Spirit of the Prayer Wheel

Part of the Sacred Spaces project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sacredspaces

Reimagined by Mark Taylor.

"Prayer wheels are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. My piece is meant to portray the release of that positive energy within the wheel.

Created using Kontakt and Reaktor; hosted in Sonar X1.

I’ve combined experimental sound design with more traditional composition techniques for this one. I’ve also attempted something totally new for me – 100% ‘live’ real-time mixing of various parameters via two MIDI controllers linked into separate Reaktor modules.

The opening section (up to the sudden change at 2:08) is almost entirely created from fragments of the original field recording – all edited ‘live’ in two Reaktor modules. I produced just 2 new strands for this section: 1) A live recording of a singing bowl that I’ve owned for years and never actually used in a full piece until now! 2) A synthesised / sampled male vocal mantra / drone – time stretched and re-pitched in Melodyne.

The central section explodes into life with various extra strands – 8 orchestral lines, tuned percussion, piano, synthesised / sampled female vocals time stretched and re-pitched in Melodyne. The kick drum and non-pitched percussion loops were all created from fragments of the original field recording.

The final section returns to the opening ambience, but with the addition of an extra live singing bowl line – this time a rhythmic pattern tapped out on its edge with soft beaters."