Recording hammering & picking sound effects in Da Nang, Vietnam
While living in Hoi An we drove almost 3 times per week to Danang. Its a wonderful upcoming city in Vietnam and has its own International Airport so if you ever go to Vietnam you should definitely visit this place.
Danang is also known for its fine art stone carving and if you are coming from Hoi An you will pass hundreds of statues made of stone.
I remember driving in the morning alone to Da Nang and I saw a men sitting on a huge dirty stone billboard with a pick and a hammer in his hand but by this time he didn’t get my full attention. I went to the peninsula and did some recordings in the city.
I spend almost 8 hours in Da Nang and on my way back he was still on that wall and then I realized he is cleaning the billboard with only this one hammer and the pick. Now he got my full attention and I turned around with my motorbike stopped and walked over to him with my recorder.
I asked him if I can record these sounds and he smiled and it was okay for him.
While I was recording these sounds I was so moved and couldn’t believe it if somebody has to clean a billboard from the dirt with a hammer and a pick. You could use a high water compressor like a Kärcher and you are done in five minutes without even losing thickness of the wall.
No, over 8 hours without protection glasses, shoes or cloves.
I did the recording right here but if you want to go to the big factories for stone carving google “Non Nuoc Stone Carving Village”!
After a few minutes, I packed my recorder and said
“Cám ơn” and “Hẹn gặp lại” for “Thank you” and “Goodbye” and drove home thinking about this situation because these recordings are not just “run and gun” no these sounds come with a lot of emotion and empathy for these hard-working people. I always worked hard and I can’t be without a day doing something. Is it mentally or physically but this is still different.
Now when I listen to the sound it brings me back these memories.
The recording was on a busy road and I uploaded the sound to Bandcamp but besides the original sound with the traffic I used some noise reduction and cleaned out the background noise as best as I can and created a version for the people who just need the picking sounds. Just hit the download button in the media player.
If you have already access to my “Coffee” sound library you can find all files in the Bandcamp category! If you not but you want access to over 1000 recordings just hit the “Buy Me A Coffee” button.
Next time when we are in Da Nang I will go inside and try to get these sound effects direct from the factory until then I hope you can these sounds.
