I finally got my LOM Geofón in the mail a couple weeks ago and I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I have found it is good for. First of all I just want to say the Geofón is not a "magic, everything I record with it is great" microphone. If anything it is a supplementary microphone that can be used to pick up more low end for your recordings that you can mix in later.
The catch is that geophones are seismic measurement tools so for the LOM Geofón to work well you need to attach it to a material where vibrations are being generated through. Fortunately it comes with 3 ways to do this (a suction cup mount, spike and a powerful magnet).
Right off the bat I can see the Geofón being good for recording the following:
Machines in Parking Garages
Bridges that Cars are driving over
Interior Buses while they drive
Computers, Fans, Vents and Air Conditioners
Dryers/Washing Machines
Devices with Servos
Loose Metal that rattles
Dragging stuff on the ground
In almost all cases you will need to pair the Geofón with another mic. In my case I have been pairing it with a set of LOM Usi Pros. I hope this is not starting to sound like an advertisement for LOM Mics, since they are so cheap I use them daily for my sound design source recordings.
One other thing to mention about the Geofón is that it is highly sensitive. So it is best to pair it with a 32 bit recorder to get the most ideal results. Something like a Mix Pre 3/6 v2 or a Zoom F6 would do nicely. For all of my recordings I used a Mix Pre 6 V2.
Well let's get to the sounds. The following are the sounds I recorded with the Geofón during my first week with it. These are just the sounds from the Geofón with no processing. The only thing I did to the recordings was normalize them to reduce clips.
A desk fan and my AC unit were the first things I could find after I opened the Geofón package. I used the suction cup for both and I think I got some interesting textures right off the bat.
Next my Girlfriend and I went for a walk and tried out the magnet attachment for the Geofón on a variety of different metal surfaces. I saw an interesting video posted by another Field Recordist that showed the Geofón sounding pretty good on a loose, vibrating street sign. So that was one of the first things I wanted to try.
The next day I wanted to try out the automatic doors and locks on my car. I figured that using the suction cup and attaching it to the car in different spots might yield some fun results. I think this was one of the first times I found the Geofón really shined. Especially on the Back Door Servo and the Wipers. I could see those recordings being used to beef up the sound design for a futuristic door or robotic mech movement (Titan Fall Style).
Lastly I wanted to try the Geofón on a rusty type object. My Girlfriend is into Backpacking and she found a great hike with this old rusted out Truck along the trail. This truck is parked right beside a river so you can't really record it with a traditional microphone. But the Geofón did not pick up any of that. It was interesting to see how it did in this situation.
Well that is what I managed to capture while recording with the Geofón in the first week of owning it. I definitely like it, but I do need to spend a bit more time finding a good home for it in my work flow.
Before I go I want to share one more video, this was recorded by a talented field recordist that I stumbled upon on Youtube. This Geofón recording was mixed with a contact mic and I think it sounds great. It has definitely inspired me to go out and do more experimental recordings with it.