Mechanical Filters

[DGoody]

Trash cans make excellent filters.

I like the metal ones with holes, for burning and composting. They don't get overly sympathetic at certain frequencies.

Not to mention, placing them is always enjoyable. I rigged one up, suspended over a piano last week, from a large starbird stand. The pianist was fearing for his life.

Sounded good though.

Instruments also make pretty good mechanical filters.....

[drumsound]

I thought I'd resurrect this because I did a cool thing recently. I had a guitar player that brought his new Pignose that he had gotten as a christmas present.

I thought it sounded kinda cool, but something was missing. I decided to open it up and see if I could get a better sound. I liked it and pointed an old EV PL15 towards the open cabinet.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I love that the pigose instruction guide tells you how to get a great wah effect by having a friend open and close the amp while you play.

[casey campbell]

i like surgical tubing going into tom vent holes, and the other end in the drummer's mouth. with air pressure, he can change the tone of his toms on the fly.....very effective with a roll on a low tom for build-ups....

backward cymbal crashes - record the cymbal and reverse the .wav in your daw

placing an extra mic on a snare with an auto wah engaged lightly is nice....no really mechanical...but interesting none the less....

drills and other electric motors by guitar pickups....

blowing on electric guitar strings when doing feedback....

singing through guitar pickups...

taking a playback head out of a cassette player and attaching a quarter inch jack to it, and then rubbing it on surfaces like credit cards, etc.

placing a metal necklace on a cymbal...

making various shakers out of salt canisters, rice in small envelopes....

the old surface mount mic strapped to the drummers chest thing can be cool - sometimes...

recording in a car

recording guitar parts or other instruments by setting up a microphone pointing into headphones during playback...

ebows are always fun...

placing paperclips against the strings on the bridge of an electric can give a sitar like tone.

bull roarers are cool - especially during musical breakdowns

whispering the same part while it's being sung, and mixing that in barely audible in the mix can be nice

placing a hit cymbal in vat or tub of water can be really cool.

the old hanging a mic in a large 5 gallon water cooler jar thingy in front of drums can be neat for the right track

[mphonic]

micro omni mics in bottles.