Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Post audio files & youtube videos.
Post Reply
User avatar
sasha
Posts: 2062
Joined: April 12th, 2016, 12:01 pm
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Post by sasha » August 29th, 2018, 11:06 am

So I've been capturing the sounds of the night here in the woods - the chitinous revelry of all those critters with exoskeletons taking advantage of the unusual heat & humidity before the inevitable Age of Dark and Cold. Monday night (or early Tue morning) I aimed the Tascam out of a north window and set it running for about half an hour. After uploading it the next morning, I noticed a few anomalous events in the waveform at about the 13 minute mark. On playback, it turned out to be a faint, slowly rhythmic growling over the backdrop of katydids. I wasn't sure at first what it was until I boosted the signal by about 10 db.

It was my dog snoring, asleep under the same window.

Thanks, Kane. Take Two - roll tape........

(60-second clip of same attached - 750,000 insects + 1 yellow lab)
 
TASCAM_0088.mp3
(937.55 KiB) Not downloaded yet
.
"Falsehood flies, the Truth comes limping after it." - Jonathan Swift, ca. 1710

saw
Posts: 8279
Joined: May 23rd, 2008, 7:32 am
Location: B'more, Maryland

Re: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Post by saw » September 9th, 2018, 9:55 pm

really cool....and what a great hobby...unique and captivating....keep it up
If you do not change your direction
you may end up where you are heading

User avatar
sasha
Posts: 2062
Joined: April 12th, 2016, 12:01 pm
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

Re: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Post by sasha » September 10th, 2018, 3:14 pm

I was about 12 when I got my first tape recorder, a cheap little toy from the days when "made in Japan" was synonymous with "knock-off junk". But it introduced me to a world that had been invisible - rather, inaudible - to me until then. My own heartbeat.... pressing the mic to my throat and swallowing.... putting it into a plastic bag and immersing the bag in running water.... sounds recorded within the piano..... plus all the usual pubescent nonsense celebrating the music of our GI tracts. But it lit a fire.... Subsequent upgrades let me explore the wonders of speed changes, and the possibilities of cut & paste (literally, in those days of yore).........

With the Tascam I've recorded night katydids, field crickets, owls, cardinals, titmice, & summer cicadas.... the reverberations within my washing machine basin.... an assortment of steel kitchen bowls.... steel springs (stretched, struck, strummed).... and the digital colors Audacity offers let one alter these sounds until they're unrecognizable for what they are.... but no less compelling for it, maybe even moreso.....

I'll be crashing with my bro for a few days this weekend, at his summer trailer up in Maine. It's a mile or so from an active rail line - I'm looking forward to recording the haunting sound of a distant train in the night.....

What will I do with all this raw material? Beats me. But I've also long had a love affair with musique concrete.... so who knows?

Thanks for taking note - yes, this IS a fun hobby!
.
"Falsehood flies, the Truth comes limping after it." - Jonathan Swift, ca. 1710

Post Reply

Return to “Music, Spoken Word & Video”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests