Please_wait
Aug 18, 2022, 03:33 PM
Composition by Eric Powell.
"My goal in creating Please_wait was to embrace the theme of "obsolete sounds" on as many levels as possible. After selecting the sound of a Siemen’s ventilator–a rather rattly, yet sustained sound, I decided to use that everyday whirr to create a lush, choral, drone-y piece. I felt the best way to do that was to combine the fan sound with some kind of chime or bell. I happened to have a couple salvaged rotary telephone bells (another obsolete sound) in my studio, and I composed the piece using a now-obsolete computer and software system–a circa 2007 iMac running Logic Pro 8 with a c.2005 Zoom H4 as the recording device/audio interface. Obsolescent sounds meet obsolescent technology.
"Please_wait uses convolution reverb to play the sounds of the ventilator 'through' the sounds of the telephone bells. In addition to this process, I used a small amount of pitch shifting and amplitude control to shape the piece. However, I didn't edit or trim any of the recordings, as I wanted the piece to explore how the handling sounds (i.e. switching the technology on or off) found in both the source recordings, and my recordings of the telephone chimes--something I think many field recordists choose to remove from their files as 'unwanted' sounds, yet are in fact a big part of how we hear our recording technology--would interact in the convolution process. The end result is a little unsettling, I know. Part of my love for this piece comes in how the harmonics of the two telephone bells grind up against each other as they vibrate through the sound of the ventilator: drifting from tonal conflict, to resolution, and back again.
"As a last step in embracing old or disappearing sounds, I bounced/rendered the piece out in .mp3 format before upconverting it into .wav. An intentional move to capture some of the unique lossy characteristics of a disappearing format."
This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
"My goal in creating Please_wait was to embrace the theme of "obsolete sounds" on as many levels as possible. After selecting the sound of a Siemen’s ventilator–a rather rattly, yet sustained sound, I decided to use that everyday whirr to create a lush, choral, drone-y piece. I felt the best way to do that was to combine the fan sound with some kind of chime or bell. I happened to have a couple salvaged rotary telephone bells (another obsolete sound) in my studio, and I composed the piece using a now-obsolete computer and software system–a circa 2007 iMac running Logic Pro 8 with a c.2005 Zoom H4 as the recording device/audio interface. Obsolescent sounds meet obsolescent technology.
"Please_wait uses convolution reverb to play the sounds of the ventilator 'through' the sounds of the telephone bells. In addition to this process, I used a small amount of pitch shifting and amplitude control to shape the piece. However, I didn't edit or trim any of the recordings, as I wanted the piece to explore how the handling sounds (i.e. switching the technology on or off) found in both the source recordings, and my recordings of the telephone chimes--something I think many field recordists choose to remove from their files as 'unwanted' sounds, yet are in fact a big part of how we hear our recording technology--would interact in the convolution process. The end result is a little unsettling, I know. Part of my love for this piece comes in how the harmonics of the two telephone bells grind up against each other as they vibrate through the sound of the ventilator: drifting from tonal conflict, to resolution, and back again.
"As a last step in embracing old or disappearing sounds, I bounced/rendered the piece out in .mp3 format before upconverting it into .wav. An intentional move to capture some of the unique lossy characteristics of a disappearing format."
This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds