Behind The Scenes – Skateboard Collection
Recording a skateboarding SFX library was an intuitive process because it’s a world I know.
I skated pretty hard when I was younger. It’s all I ever wanted to do. Every day as soon as school ended, me and my friends would be out there till the sun went down. It’s such a liberating sport. You get to do anything you want, your own way. There’s no rules. You make your own goals, grow your own style, and no one can tell you if it’s right or wrong. I always loved that.
Time passed, priorities shifted, and I slowly grew out of skating. But when I decided I was going to record a skateboarding SFX library, I didn’t think twice about who to call.
Watching Brad skate makes me wish I never stopped. He’s a talented dude. I heard he was living in Toronto, so I reached out and asked if he wanted to be a part of my project. He was more than happy to help, so we met at Ashbridges park at 7AM for our first recording session.
Brad and I had two recording sessions together. It was all great, usable material but I needed more. Different skateboarders have different styles, and with different styles come different sonic personalities. With versatility being a priority, I found myself going to skateparks alone hoping to find other people to record.
One of the coolest days was near the end of recording. I woke up on a freezing cold November afternoon, packed up my equipment and drove up to Landsowne skatepark. I only had a couple hours set aside to shoot. The plan was to just record myself skating some transition and call it a day. I didn’t expect anyone to be there (skateboarding season was pretty much over), but as I rolled up I found these two friends tearing up the park. It didn’t take long to realize these were some serious dudes. And it didn’t take long after that before I introduced myself and told them about my project. They were really nice and down to let me shoot. Their names were Lee Yankou and Carson Lower. Here’s Lee’s latest Thrasher part:
Thanks to everyone who helped me start this company and put this library together.
Thanks to Brad Burden, Chris Medhurst, Carson Lower, and Lee Yankou for skating. Thanks to Joanna Glezakos, Ishkhan Ghazarian, Maria Sartzetaki and Chris Medhurst for coming out to the shoots and documenting.
Thanks to Dan Sadaba at Sadabots for his hard work with the BPS branding. He really helped me start things off on the right foot, and I’m super appreciative. Definitely would recommend this guy to anyone starting a new business.
And thank you, for reading. Can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Until next time.
Ben @ Back Pocket Sound.
