Hey guys, I'm taking a graduate level course this semester called Sound in Society at CUNY. Basically studying sound and noise and how it impacts culture etc. We have a project in the class where we have to go out and make field recordings and edit them together to construct a "soudscape." For my project I wanted to record the sound of the arcade. But I want to capture the arcade sound as I remember it in the 80s/90s. I thought that this project would be relatively easy since there are a bunch of barcades around me (I live in NYC). But I am finding out that this is more difficult that imagined. Mainly because the barcades all have loud music playing and it seems to me that they have deliberately turned down the volume on the individual machines - they are not as loud as they kept them in the arcades back in the day. So when I go to the barcades to make recordings it just sounds like a noisy bar.
Sooo. I was wondering if there was anyone in the NYC area (like within a 2 hour drive of NYC) who had a substantial basement arcade that I could visit and make a number of audio recordings of the machines and people playing them?
I am allowed to edit multiple tracks together, so I can record different sound ambiances or individual games and edit it together to sound like a full arcade full of people. But ultimately the "soundscape" needs to sound like an arcade in its heyday. I can probably do this myself with trying to get some clean arcade sounds at the Museum of Moving Images in Queens and maybe some bar ambiance from a barcade and then record my Galaga 88 and DK machines and get a passable arcade feel to the mix, but I know there are people on these forums that have a more or less full arcade in their basement.
This assignment is due on Dec 11 so I'd need to make these recordings relatively soon. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Also, I don't plan on publishing this, it's just a school project, but if it turns out cool I could post on here.
Thanks.
David
Sooo. I was wondering if there was anyone in the NYC area (like within a 2 hour drive of NYC) who had a substantial basement arcade that I could visit and make a number of audio recordings of the machines and people playing them?
I am allowed to edit multiple tracks together, so I can record different sound ambiances or individual games and edit it together to sound like a full arcade full of people. But ultimately the "soundscape" needs to sound like an arcade in its heyday. I can probably do this myself with trying to get some clean arcade sounds at the Museum of Moving Images in Queens and maybe some bar ambiance from a barcade and then record my Galaga 88 and DK machines and get a passable arcade feel to the mix, but I know there are people on these forums that have a more or less full arcade in their basement.
This assignment is due on Dec 11 so I'd need to make these recordings relatively soon. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Also, I don't plan on publishing this, it's just a school project, but if it turns out cool I could post on here.
Thanks.
David



