It's amazing when we really start to pay attention how many different sounds we encounter every day.  We typically take them for granted, including our ability to even hear sounds.  Stop and listen.  What do you hear?  A clock ticking, the air conditioner blowing, voices, the rustle of leaves or grass as you walk, wind blowing through the trees, cars moving, birds singing, a soft whirring from a computer hard drive - so many sounds!  I have a membership to an O2 gym and go a few mornings each week to help slow down this aging process a little.  While I was working out this morning I stopped to pay attention to all the sounds around me.  WOW!  There was a lot going on.  I would have loved to have had my portable recording rig with me (of course I would have had to ask them to turn the music off).  Perhaps in the future I can get some good sounds there.  I came home and let my pup "Darby" out for a walk and it was fun just focusing on what I was hearing.  The world is full of sounds (I'm listening now to the keys on my computer keyboard doing their thing) and it's just a good reminder to stop....smell the roses, so to speak, LISTEN and have a thankful heart for the ability to hear. 

This past week I traveled up to Wallace, NC and worked with my High School friend Jerry Dempsey to record various farm sounds.  Jerry has been a farmer for many years and has a nice assortment of John Deere tractors, diesel trucks and a huge barn workshop with endless sound effects possibilities.  We worked a couple of hours recording tons of effects including blow torches, steel pipes falling on concrete, chain sounds, tools clanging, tractors starting and moving, etc.  I appreciate Jerry's assistance and I'm happy to report that most of those sounds are now waiting for final approval on AudioJungle where they will be available for purchase within the next week or two.

Below is a sample from one his his John Deere Tractors:

I have been concentrating on producing some new forcefield beams and scans for sci fi space projects.  These are perfect sound effects for the gaming industry.  This is a huge market and lots of fun to produce.  Perfect for use in films, movie scenes, tv series, trailers / teasers, cinematic projects, technology documentaries, & video games.

Take a listen to a few samples below:

I have been on a roll here lately writing and recording new music.  I love the challenge of creating new and different styles for my library.  My main instrument is guitar and I've enjoyed creating happy, upbeat acoustic guitar tracks.  I recently bought my 2nd Martin D-28 (this one is from 1975 and my earlier one was from 1969) and I'm finding it to be a wonderful guitar to record with.  It has such a nice warm tone and a great balance of highs and lows.  I used it as the main guitar for my latest production "Happy You & Me Acoustic Guitar".  You can listen to it below.  The track features acoustic guitars, a mixture of Martins, Santa Cruz for the lead work, a 70's Yamaha that I have strung with Nashville tuning, a fender bass, ukulele, piano, regina music box, drums & percussion.  This track is available for purchase on AudioJungle.

It was great to travel up into the mountains of North Carolina to Lake Lure this past week.  We rented a wonderful cabin through Airbnb and invited some college friends up to join us.  Our cabin was perfect and we particularly enjoyed sitting down by a creek behind our house that fed into Lake Lure.  It was relaxing just to listen to the water falling over the rocks and catch up with old friends!

Lake Lure is a beautiful resort and I highly recommend it for a quiet vacation get-a-way!

If you're a movie buff, you might know that parts of the Patrick Swayze movie "Dirty Dancing" was filmed at Lake Lure.

It's a beautiful day in Wilmington, NC and this morning after grabbing a coffee from Port City Java I headed out to Riverlights which is a new community being developed off the Cape Fear River.  Fortunately, it's only about 3 miles from my home and I love going out to listen to the birds and the water lapping up against the docks.  There's just something very soothing and relaxing about the views and the sounds. I'm' probably going to go back out there around 5:30 pm this afternoon when the tide is low to be able to capture the seagulls and water birds making their music.  They were pretty quiet this morning but yesterday around 5:30 pm they were singing away but I didn't have my gear. 

I love that typically there aren't many people around so you can truly enjoy the quietness.  I know that will change as summer draws near and the tourists arrive!  Until then....I will enjoy this beautiful spot on God's creation!

Take a listen below:

In addition to a love for recording I enjoy photography.  I love taking my camera along with me when I travel out to record various sounds.  Unsplash is a great place to share photos and all photos are free to be downloaded and used.  I'm happy to be a part of this community.  Take a look at some of my photos.

This morning around 5:00 am I headed out to Brunswick County NC for the woods.  My friend Dr. Jim Parnell, who is an Ornithologist and avid photographer & professor emeritus, University of North Carolina - Wlimington, took me out to record some wild turkey sounds.  We set up in the woods for a good 2 hours in a small photo cabin he had built waiting for the Turkeys to gobble a bit.  He was out yesterday morning and took the photo of the Turkey to your left and most likely it's the one that showed up for the show this morning.  He was very active and gobbled a lot but unfortunately was just too far away for me to get some workable sounds.  Oh well, maybe next time!  It was nice to get into the woods and enjoy the smells and sights and I really enjoyed being with Dr. Parnell.  As we were leaving he took me to a spot by the woods where there was a large piece of tin laying.  He lifted it up and there were two beautiful copperhead snakes laying there.  Fortunately, they didn't move but I was ready to bolt if they had moved just a little!

Happy to report that the sounds I created for Artist.IO are now live and available for sample or download.  Check out the Public Transportation Announcements, Emergency Room Sounds, Prison Sounds and Police Arrest sounds.  All created exclusively for Artist by Apple Hill Studios! We're anticipating a long relationship with Artlist with many more sounds waiting to be recorded and shared to the public.

Recently I added UVI's 8 Bit Synth to my library of instruments.  This is a cool program with a ton of retro/vintage sounding patches.  I've recorded a ton of sound effects this past week using it and several music tracks for children's educational/entertainment games.  This is a fun and rewarding venue for me!  The challenge is to keep the productions simple, catchy and kid friendly.  Time to get creative....peace out!

Take a listen:  Children's Video Game Fun (available soon on AudioJungle)