BLOG | JUN. 11, 2025

Damian Wagner Records the Sound of the Earth! How?

So you just drop a microphone to the bottom of an 800ft hole in the earth? Damian Wagner (issue 64) checks in with Tape Op.

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"I've just returned from a two week audio expedition to Brazil. I was in Brazil to test nine microphones, cables, speakers and mixer for the sound pavilion installation I mentioned in my article for your lovely magazine last Mar/Apr. The trip was amazing and the samples I recorded of the earth while I was their have everyone very excited. My second round of tests in Brazil {scheduled in a month} will involve three accelerometers which are made from crystals. The accelerometers will create sound from vibration."

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Hear a sample of the Earth - be careful as the low end may blow your speakers!

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"I have been talking with Evan Mackenzie from QSC about designing a custom subwoofer for the museum sound installation. I have also had Alcorn McBride custom design a V2 box to randomly recall presets on my Yamaha O2 creating a never repeating stream of audio."

"It's a very fascinating look at how one goes about mic'ing and playing back the real time sound of the earth....." -Damian Wagner 

Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.

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