Ramping up to go into the recording studio this weekend, I went to Urban Ore in Berkeley to rehearse bathtubs. I took a bag of marbles, a box of dice, and a handful of jacks.
Urban Ore has rows and rows of used bathtubs. I started rehearsing the gaudy bunch by dropping 20 marbles, 15 dice and 10 jacks into the bathtubs, and worked my way around the whole yard. Little people came to assist me in this venture, marbles would definitely be lost.
To my surprise dropping marbles in bathtubs is loud, like firecracker loud. Half way through rehearsals we were approached by a salvage yard employee and questioned, but it was an inquiry of interest and intrigue.
"Excuse me, um, what are you doing? I only ask because it looks very interesting." - salvage yard employee
"I am rehearsing bathtubs for the recording studio. I’m trying to find the most beautiful resonant sound of bouncing marbles." - the Hiss
After an hour of dropping marbles, dice and jacks into bathtubs, I narrowed it down to three finalists. Two alcove bathtubs, one dwarf and one regular, and a Gothic tub that was short a foot and listing to one side like a sinking ship. Understandably I was drawn to the tub with the missing foot.
Each bathtub was tested with the three percussive catalysts: marbles, dice, jacks. Even in the weeds that grew up through open water spouts each bathtub performed differently and the same. Here are the results below.
Mistakenly, I decided to be economical and chose the dwarf sized alcove bathtub for weight/size reasons. Then I banged my shin on the corner while loading it onto the platform cart and decided, weight and size hold little weight in the recording studio, alcove bathtubs be damned. I unloaded the dwarf bathtub and loaded the three-footed Gothic tub onto the platform cart. I wheeled it up to the front for a price.
Can you believe these butt-dirty bathtubs cost $150 and up? I left the Gothic tub on the platform cart, left the line and went back for an industrial kitchen sink (possum bathtub). It resonates beautifully.
Now we record.
-Samson
