Hot Water Tank Reverb

[pittsburgh]

  I'm thinking about building a tank reverb system out of a hot water heater. The idea came from an old EM article that I read in 2004. Has anyone seen a thread on DIY or any other forums about building such a device. I guess it wouldn't be that hard to implement the audio section, but I'm concerned about the internal parts, as well as working with water heaters that have been in use for years.

 

[pucho812]

sounds to me like your making a little chamber. mic/s on one end speaker/s on the other. feed audio to the speakers pick it up with the mics on the other end. Feed the mics into the mix.

what worries you about a water heater? they have to be talking about one that is no longer being used as a water heater.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I've always wondered about messing with some less dense gas than air, so the speed of sound was much slower, so we could made a modest sized box simulate a larger acoustic chamber.  Perhaps a partially evacuated pressure cylinder with speaker and microphone.

What is the sound transmission characteristic or those aerogels? Probably lossy?  May not be practical unless you get a serious scale factor.

JR

 

[riggler]

Hmm I have a big unused oil tank outside!...

 

[pucho812]

Hmm I have a big unused oil tank outside!...

shelly yakus once did that for a recording but not sure which one

 

[pittsburgh]

A propane tank would be awesome. Tell me if this is true. If you increase the size of the tank you get a lower resonate frequency, and a longer decay time. Does that sound about right?

 

[zebra50]

A propane tank would be awesome. Tell me if this is true. If you increase the size of the tank you get a lower resonate frequency, and a longer decay time. Does that sound about right?

Sounds right, although it doesn't account for overtones. Give it a tap and listen! Oh, and make sure it's empty.

I've made a few redneck reverbs using those soundbug devices and a PZM or contact microphone taped in place. They tend to be fun reverbs!

http://www.firebox.com/product/360/Soundbug

 

[Jake]

A propane tank would be awesome. Tell me if this is true. If you increase the size of the tank you get a lower resonate frequency, and a longer decay time. Does that sound about right?

Being a blind amateur ambient musician, I have experimented with different acoustical spaces, and yes, it is with propane tanks as with concrete sewer pipes as well. A larger diameter and length will give you a deeper and longer reverb. What is unique about a propane tank, though, is the fact that you have an egg-shaped enclosure, a surface that has no flat plaine what so ever. So your sound will ping nicely within the enclosure. The larger in girth and the greater in length, the tank will ring longer. You should check out the Tank Center for Sonic Arts if you really want to see what I mean about tank reverb. You're dealing with a 7-story tall, 60-foot diameter steel water tank in Rangely, Colorado, which had been converted to a recording venue. The reverb inside that thing is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

 

[sodderboy]

Not to kill the dream. . . , but, "aren't there some plug-ins for that?".
A used HW tank is gnarly. Most likely eroded enamel on rusty steel inside and a skanky steel shell outside. The tank itself is quite ping-y also.
I know because I replaced mine by myself in '18. You could hear the ping as you rolled it away.
Quite the vision quest. . . My biggest mistake was to listen to my missus and get all the stuff in the morning then install. WRONG! You have to have everything there when you wake up or you will not finish in one day.
We had some used machine oil removed recently. They put dubious 50 gal drums in fresh 75 gal drums. You can get new 75 gal drums for $400 each, cut each end and tack-weld.
My HWH was totally whupped when I put it on the curb- rusty inside and a layer of silt on the bottom from the water co. doing maintenance a few times over the years and not telling those down-stream to draw their water accordingly.

A few trips to junk and scrap yards should spur your imagination!
Mike

 

[Jake]

A propane tank would be awesome. Tell me if this is true. If you increase the size of the tank you get a lower resonate frequency, and a longer decay time. Does that sound about right?

That is true. Being one, who experiments with acoustics as an amateur ambient musician, I love the sounds you can get from one of those big egg-shaped house propane tanks. Indeed, that would make a great reverb chamber, and even better than a hot water heater, which has a cylindrical wall and two flat ends. Think about it. With the propane tank, there is no flat surface what so ever. So the sound resonates beautifully inside it. Just tap on it and listen to it ring. You can also use one of these things as a great percussion instrument. Hit the round ends and you get one sound. The tank body gives you another. The hoist loops on each end ring when you hit them, and that ringing sound resonates within the tank. The round pan-like gauge cover on top also has some cool sounds when tapped in different ways. If you want to e-mail me, I can send you some recordings I made of a propane tank I use as a virtual instrument in Audacity for Windows. You can e-mail me at the following address:

[email protected]