(Above) Gears that raise and lower the DuSable Bridge at Michigan Avenue. (Click on image to view larger version.)

12-Jun-16 – The unique sound of a Chicago River bridge lift, captured by ten microphones, may soon be enjoyed by ears everywhere.

A crew from an audio production company in River North has professionally recorded the 96-year-old DuSable Bridge lifting on May 18. The recording, along with video, was recently uploaded to Vimeo.

When he spoke recently to Reel Chicago, Corey Coken, co-founder of NoiseFloor, would not discuss the project other than they are searching for “the unique sounds of Chicago” for a tourist application. The DuSable Bridge was the first unique Chicago sound they recorded for the project.

Sound designer Stosh Tuszynski, composer Devin Delaney, and assistant A.J. Olstad recorded a Wednesday morning bridge lift. They placed a variety of high-quality microphones throughout the bridge house on the south side of DuSable Bridge.

“It’s quite a sight to witness such a large piece of infrastructure lift to the sky so quietly,” Tuszynski (left) told Reel Chicago, noting that two 108-horsepower motors are used to lift each 4,100-ton [leaf] of the bridge.

According to Tuszynski, on the day they recorded the lift, it took three hours to raise the bridge.

“Finally, just before rush hour, the bridge broke free from whatever was seizing it and rose to the occasion. It was quite something seeing the engineers figure out the problem.”

NoiseFloor has produced audio for feature films and television shows.

• Watch and listen: DuSable Bridge
• More info on DuSable Bridge: Chicago Loop Bridges