Years ago after having a really nice talk with Ann Kroeber about surface microphones, I was determined to find myself one too and start exploring this hidden world of sound.
Initially I started searching for Frapp pickups as that was what was the go to back in the day. However that company has since disappeared and people tend to hang onto their Frapp pickups which typically are installed on an instrument.
Digging further led me to a few alternatives. Trance Audio for one and Dazzo Pickups who make a 3D piezo transducer (I’ll explain this a little later).
I learned that Teddy Randazzo of Dazzo Pickups lived in the SF Bay area not too far from me, so I called him up and scheduled a visit to try these out for myself.
I arrived at his workshop and he offered me an Italian espresso. Teddy was so excited and eager to show me what he created as he had never sold one to a sound designer before. Teddy is a charming individual and very passionate about music, sound and guitars and I instantly hit it off with him.
Sipping on my delicious espresso which, we chatted while he got to connecting a Dazzo Pickup to the water dispenser. He had already experimented a little himself on various items in the workshop besides on the instruments for which these were made. Teddy was curious how I would be using them. I explained that it was no different than what he was doing – but using the sounds as source for sound design.
Then he turned on the pre-amp and hit the water container. WOW… I could hear everything, the resonance of the container, a little water sloshing around. I had heard other pickups before but they were muffled flat and lifeless. This Dazzo pickup caught all the high frequencies as well. I asked him how? Teddy explained that his pickup not only captures the mechanical vibrations that so many other pickups (Barcus Berry.. .etc) captured, but also the small amount of air vibrations directly above the surface. I was amazed.
After chatting for another 2-3 hours I ended up purchasing a set of 4 pickups. He makes them to pickup different frequency responses. He explained that he tunes each pickup setup to the instrument they are being installed on so the buyer will get the best sound from their instrument. This made total sense to me and I ordered some to add more bass and reject bass so I could personalize the sound I was recording.
A twin sound designer bundle is available for the configuration I ended up buying.
Urinal quick faucet.
Careful – the above sound is loud! But it gives you a good indication of how much detail this pickup will capture. It’s amazing what a fantastic sound you can find in the most unlikely or unsavory of places!
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