The Fat Cat pub in Ipswich is a fine real ale pub, which serves many of its beers gravity-fed. Sound-wise, however, the pub is a nightmare – lots of glass which reflects the conversation, to the extend that on a full Friday or Saturday night you struggle to hear your mates over a small round table. Thankfully they don’t have muzak or a jukebox! This was only made worse by the addition fo a conservatory extension with a plastic pitched roof that focuses the sound onto the middle tables. However, the beer and the ambience makes up for the odd lost word.
This recording was made on a Wednesday so there were fewer customers, it was okay for conversation.
This is a great recording – it captures the warmth of a roomful of people in conversation without focussing directly on anyone in particular. Did the sight of the recorder in the pub raise any eyebrows?
Although I had the recorder out on the table there were just two of us drinking and we kept quiet for the recording. It is an Olympus LS10, and I used an OKMII binaural rig,which looks like a set of earbuds.
Street recording has got a lot easier in the last 10 years as recorders have got smaller, and so many of us walk around with phones in our hands and/or earbuds. Many years ago a recordist would stand out with a great big cassette recorder and a dynamic mic and have to choose a discreet location , but now we can optimise the sound map, which usually means getting in closer.
Glad you like it – this pub is packed on Fridays and Saturdays and recording then simply ends up with a wall of noise. This time about every other table was occupied which gave a nice balance.