Rhythms of the ice
Jan 17, 2023, 09:35 PM
"This piece is about the struggle between different rhythmic forces – the natural (organic) and the made. But also it is a struggle between the large, loudness of ice breaking up against the quietness of the lonely ice land.
"I was initially struck about how rhythmic the sound was, and when thinking about how to create the piece I began by thinking about other similar rhythmic patterns I have come across – steam trains and weaving machines – both made and industrial. These seem a good contrast to the natural and organic sounds from the original recording and fit with an idea of a struggle between nature and human intervention.
"I isolated one other sound that I could make out from the recording – a sound that made me think of a foghorn. I used this a signal sound.
"Lastly I decided that there should be a contrast section which echoed this big expanse of remoteness, and as I have built up quite a collection of ‘wind’ sounds created on my flute I used some I recorded binaurally for another project.
"I used Logic X to edit the sounds and remix and as with many of my pieces I used a mixture of reverb and delays to change the sounds. I also used automation control of volume and panning in my mix."
Narwhal reimagined by Jessica Rowland.
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.
"I was initially struck about how rhythmic the sound was, and when thinking about how to create the piece I began by thinking about other similar rhythmic patterns I have come across – steam trains and weaving machines – both made and industrial. These seem a good contrast to the natural and organic sounds from the original recording and fit with an idea of a struggle between nature and human intervention.
"I isolated one other sound that I could make out from the recording – a sound that made me think of a foghorn. I used this a signal sound.
"Lastly I decided that there should be a contrast section which echoed this big expanse of remoteness, and as I have built up quite a collection of ‘wind’ sounds created on my flute I used some I recorded binaurally for another project.
"I used Logic X to edit the sounds and remix and as with many of my pieces I used a mixture of reverb and delays to change the sounds. I also used automation control of volume and panning in my mix."
Narwhal reimagined by Jessica Rowland.
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.