Church Bells

The first theme of 2012 is inspired by a question posed by Rene Coronado on the Social Sound Design forum just before Christmas, and very well answered by Paul Virostek.

Church Bells has been a popular suggestion on the poll I set up a while back too so I thought I’d finally select it as a new theme.  All different kinds of church bell sounds are welcome:  Close recordings from within bell towers to ambient distant tolls (with the usual proviso that the subject must not be swamped by other ambient noise such as traffic).

A couple of stipulations though:  No handbells.  All bells must be operated by some kind of mechanism rather than being handheld.  Secondly, although I’ve specified church bells as the theme title, recordings of bells attached to any religious building are acceptable.

Oh, and one last thing; whether you record one toll or a dozen, you must get the entire series, i.e. don’t miss the first bell toll or cut off the decay of the last, otherwise the recording can be impractical to use.

Good luck!