Scroll down to the bottom to download these Tuk Tuk Interior sounds!
We have only a few more days left in Chiang Mai and I can’t believe how fast these 3 months went by! We hit the road again and our next destinations are Singapore for a couple of days, then Bali to visit a wedding and then back to Singapore and we might stay at least 6 weeks.
I promise I will get some amazing soundscape from Singapore and Malaysia because it’s just around the corner.
But before we leaving its time to record one of the very unique sounds that you can almost hear everywhere in Thailand and who knows what the future will bring for this Taxis.
I already saw several electric versions driving around Chiang Mai ( E-Taxi) and they sound a little bit different.
Tuk Tuks are a symbol of Thailand and they will be around but the current sound will definitely disappear.
So, If you come to Thailand make sure to bring your recorder and archive it for yourself and others.
I recorded street sounds ambient several time and I always had Tuk Tuk driving by sounds in the recordings but this time I want to record interior sounds from the Tuk Tuks and I did two recordings.
One at a busy daytime and one at nighttime. I wished the nighttime driver could understand me what I want & I guess we would have more fun. I have some time left so I might redo this one and hire a driver to “race” around the ring. If I do it I post an update to this blog and on my Facebook page. The daytime driver was really cool and I got the best sounds from these first recordings.
First Recording DayTime!
I had to go to the train station in Chiangmai to pick up my friend’s motorbike because he took the train to Bangkok so I went down to the street and waited a few seconds. I saw the first Tuk Tuk and waved my arm and asked him to drive me to the train station.
We live at “The Shine Condominium” (highly recommended if you want to stay in Chiangmai) so he drove up to the main entrance and he stopped the vehicle so I could record the starting engine sounds of it.
After leaving the condo we drove on the main road, passed a bridge, took smaller side roads, stopped on intersections and arrived at the train station about 10 minutes later.
What I love about this recording is that this Tuk Tuk is one of the older versions so you can listen to the old suspension and the squeaking sounds after hitting holes or speed bums on the road. Another cool sound is when he shifts the gears or he accelerates after stopping on the traffic lights.
Here is the map how we drove and the iron bridge is pretty famous! I wished I had already my contact mics!
I edited the sound a little bit and you can find both versions In the album of it. The Original one with more rumble and bass and a clean up version. So you can decide which one you like more. I also had to split up the files because I recorded in 192-24 Bit and reached the 600 MB upload limit on Bandcamp. But in my Complete Library, you will find the files as one long track as well.
Second Recording!
This one was a little bit more difficult because the driver had no idea what I was going to do. I asked him for a 10 minute drive around the neighborhood but we arrived already after six minutes what was a bummer but I am not going to start a discussion. Its really not worth it. So I might do it again.
Luckily I got the starting engine sounds and as we droved he turned the radio on and I asked him politely “No radio please I am recording”. Okay, after that he drove like a snail on the left side and after one minute, I asked him again very friendly to speed up and I think that was the moment that he knew what I want and he drove faster what was super cool but I wished the drive was longer. We turned just a few curves and then back to the Condo.
Here is the map how we drove.
I still think its a really cool sound and if you are wondering about the engine, most of the Tuk Tuks running on LPG and have 400cc up to 1000cc engines. If you sit on a motorbike and you drive behind a Tuk Tuk you get a taste of this sweet smell. Not very healthy that’s for sure.
After recording sounds inside the Tuk Tuks I am thinking about recording inside the red buses. I may do it this week as well or if we come back to Chiang Mai next year but more airport sounds from BKK, Singapore and aircraft sounds are planned!
Now I invite you to download these Tuk Tuk interior sounds from my Bandcamp account but you can also find all sounds in my “Complete Sound Library”!
Category: Sounds Of Thailand, Tuk Tuk, Vehicles, City Streets, City Soundscape At Night, Traffic Sounds Type: Traffic Sounds & Interior Sounds Specs: 6 files • 24 bit / 192 kHz • 3.2 GB Duration: 30 min Equipment: Zoom F4, DPA 4060, Delivery: Instant Bandcamp download or Complete Library Download License types: standard license, royalty-free & license-free license
Enjoy! 🙂
