Beneath the ice

"For my piece, I wanted to do something that conveyed the rhythm of the original recording. My first step was to use noise reduction software to separate the background noise from the rhythmic clicking. I then loaded those as samples onto my Elektron Octatrack and Analog RYTM. On the RYTM I created a drum kit layering samples of the recording with the drum synth engines. I used the Octatrack to sequence and play back the recording through my modular synthesizer where I used resonators, filters, a sequencer and effects to create the bass-line, melody, and background wash of sound. The result was this dreamy, hypnotic, swaggering beat that conjures images for me of toothed cetaceans foraging, hunting, and frolicking beneath the ice."

Odontocete sounds reimagined by Scott Riesterer.

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.