recollections with the paint that is human emotion; it's not just what is said, but the manner in which it is said that gives it its weight and feeling.

I like to add artwork to the files that I create so that as I play the recordings I see an "album cover" of sorts (you see this in your mp3 streams for example) to remind me. In the shot shown in this post, we see a very young man, in either a Piper Cub or an Aeronca at the airfield for one of his civilian flying lessons (although he learned to fly at the United States Naval Academy).

TLDR. My classic folly. Be that as it may, I really do believe that the time to record your loved ones is now - they won't be around forever, and you don't want to hear your future self exclaim "I really wish that I had recorded my mom / dad / brother..."

Don't wait.

Preserve your memories - either by yourself, or enlist the services of an audio professional.

04/18/2024

A very special (and talented) guest checks out some planar magnetic headphones in The Subterranean Playground.