I promised I would share the final workbench/vice restoration project I've been working on the last few weeks and here it is! Though it's not a large workbench it works well for me.  I'm very happy having my Dad's old vice restored and mounted.  Also, the drawer on the right contains wood from the kitchen drawers that were in the home I grew up in.  We used to keep our telephone book in that drawer (remember those?}!

This table is solid as a rock!  That red oak is quite heavy and made a beautiful workbench.  I enjoyed the process of building it and it's something that I can use and cherish in days to come.

My workbench is progressing nicely!  I'm getting real close to being able to put it all together.  Since this is being made out of Red Oak it is going to be SOLID!  Hope to finish it up within the next couple of weeks.

On Monday while I was working on it I set up my recorder and recorded various sounds.  After I got home and cleaned up I mixed a few different tracks together to create a woodworking workshop background.

Take a listen below.  This sound is available on Audiojungle.

I finished restoring my father's old vice this past week.  Though it's not a perfect restoration I'm very happy with it!  Now I'm building my workbench which I'll mount the vice on.  Hopefully I'll have my bench completed within the next couple of weeks.  





​The photo below shows an almost completed top for my workbench and one of the legs being glued.  My friend Jim Page gave me the wood (red oak) to build my table.  Thanks Jim! Also grateful to my friend Bill Smith for the use of his shop and his wood building expertise..

In the 1970s and 80s I used a portable cassette recorder to record various things including lots of sound effects and life experiences.  I have amassed quite a collection of retro cassette tapes and it has been time for me to digitize all those recordings.  So I went online and found this portable cassette player/recorder that will automatically put your tape recordings onto a thumb drive.  I also took advantage of having it to record lots of typical sounds you would get with a portable cassette player/recorder.  These sounds are now available for purchase on Audiojungle.

Take a listen below to some cassette tape player sound effect samples.

It looks like a rusty, old Vice.  But believe me, it's so much more than that.

My parents built the house I grew up in back in 1963-64 and they built a nice brick "storeroom" (as we grew up calling it) behind the house to store Dad's tools, lawnmowers and other important items.  I have fond memories of being in the storeroom with Dad as he piddled and repaired items and would often use the Vice which is pictured to the left which was mounted on his work table.  

My parents passed in 2008 and my sister Cristy bought the house from me and my other three sisters.  I'm planning on building a workbench for my garage and need a vice.   Cristy was kind enough to give me Dad's old vice this week.  I plan to clean it up and repaint it to the original red color and mount it on my new workbench.  I'm grateful to have it and still treasure the memories around it.  I've always been a sentimental soul!

In 1972 I received a very special Christmas gift from my parents - my first recording device.  It was a TrueTone Western Auto cassette recorder.  I was one happy boy and I immediately started recording lots of different sounds with it - door bell rings, doors closing, cars starting, family interviews and capturing tool sounds in the storeroom.  This was my beginning of loving to make sound recordings.  I still have some of those original tapes from the early seventies and they bring back a host of good memories when I listen to them.  They remind me that we will not always have our loved ones and friends but they also remind me to stay grateful for such special memories and the times we shared.  The little things in life truly are the BIG things in life!

After I get my table built and restore the  Vice and I'll share a picture.....and a new updated digital recording of the Vice.  Can't wait!

Tonight my wife and I took a walk in our neighborhood and we went by one of the retention ponds that was alive with frogs and toads croaking away.  I immediately went back home and got my gear to capture the sound.  There is a highway not too far from the pond and I was concerned about picking up traffic noise but fortunately I was able to capture the sound with very little traffic and it was also helpful to have my Audio Technica BP4029 shotgun mic.

This sound will be available for purchase on AudioJungle soon.

Just returned from a trip to Lake Lure, NC.  April is a wonderful time to travel to the NC mountains and Lake Lure is a beautiful resort and one we've come to love through the years.  In addition to catching up with our dear college friends Dan & Terri Fincannon and Richard & Angela Hall I was able to capture several wonderful sounds for my library.  

We enjoyed sitting down and chatting by a large creek (pictured on the left) which feeds into Lake Lure.  The creek was in our back yard.  I was able to capture several water stream sound effects along with some nature sounds of chimes ringing with the creek running in the distance and birds singing.  This sound was recorded up on the back deck of the cabin.  My friend Dan helped me record an awesome Walking On Gravel sound and his wife Terri gave me some great wolf whistle sounds.

Take a listen to the wind chime sample below.  This sound is available on AudioJungle for purchase.

Sometimes the most mundane items can provide some interesting and useful effects.  I found those yesterday in a pile of cinder blocks in the backyard of one of my sister's home.  Thanks to my great-niece Olivia (who was gracious enough to help hold the microphone) I recorded several different sounds of dragging cinder blocks across a cement floor and making various hits/impacts with them.  I processed them after I got home last night and the sounds turned out great.  Thanks Olivia!

These sounds will be available on AudioJungle within the next couple of days.

​Take a listen to a few of the sounds below.

My nephew Brad has some amazing skills and experience in flying drones. I can't believe how fast and accurate he flies them.  We went out yesterday and recorded some drone sounds.  It wasn't easy.  It was a windy day and we had to contend with a neighborhood dog who was constantly barking.  Barks don't go well with drone sound effects.  Fortunately the dog calmed down a bit and we moved away from him and in the end I got the sounds I was looking for.  Thanks Brad!

These sounds will be available for purchase on AudioJungle soon.

Take a listen to a sample below.

Having well made durable bags to carry your expensive audio & photo gear is so important and I'm a believer in both Portabrace bags and ThinkTank bags.  Both of these bags are extremely well made with super tough zippers and lots of nice pockets to store gear.  Portabrace's shoulder strap is second to none in terms of durability and comfort.  I love them.  Which is why I bought one for my ThinkTank media bag.  I love that I can put my shotgun mics (that are extra long) in my Portabrace (CV-DV4).  Got my gear....ready to record!