sound heard

In the darkness, there is little quiet, rather there is a lot of quiet sound. The natural gas of the wall unit heater fills the darkness of the room with a dull, low frequency band of noise. The quieter it is the more the slight increases and decreases in amplitude stand out, a study of the evolution of the flickering of a flame, perpetual and continuously varied. CRACK the entire airspace of the wall unit is filled with a single staccato attack that rings within the metal casing. The size of the casing, where it is in the room are instantly known. It seems that these occasional attacks are sufficient to disrupt and and contrast the dull, yet fabulously rich roar of the gas.



Last week I spent two days in the Storke Bell Tower recording; loud, medium and soft attacks of each bell, there are 60. This took three people and two days. The samples will be used for the practice carillon, but I will also play a bit with them. You would not believe the amount of noise pollution there is from the airport, the trains and the buses. Oddly, all of these (along with construction percussion) were the most regular and obtrusive. Seems that we are a people continually on the move and that makes a lot of sound.

The Process.



Matt "the monkey" up in the bell loft, not much above that but the roof.



Matt"the crazed performer"Wright at the keyboard controls.



Setting microphones up. Doing my best to avoid interference from the many cell phone antennas 3 feet away, that was fun.



The view at a particular moment.