For some time now I've wanted to produce an album of ambient sound collages. Atmospheres Part Iis the first step towards that goal. The soundscapes presented here are built from my ever-growing collection of field recordings, spiced up with minimal synthesizer sequences, circuit-bent sounds, and the occasional home-built instrument.
It's released under a Creative Commons license. The music may be used in non-commercial productions royalty free, on the condition that I'm credited.
Audio:
As usual, here is some track-by-track commentary:
1. Night Of The Cacti - In 2010 I was fortunate to visit a correspondent of mine, Jay Ellington Lee, at his home on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, Jay passed away the following year. Among other things he was a composer for film, radio, and television, had a hand in designing the E-Mu modular synthesizer, and was an all-round creative boffin. I shall forever be grateful for his friendship, and the opportunity to see some of the Sonora Desert. This soundscape is based on recordings I made at his home, and is an attempt to capture my impressions of the desert, which is more alive than one might first imagine.
One evening Jay dug out some LED light boxes, which led to the both of us venturing out into the night to light and photograph cacti. Despite only having a digital point-and-shoot camera with me on the trip, I was pleased with the eerie and surreal results. I had those photographs in mind when I set about recording this track.
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2. Down In The Data Mines - 'Data mining' seems to be the gold rush of the new millenium, with companies like G**gle and FaceB**k collecting and storing data left, right, and centre. This track looks at the concept from the point of view of the virtual robots whizzing around the ethernet, doing the actual 'digging'. A lot of circuit-bent sounds, and a fridge, went into this one.
3. A Night In The Big Room -A restless night in an old asphalt testing lab in the industrial zone, marked by strange sounds and waking dreams, was the inspiration. Recordings from the actual location were used, along with some stand-ins and a few tape experiments to exaggerate the experience.
Video:
4. Landwhales - A synthesizer sequence made with MS-20 Mini and the SQ-1 sequencer, rejected from an early version of 'Cacti', became the basis for this track. 5. Well Of Souls - The bulk of this track consists of sounds made by a faulty toilet flusher valve. It also features an out-of-tune piano a kind lady by the name of Cleo allowed me to sample. Incidentally, her wheezing dog makes an appearance on 'Landwhales.'
This release has been waiting in the wings since Christmas 2018. I've been busy with various things in the interim, but several events have brought it to the front of my mind, such as the anniversary of the day that inspired 'The Ash Monk': August 17th. More about that in the commentary below.
Ever since I started composing soundtracks, pieces would emerge that are more atmosphere than music. One of my goals has been to create an original album of them. In December of 2015 I released the first handful as an EP (see this post), which have been remastered for the full album.
My ideal was to create dark, moody, and somewhat unobtrusive sound collages that could be played in the background while doing other creative things: much like Brian Eno's masterful 'Ambient 2: On Land'. To say I succeeded in matching the greatness of that album would be a stretch, but most of the tracks lived up to my expectations.
When it came time to master this album, I wanted to record it to 1/4" reel-to-reel tape. Some of the field recordings had background hiss, and my thought was to mask that with the hiss of analog tape. I even went so far as to record a version on my Fostex X26 four-track. The resulting tape sounded fantastic, but re-digitizing it revealed a flaw in my thinking: to get the levels back up to digital standards, the hiss became too obtrusive.
In the end I chose to stay within the digital realm. I spent some extra time carefully taming hiss with EQ's, and auditioned several (free) tape saturation plugins: settling on one called Ferrous. The album sounded good before the Ferrous treatment, but now it sounds great. I decided to sequence the album as a continuous mix, rather than individual tracks with breaks inbetween.
Bandcamp Player:
Here is my usual track-by-track rundown:
1. The Hungry Grass
The
bell-like and largely dissonant melody that forms the backbone of ‘The Hungry
Grass’ was created by a device called a MIDI Sprout: reading micro-voltages
from the leaf of a peace lily that lives in my studio, converting them to MIDI
notes and feeding them to an emulation of a Fender Rhodes electric piano, while
I worked the sustain pedal. This was captured on cassette tape and played back
at half speed. Various field-recordings were similarly pitch-shifted and run
through effects over top, and once I’d decided on a title, I rustled a bunch of
dried leaves in front of a microphone to simulate the reaching fronds of
‘hungry grass’: a botanical menace from Irish folklore, wont to waylay
travellers and spirit them away to the land of the fey.
In 2010 I
was fortunate to visit a correspondent of mine, Jay Ellington Lee, at his home
in the outskirts of Tucson,
Arizona. Sadly, Jay passed away
the following year. Among other things he was a composer for film, radio, and
television; had a hand in designing the E-Mu Modular synthesizer, and was an
all-round creative boffin. I shall forever be grateful for his friendship, and
the opportunity to visit the Sonora
Desert. This soundscape
is based on recordings I made at his home, and is an attempt to capture my
impressions of the desert, which is more alive than one might first imagine.
One evening Jay dug out some LED light boxes, and we both ventured into the
night to light and photograph cacti. I was pleased with the eerie and surreal
results. I had those photographs in mind when I set about recording.
3. Down in the Data Mines -
'Data mining' seems to be the gold rush of the new millenium, with companies
like G**gle and FaceB**k collecting and storing data left, right, and centre.
‘Down in the Data Mines’ looks at the concept from the point of view of the
virtual robots whizzing around the ethernet and doing the actual 'digging'. A
lot of sounds from circuit-bent electronics, and a recording of a particularly noisy
fridge, feature on this one.
When I read
an article about a mystery sound – something like a sonar ping – heard in, yes,
Fury Strait, I couldn’t help but be inspired by it. I put my mind to what it
might sound like, choosing the Novation K-Station to realise it, and tweaking parameters
until it sounded suitably eerie. This was set to the treated sound of waves
recorded at Foul Bay
(Victoria, BC), and some plaintive simulated guitars –
chosen because someone was playing a guitar that day on the beach when I made
my recording.
Another
title inspired by an article. The ‘Towers of Silence’ exist, but they aren’t
perhaps what you might expect them to be. My fanciful imagination pictured vast
towering structures that broadcast ‘silence’ in the form of noise-cancelling
transmissions, hence my choice of washes of white noise – captured from a car
wash in Abbortsford, BC – over richly varied sounds from the greensward beside
an MDF plant.
Instruments: Firebird VST, Sampler (MDF plant + woodland ambience, well casing, piledriver, car wash).
6. The Ash Monk
You may
have read about, or even experienced, the wildfires that plagued British Columbia for two
consecutive summers. The Ash Monk was written during the second wave, having
seen red-tinged darkness at two-o’clock in the afternoon and air that you wouldn’t
breathe if you had a choice. In an attempt to capture some of that feeling of
apocalyptic dread, I called upon the MIDI Sprout: this time sequencing an FM
chime sound. Perhaps perversely, I paired the treated result with a
pitch-shifted recording of water dripping onto an upturned bath. It surprised
me that the drips had a considerable echo when they were slowed down, so I
emphasized this effect. My own feelings were added in the form of a very simple
but dread-laden improvisation on emulated Rhodes.
The title is drawn from Japanese folklore.
A
synthesizer sequence made with MS-20 Mini and SQ-1 sequencer, rejected from an
early version of 'Cacti', became the basis for this track. The concept of
landwhales came from a comic by Akira Toriyama. Perhaps this is what you might
hear as these vast creatures lumber across the continent.
A restless
night in an old asphalt testing lab in the industrial zone, marked by the sound
of an incessant clock, massive central heating, the constant hum of a server
farm, and waking dreams, was the inspiration. Recordings from the actual
location were used, along with some stand-ins and a few tape experiments to
exaggerate the experience.
Instruments: Korg MS20 Mini (pink noise), Spring Thing mk3, Boss RE-20 Space Echo, Sampler (wind-up alarm clock, wall clock, server room, gas furnace, road paving machine, heating clunks).
Video:
9. Those Who Haunt the Workhouse
An idling
diesel locomotive and some industrial noises, all heavily treated, paint this
picture of lingering souls who lost their lives in industrial accidents of
times passed.
Instruments: Korg MS20 Mini, TAL U-No-LX VST, Sampler (diesel locomotives, loading bay, voices, door squeak).
10. Well of Souls
The bulk of
this soundscape consists of remarkable sounds made by a faulty toilet flusher
valve. It also features an out-of-tune piano a kind lady by the name of Cleo
allowed me to sample (her wheezing dog also makes an appearance on 'Landwhales').
The picture above doesn't necessarily represent 2019, but you could say that work in the studio was somewhat chaotic. If you look back at my 'year in review' for 2018, you'll note I made some statements about my release schedule that didn't exactly fall into place. The Atmospheres album did eventually see the light of day, but very late in the year because of a busy spring and summer. My magnum opus Dreams of Sleeping Engines is still not out, but on the plus side I took extra time to fix some things I wasn't happy with.
A list of my audio-visual related accomplishments for 2019:
-Collaborated with Disco Antenna on a cover of Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy'.
-Mixed and mastered the 'Seven' EP for No More Cries (on which I also play keyboards and sing backup).
-Filmed a music video for No More Cries (still in post-production).
-Recorded Fender Rhodes and synthesizer for Meredith Higgins' debut EP 'Waves', release date TBA.
-Debuted The Manitou's 2014 album 'Radioatomic' on major download and streaming sites via DistroKid.
-Released The Manitou's album 'Atmospheres' via Bandcamp and DistroKid.
-Composed 11 songs for Sybille Muschik's Shoreline Studio Video Blog, subsequently released as an album titled 'Music of the Lake'. Filmed and edited 7 videos for Sybille's channel.
-Completed work on The Manitou's 'Dreams of Sleeping Engines', release date TBA.
What are my goals for 2020? Certainly to release the things that didn't make it into last year's roster; promote my music better; write a follow-up to Music of the Lake and continue with the filming work for Sybille's show; revisit some material from a 'lost' Manitou album from 2010; start work on some Audio Drama soundtracks I've been asked to compose; remaster portions of my back-catalog for DistroKid release; finish the No More Cries music video (and perhaps film another one). That would be a good start!
One more video for the Atmospheres stuff. I'd like to eventually do a 'making of' for this track, but in the meantime I have a new e.p. out so look out for that in a forthcoming post.
As previously mentioned, the Atmospheres_Part I e.p. is available as a free download via bandcamp. If you'd prefer to just snag this track, you can find it on SoundCloud:
Now that the new studio PC is up and running I'm devoting some time to work that was interrupted by the change-over. This includes completing a new e.p. of various experiments that don't fit with the theme of the new Manitou album, and videos for some of the pieces from Atmospheres Part I.
A Night In The Big Room was inspired by the building you see in the video footage. I shot this sometime around 2007 on a VHS-C camcorder. For the story behind the sound collage, see this post.
At last, the album is complete. Releasing it in stages has been an interesting process, but I always intended it to be a cohesive work. Ladies and gentlemen, the first 'proper' album by The Manitou since 2008: Radioatomic.
Bandcamp player:
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that Radioatomic has been inspired by radioactivity and the Atomic Age. Production began in early 2013 and has taken over a year and a half to complete. That isn't to say it was my sole project during that time: two (as yet unreleased) soundtracks were tackled, and a handful of songs that didn't fit the theme are waiting in the wings for the follow-up.
The songs herein range from 'atmospheres' and experimental pieces to synthpop/electropop with a dark edge. They were created with a host of analogue and analogue-modelling synthesizers, virtual instruments, digital sampler software fed with 'found sounds' (field recordings, etc...), and a handful of drum machines and electronic toys (a track-by-track list of these devices can be found in the PDF booklet accompanying the release).
Track listing: 1. March Of The Rads 2. Electro Magnetic 3. Isotopes For All - Part 1 4. U235 5. Isotopes For All - Part 2 6. 96.1 MHz 7. Half Life 8. Global Warning 9. Nibiru 10. Radium Smile 11. Reactor Four 12. Atomic City 13. Cathode Ray 14. Fukushima Fifty 15. 96.2 MHz 16. A Robot In Every Home
These sixteen tracks all but fill an 80 minute CD, but the deluxe digital download on bandcamp includes seven bonus tracks: the single edits of five album tracks, an instrumental version of Half Life, and the electro mix of Atomic City. Thus every track released as part of the series of free singles is included in the package.
Also included is a 30 page .PDF booklet with liner notes, lyrics, and track-by-track artwork and instrument lists. For more detailed commentary on each track I suggest searching this blog for the keyword 'Radioatomic.'
The artists Atomic Shadow and Kraftwerk deserve special mention, as both heavily influenced this album. Specifically, it was #9
by Atomic Shadow that inspired me to browse the Prelinger Archive for
public domain film reels, resulting in 'Isotopes For All' and
'Atomic City.' Kraftwerk have been an influence on my music from day
one, but during production I realised that their 1975 album Radio-Activity had more than just its subject-matter in common with this project. If you haven't heard it I urge you to follow the link and do so.
After a bit of a delay, here is the fifth free single leading up to the Radioatomic album: Half Life. It features a 'proper song' and a couple of experiments I like to call sonic atmospheres.
Bandcamp Player:
Half Life is perhaps my favourite song that I've written for the album. It was written in March of 2013 but not finished until this April. It started out with a basic loop made from a clock sample and a bass note from the Korg Monotribe. I called upon the K-Station for an arpeggio (and a few other sounds) you may recognise from other tracks, as I wanted to give the songs on this album a similar sound and style. The bulk of the lead sounds were made on the Roland HS-60. It wasn't long after I got it that I made this song, and I wanted to 'show it off' as it were. The Yamaha TG-33 also makes an appearance. It's a digital 'vector synth' designed for making evolving pads, but in this case I've just used its lovely bell sound. The drums are Alesis SR-16 samples which were initially programmed via keyboard but redone using the Alesis SamplePad to give them variable velocity and a few interesting frills here and there.
Audio:
Video:
March of the Rads is the earliest track I recorded for Radioatomic. It's essentially an aural journey into a radioactive wasteland. We hear the clicking of a geiger counter, getting faster as the radiation builds, the stark sounds of wind and other strange wiggly noises. I thought I was being clever, only to realise that Kraftwerk already did this in the 70's on the opening track to their album 'Radioactivity.' The geiger sound was realised on K-Station. If you apply a pitch modulation envelope to a sawtooth oscillator you can, with a bit of fiddling, slow the waveform waaaay down until it just becomes a click. Turning it slowly back up produced the backing track, which was then fed through a Danelectro Spring King (spring reverb pedal). HS-60 provides wind sounds and the weird wiggly radiation noise. Monotribe also makes a brief appearance and you can hear some radio frequency sounds towards the end.
Video: (coming soon)
Global Warning while doing research for the album I happened upon this youtube clip, filmed inside Sellafield THORP. At 3:50 you can hear the criticality alarm which sounds perpetually inside the building. I found the whole idea rather creepy and thought it would be a cool experiment to replicate the ambience using synthesizers. The blips were made on the Monotribe through the Spring King. HS-60 and K-Station each provide a layer of filtered noise to emulate the background hum of the industrial building.
I'm back at work on the soundtrack I began producing in the winter of 2011. The script has been rewritten from the ground up and thus all my carefully-timed cues no longer fit the scenes. It was always my intention to extend the cues into album-length pieces, so it's not a huge deal. In fact I'd made a start last year, so it's now a case of finishing the process. I also had several new scenes to write cues for so it will now be a much longer 'record' when at last it sees the light of day.
Without going into details, the music is inspired by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's science fiction output from the 60's. I'm using a lot of the same techniques to create it, but with modern tools. It occurred to me that the sound of cymbals, processed by various methods, would lend itself to the new material. Initially I was going to buy a crash cymbal, until I discovered the 'crash-ride.' It has a much longer decay than a regular crash, and can be played as a ride as well. I wanted the sound of both, so it worked out perfectly.
As well as using it in the conventional manner, I've done some close-micing experiments that yielded good results. Putting a microphone right at the edge picks up deep wobbly bass tones that are great for 'spacy' atmospheres. Playing it with rubber mallets produces a nice dark shimmery tone. The decay is indeed long. I wouldn't say that the 'crash' is particularly bright on this cymbal, but I've never owned one so I can only compare it to samples. This is also a used cymbal and has a degree of tarnish to it, which I'm told darkens the sound. It actually suits my work so I won't be polishing it.
2018 was, surprisingly, a creative year for me. Here is a run-down of the audio-related projects I was involved in:
-Mixed six No More Cries songs for a film project (none were used - but they'll end up on the double album in the works). Recorded roughly 10 more backing tracks for the album to add to the 12 or so already in the can.
-Mixed and mastered Danny Brickell's debut CD, and recorded 8 or so tracks for his follow-up.
-Mixed an EP's worth of songs for Jessica Harvey, recorded three new tracks for her.
-Recorded (and filmed) around 7 songs for Chad Stump, and contributed keyboards and vocals to his wedding song.
-Recorded five songs for Meredith Higgins, for which there is some session work in-progress.
-Remixed 'Our Revenge' for Zwaremachine.
-Remixed a song for Schultz (yet to be released).
-Composed a complete backing track for Taylor Waters (yet to be released).
-Mastered four Disco Antenna songs for one-off lathe-cut vinyl and subsequent digital EP.
-Remastered Disco Antenna's 'Side A' and 'Side B' for the forthcoming full-length album (to be released 2019).
-Made a new sound collage for The Manitou's 'Atmospheres', and mastered the album (to be released 2019).
-Wrote one song for The Manitou's 'Dreams of Sleeping Engines', recorded vocals for six songs. This album is in the mastering stage.
Have I forgotten anything? Probably. 2019 will see at least three of my albums come to light, and hopefully the long-awaited debut from No More Cries as well.
Things are also looking bright for some Audio Drama work this year. Watch this space!
