Small circle of the quiet sea
Jan 17, 2023, 08:48 PM
"RECORDING PROCESS:
Composed using 8 layers of digitised ambient recordings:
* The original field recording (#31 “A Silent Ocean”) and two time stretched versions of the same recording.
* A homemade field recording made to the length of the longest ‘stretched’ version of the original, capturing environmental noises & sounds from my garden studio with door and window open.
* 3 improvised and contrasting recordings of an unplugged electric violin.
* sustained arhythmic, atonal bowed noise.
* harmonic drone tones.
* slow modal melody.
* 1 recording of a traditional, upright piano played using only the pedals.
"TECHNIQUES USED:
The stretched versions were created by transposing the original down one and then two octaves, producing recordings double and quadruple the length. These were essentially left untreated whilst each other layer was heavily processed, the results further passed through various digital effects.
The final mix was created by fading each layer in and then out over the duration of the composition.
"INSPIRATION:
My first reaction to hearing the original recording was one of complete surprise. I had expected it to be quite eventless, barren and empty. I listened to it a few times on different devices before I was confident the file hadn’t somehow become corrupt in download, or that my sound card was distorting resulting in relentless noise I heard on playback. I looked to the map coordinates of where the recording was made and felt a bit foolish. What was I thinking this place would be gentle, but considering my love of Japanese “Noise”, this was also perfect as a starting point. I’ve consciously tried to re/create this exactly with the bowed electric string many times set to this task enthusiastically!
"THE STORY BEHIND THE COMPOSITION:
The thought of working with such a remote sound, so far from normal human daily experience instantly inspired the idea for my piece:
As the original recording was a snippet of an unending ‘sameness’ from somewhere inhospitable to life, I would capture something the same from my surroundings, directly. Being in my town garden studio with daily life audible all around, such as birds singing; planes, cars & motorbikes passing; people going about their business; and most notably, the construction work immediately near by. The complete opposite of the original stimulus. The juxtaposition of the two and with digital manipulation yielded interesting blends of timbres and textures.
The idea developed further, exploring the character of the original field recording through extended bowed string technique and experimental piano."
Silent ocean reimagined by Ben Heaney.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.
Composed using 8 layers of digitised ambient recordings:
* The original field recording (#31 “A Silent Ocean”) and two time stretched versions of the same recording.
* A homemade field recording made to the length of the longest ‘stretched’ version of the original, capturing environmental noises & sounds from my garden studio with door and window open.
* 3 improvised and contrasting recordings of an unplugged electric violin.
* sustained arhythmic, atonal bowed noise.
* harmonic drone tones.
* slow modal melody.
* 1 recording of a traditional, upright piano played using only the pedals.
"TECHNIQUES USED:
The stretched versions were created by transposing the original down one and then two octaves, producing recordings double and quadruple the length. These were essentially left untreated whilst each other layer was heavily processed, the results further passed through various digital effects.
The final mix was created by fading each layer in and then out over the duration of the composition.
"INSPIRATION:
My first reaction to hearing the original recording was one of complete surprise. I had expected it to be quite eventless, barren and empty. I listened to it a few times on different devices before I was confident the file hadn’t somehow become corrupt in download, or that my sound card was distorting resulting in relentless noise I heard on playback. I looked to the map coordinates of where the recording was made and felt a bit foolish. What was I thinking this place would be gentle, but considering my love of Japanese “Noise”, this was also perfect as a starting point. I’ve consciously tried to re/create this exactly with the bowed electric string many times set to this task enthusiastically!
"THE STORY BEHIND THE COMPOSITION:
The thought of working with such a remote sound, so far from normal human daily experience instantly inspired the idea for my piece:
As the original recording was a snippet of an unending ‘sameness’ from somewhere inhospitable to life, I would capture something the same from my surroundings, directly. Being in my town garden studio with daily life audible all around, such as birds singing; planes, cars & motorbikes passing; people going about their business; and most notably, the construction work immediately near by. The complete opposite of the original stimulus. The juxtaposition of the two and with digital manipulation yielded interesting blends of timbres and textures.
The idea developed further, exploring the character of the original field recording through extended bowed string technique and experimental piano."
Silent ocean reimagined by Ben Heaney.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.