Long Gone Away

Long Gone Away


The Marble Index is one of my favorite albums.

Still I had to laugh when I read (some damn place) how the professionals mixing the record did as much as they could as fast as they could. The songs, written and sung by Nico and arranged by John Cale, were simply making these guys suicidal.

One might cite Plato and Aristotle and argue than music and the broader swath of arts & culture may either invoke bad feelings or deliver us from them through catharsis. I'd guess it works either way, to the point that positive thinking and primal screams can by turns harm or help.

In any case, if a song or whatever really wants to be written and played and recorded--well, good luck doing otherwise. Tho' you may have to mix it yourself.

Tho' not the iced over river crossing that is The Marble Index, such was the story of the song above. At times couched in broad social terms, an elegy for & goodbye to what's behind.

WeaslThrum

WeaslThrum


Usual fun stuff. Toy piano. Kalimba flutter. Some 60 Hz hum sampled into a Yamaha VSS-30. Slide whistle and loon call. Lantern battery terminal springs sproinging, voices and such.

Kitchen Improv

Kitchen Improv


This starts out quietly then gets good and loud.

Just something cooked up one day with assorted kitchen items as percussion: a kitchen sink, an oven rack, a kettle partially filled with water, various lids and a porcelain bowl submerged in water by varying degrees (to create pitchbendy goodness), water sloshing in the sink and so on.

All the sorts of cool sounds one hears when washing dishes, but one is, well, too busy washing dishes to do much about other than listen.

Recorded with the Zoom H4 and mixed on Cubase LE.

wind it up

Last of the short sounds . . .

Tape Player Cue

keep it moving

A drive-by MemoMate recording on Tremont St. in Boston. A busker's drum beat blends into the roar of a bus.

Street Drummer



Now a couple of brief announcements . . .

chghere4theGreenLine



dwntownNewBedford

short nature clips

Some very short lo-fi field recordings made with the ever trusty MemoMate--just click on the titles or the icons to play:

Fairhaven Peepers



BirdSong@EgyptLane


Egypt Lane is a short road through woods and marsh. It was an inspiration for this song and this video (and this alternate version of the video).


TreeFrog?@UMASSDartmouth

of frogs & thunder

Faint recordings--for close listening, turn up the volume.

FrogsEtcFloodedBackyd11May07


After a particularly heavy downpour last May, the fields & backyard where I was visiting were flooded with more than rain. There were frogs near and far. Mostly you can hear the near ones.

FrogsInFloodedBkyard11May07



(BTW: not thunder exactly, but frogs & distant fireworks . . .)

You may find these thunderstorm recordings to be somewhat louder--please adjust volume accordingly.

Thunderstorm28July2007



These thunderstorms were all recorded in Massachusetts.

Thunderstorm21June2007-3



The one below is from earlier in the same storm, so the rain and runoff is louder. But the thunder gets close starting around 1:43.

Thunderstorm21June2007-2

crickets & birdsong 13 September 2007

CricketsCicadaBirdsNearBarn13Sep2007



BirdsongCrickets13Sept2007



More recordings from Southeastern Virginia. Like the two main recordings in goose again, done last September.

And more of James River splashing, from another day that September:


JamesRivShoreOffColPkwy26Sep2007

goose again & river splashing

FlybyGooseCowsRoosters30Sept2007


Yes, again with the geese.

Beyond some nearby birds singing, it's a faint recording. Turn up the volume to hear a goose, calling out & flying over around 1:45 to 1:55. Yep, you can hear the cycling wisp of its wings in motion.

Not to mention faraway cows and dogs, roosters crowing, cars passing.

Hard to believe it's early Sunday morning on a farm. Cageian silence, country-fried.

A bit more of the same here.


WavesJamesRivHogIsFishingArea30Sep2007



This is louder--so turn down the volume a bit. If only to save any subwoofers from the rumble of the wind.

But it's the same Sunday morning as before. Just later on with a change of venue.

The James River splashing, a plane, a boat passing. And the aforementioned wind rising up now & then.

If it's more geese ye be needing, here's a long ago lo-fi snip of winter on Hog Island.

summer out, winter in

Continuing in the field recording vein, late summer outside at night. Recorded where I currently live, not too far south of Framingham MA.

Night Sounds 23 August 2007 #2


Crickets, frogs, some passing aircraft & distant cars. About 17 minutes 5 seconds in length.


Night Sounds 24 August 2007



About 26 minutes 35 seconds long.

I don't recall if the 23rd was a cooler night than the 24th. (One might count cricket chirps.)

But the 23rd certainly has a cooler, more relaxed & uncluttered sound than the 24th.

Choose according to mood.


Whistle of Oil Tank Filling 22 January 2008



Now winter inside: the whistle created by a heating oil tank being filled up, plus the shutoff noise and the very quiet sounds that follow down in the basement. About 4 minutes and 3 seconds long.

Again, all the sounds were recorded with a Zoom H4 Handy Recorder using the built-in microphones.