Whether he is recording African lions or capturing the sound of rabbits in a Surrey field,George Vlad says BubblebeeWindbubbles helps him capture the best sound.
Copenhagen, Denmark.July17th2023:Award-winning sound designer and fieldrecordist George Vlad specialises in capturing natural soundscapes that truly evoke hislocation. To ensure his recordings are alwayspristine, he uses an arsenal of high-endmicrophones in conjunction with wind protection from Bubblebee Industries.
“I do a lot of unattended recording where I set up a microphone rig and leave it for up toa week, and I like to have the smallestfootprint possible because that attracts the leastattention, which is important when you are recording wildlife,” George says. “The best wayto achieve this is with a lavalier microphone and a Bubblebee Windbubble. If I use a blimpor some of the larger wind protectors, my rig becomes too obvious and that can have adetrimental effect.
”Usually, George’s rig consists of a power bank, a cable, a small recorder and one or twopairs of lavalier microphones, each covered with a Bubblebee Windbubble. This not onlyprotects against wind noise but also help prevent damage to my mics when he is workingin wet or humid conditions.
George always takes a large bag of Windbubbles on each recording trip and usually packsa variety of colours and sizes. The Windbubble’ssuccess as a wind protector lies in itsclever design and use of high quality Bubblebee fur, which creates a bubble of dead airaround the microphone capsule and slows down the ambient wind.
“I take more than I need because rodents like them, as do birds that often thinkWindbubbles are also birds, so they rub against them and peck them,” he says. “Beingable to hide mics is useful, especially in places where there’s a lot of foot traffic from localpeople. In those situations,you can’t leave a large mic in a blimp in case it gets moved orstolen, so I hide small lavaliers with Windbubbles and I’m able to leave them unattendedfor hours.
”Originally from Romania but now based in Surrey in the UK, George Vlad has perfected hisfield recording techniques on numerous trips that have taken him to countries such asSouth Africa, Kenya, Oman, Senegal, Ethiopia, The Congo, Costa Rica, Madagascar, theAmazon rainforest, theAtacama Desert in Chile and the Sahara Desert in Algeria.
Through his company Mindful Audio he shares his recordings with sound editors anddesigners and releases materialthrough his YouTube channel where there are now more than 120 video. He also works as a computer games sound designer and many of hisrecordings provide material for that work,too.
“I don’t chase high intensity moments by going to war zones or anything like that,” heexplains, “and I make use of local knowledge to ensure I stay safe if I am in an area wherethere could be danger. Generally, though, wildlife is not out to get us. They only becomeaggressive when they are afraid, otherwise they run away. If it isn’t safe to get close toan animal, I use a boom pole to reduce the distance between my mic and the soundsource. On location, you can’t physically carry a different accessory for every eventuality,so you learn to fashion what you need from what’s available.
”George Vlad’s dual career as a sound designer and a field recordist has won him plauditsfrom numerous quarters. In the video games world, he is renowned for his workonHorizonForbidden West,Dune Awakening and Path of Exile, and was among a team from Guerrillawho won the 2022 MASA Best Sound Design in Gaming award. The same team was alsonominated for the 2023 BAFTA for Audio Achievement, the 2022 MPSE Golden ReelOutstanding Achievement in Sound Editing and the 2022 Game Award for Best AudioDesign. His work has also been included in a number of film and television series dealingwith conservation issues, and he works closely with many conservation organisations anduniversities as a guest lecturer.
“There is so much biodiversity in the world, and so many endemic species, but a large number of them are very threatened,” he says. “If their habitat is lost, they die out. I’d like to think my work can help in some small way, even if it is just by bringing attention to what we have so we can try harder to protect it before it is lost.”
For more information about George Vlad, please visithttps://mindful-audio.com/Youtube channel-ends-
About Bubblebee Industries
Bubblebee Industries has been Making Sound Sound Better since 2011.Based in Denmark, Bubblebee designs high quality microphone wind protection and sound accessories for the production sound, field recording, live, sports and broadcast sound industries.
Company contact:
- AJ McQuillan
- Email:[email protected]