C33's Unexpected Disneyland Audio Report

[Club 33]

Well folks, suffice it to say that I quite unexpectedly found myself making the hour-long trek to the Happiest Place on Earth Today.

I won't really describe the whole day; nothing of particular note happened, but I did make a few Induction Recordings for you.

What's an Induction Recording?

A speaker works using a permanent magnet mounted on the paper-like speaker which is set into motion using an electromagnet. Of course, the fluctuating magnetic field is detectable well outside the speaker itself. An exception is if the speaker is shielded with lead, such as multimedia speakers used near to TVs.

Since this magnetic field is what is actuating the speaker, it goes without saying that the audio stream can be extracted from the fluctuating magnetic field. So, an "induction recorder" captures the magnetic field by generating electrical current via induction and then records the signal using any of several devices, just as such a device would with an microphone.

I suppose it's worth pointing out that a microphone is basically an induction recorder with a magnet mounted on a speaker-like surface that vibrates in the presence of audio. The subtle displacement of the magnet is captured as electrical current in much the same way.

Got it? Kinda? Let me put it this way: put the recorder up against (and I mean right up against) a speaker and you can record it with no background noise, and usually little loss of quality.

I made several such recordings today, and I present them to you here:

1. The Disneyland Monorail - Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland (1:50)

I used an old editing trick which you'll find in a lot of Disney Park Audio on this one, in that I mixed "The Monorail Song" in with the narration. For one thing it provides a more interesting listening experience (narrations are pretty boring when you aren't there to see what they're narrating). Also, there were some imperfections in the recording which the music helps to mask. I edited out the parts where the captain speaks, and the long blank spots, so what is usually a 3-4 minute ride is only 2. I would have liked to present the narration both to and from Disneyland, but my recording of the narration from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney did not come out for some reason. Oh well, try try again I suppose...

2. The Disneyland Railroad - Round Trip (10:56)

I'd recorded this one once before, and the recording was a little to noisy and a little to quiet to be usable. This one still has some noise and other problems that I couldn't edit out, and unlike the monorail there was no obvious music to cover it. I'll probably think of something later (or someone else will) but for now I think it's still an enjoyable track. Once again I edited out the long silences and the CM talking (except for one part during the Primeval World Diorama when he warns some people not to use flash).

3. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (1:15)

As an experiment, I took the microphone and held it up to the speaker of the blaster and just started shooting. I was suprised and how well it came out. Don't think the minor distraction hurt my game however...

4. Disneyland Resort Turnstile Sounds (0:00)

Yes, that's right, as a closer to this little audio update of mine, I present a track that's less then one second long. It's the whistle sound the turnstile makes when you reenter one of the parks. By the way, next time you walk into the parks, just try and guess how I got this recording. There's about a 2-3 inch gap between the stand which holds the maps and the computer monitor and the turnstil itself. And the speaker is a small mickey-shaped one down by the CM's knees. Don't try it, but I was able to get away with it. In the future I plan to also record the initial entry sound and some of the other sounds if the situation presents itself.

See you in Disneyland!

-C33

[TikiRoomLiz]

Thanks ... I'm just crazy enough to use the Turnstile sound on my cell phone to alert me to new messages!

[kickcows]

wow!!! the monorail one is so neat!!!!

thanks for making these available to us!

[Crazy Legs]

Thanks for sharing

[Sosai X]

TOO cool.. might i ask, what device did you use to capture the sound? I MUST get one. As a geek, this is a must have device. Can you tell me where you got the one you have?