Found Sounds: Tick tock
Found Sounds is a new SoundCloud community feature focusing on some of the most weird and wonderful sounds that can be found on SoundCloud. Count on new installments with some of our favorite sounds each Tuesday!
Time can fly when you’re having fun — and it can drag when you’re not — but it’s always measured by the (mostly!) reliable tick tock of a clock. Sure, the common mechanical clock’s ticking seems like one of the more mundane sounds in our everyday lives. But like other apparently common sounds in this series, it can really open up when you take a closer listen. So without further ado, a special “tick tock” edition of Found Sounds!
The first clock sound is uploaded by a user named Paul Virostek, to his FreeCoolSounds account. Paul is based in Canada, but the account features sounds from around the world, available for free non-commercial use. He writes a few words about each sound on the project’s blog, and also runs airbornesound.com (which has its own SoundCloud profile) and blogs at jetstreaming.org. This clock sound comes from a small shelf clock; note how even in the regular ticking you can hear — and see on the waveform — little irregularities that give the ticking some character.
Small clock ticking in a loop sound effect by FreeCoolSounds
The next clock sound was provided by a user named Denes Dobai, or dnsdobai on SoundCloud. He’s a prolific sound creator, who uploads field recordings and different samples of mechanical equipment, as well as original compositions and music. This sound was a Slava-mechanic clock recorded over a few minutes in Szod, Hungary. As with the last sound, it’s licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows non-commercial use, so if you need a 60 bpm percussion track, this could be it!
The final tick tock today comes courtesy of Found Sounds favorite Josh G and the 365DaysOfSound project. We’ve featured 365DaysOfSound before, but for those who need a refresher, it’s an ambitious project to upload a field recording every day for a whole year. In January of 2011, Josh turned his telephone pick-up and SE4 condenser mic to the old-style clock on his oven, to record both the loud ticking and the mechanism of the clock itself. The most interesting moment is in the middle when, according to Josh, the clock ticked over from 8:04 to 8:05.
08.01.2011 – Acoustic and Electromagnetic waves of old-style Oven clock by 365DaysOfSound
That’s all for this week’s Found Sounds! Tune in next week for more crazy sounds from the ‘Cloud.