#14

Cheers!

Yes, one of the mallets I was using had suede around it.

I think I need to tap the side of the bowls rather than the rim to reduce the transient, but also used a transient-shaper to try and reduce that in this recording.

Probably shouldā€™ve tried putting the microphone further away too, I guess.

That wouldā€™ve suited this exercise.

1 Like
#15

Hey All, The title makes it kinda self explanatory. Lots of reverb on each track and on the master to get the effect I was going for. It would be cool if the listener could be in a mine cart and could slowly move toward the chamber where the ā€œmusicā€ is coming from. Hope all are well.

Peace, Hugh

7 Likes
#16

ā€œSouthwestern Desertā€ was made a couple of months ago and released under a new band name of mine, Vibrating Wires, but it was definitely crafted to be ā€œheard from afarā€, and at a reduced volume. Visually, I see it as driving down a desert highway at night, perhaps under a full moon, and observing an eerie landscape. I was also thinking about the alleged UFO abduction of Barney & Betty Hill, although they were in New Hampshire.

During the summer of 2020, I bought a lap steel guitar, a Behringer NR300 Noise Reducer pedal, and hooked all that up to my Empress Reverb box.

ā€œSouthwestern Desertā€ was created in one take with just editing on the ends.

The photo is by me, taken Friday, August 14th, of an electrical substation built about a half mile from my house. I took the photo about 5:30am or so. Our homeā€™s power had been knocked out in the Derecho wind storm that swept through Iowa on August 10th. My family had been staying at a motel about 45 minutes south that had power, and I was informed that the power had been restored to our home late on Thursday evening, so I drove up early on Friday to take care of some things. Seeing the power on at the substation was an excellent sign. That photo is way cool, too. I just pulled my smartphone out and ā€œsnapā€. No post-processing either. I got lucky with that one.

Mark Rushton: https://www.markrushton.com

6 Likes
#17

This is all quite cool. What does the noise reducer bring to your setup? Several of the disquiet folks play pedal and/or lapsteel.

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#18

Did you take that picture? Please say yes and let me know a story as to how, even if it is not true. Iā€™d probably lose my cool, but I would love to play in a place like that.

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#19

You can probably do this with a doppler effect plugin :slight_smile:

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#20

i often listen to music in this way; i like the way it drifts in from another room on the cusp of liminality, how you can catch a different melody on the wrong beat

i amplified the noise from my soundcard and eqā€™d to make it a bit more listenable
played something slow and drifting in iris 2. further blurred with paulstretch and izotope vinyl
slow beat pitched right down and muffled with supermassive

3 Likes
#21


I have reinterpreted the assignment to make music intended to be heard from afar and composed music to be listened to as normal at the volume the listender is accustomed to. The distanced listening position is integrated into the composition. First of all I used two lo-fi recordings of hoovering noises that I made through a closed door as the primary sound material. I looped these field recordings and modified them gradually in the course of the piece. The piece is sounding from a distance from start to end.

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#22

The lap steel is the cheap Rogue brand, and only has a single pickup, so thereā€™s a lot of ā€œnoiseā€ if it isnā€™t run through something.

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#23

Yes, I took the picture. 5:30am or so. Not long after, the power company planted trees and shrubbery around the fence, so the view from the street isnā€™t the same. I should go back and get some more photos from the side.

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#24

My lapsteel is also noisy. It was cheap, though, and it sounds good. And it was a gift from my wife and kidā€¦ and I like noise.

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#25

this track was recorded in a covered area in a campground in western Washington using just a kalimba and po-32, recorded via the mic on a h1n.

i recorded the same song several times from different places around and in the covered area and combined the best two takes. no other instruments / effects (except compression and a little delay at the end).

some takes had a crow that seemed to be singing along with me, and some takes captured the rainfall more than others. it became more immersive as i combined them as you can hear all the sounds from all the distances at the same time.

8 Likes
#26

https://soundcloud.com/ohm-research/talu-disquiet0459

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#27

Pitched down, ring-modulated, sine wave from a self-oscillating ladder filter with various LFOs modulating a VCA, processed with echo and reverb and modulated panning and filtration in Ableton Live.

(Thereā€™s some crackling/popping in the SoundCloud version that was not present in the originalā€”am looking, er, listening, into itā€¦)

5 Likes
#28

I live near some spacious fields, so I decided to experiment with how instruments sound when played far away (perhaps an homage to their use on battlefields).

I didnā€™t have time to actually write a melody, so I ended up improvising on a simple theme.

I tried to pace it out so I was 2:40 minutes away (and thus I would walk towards the camera and be there at in roughly 2:40), but apparently that was 2:40 at a brisk walking pace, not at a ā€œimprovising on an instrumentā€ pace. Once I started recording, it actually took me almost twice as long to reach the camera! I think this is an interesting idea, but Iā€™m not sure itā€™s got 4 minutes of interest in it. So I used Ableton to timestretch the audio and video down to about 3 minutes, which felt right.

My favorite parts of this are how the birds sometimes seem to be filling in the gaps in the melody, providing accompaniment. Also, ā€œoutsideā€ is a pretty sweet reverb preset.

10 Likes
#29


Kinda phoned this one in but I was feeling Junto withdrawl symptoms so decided to whip something together last night. The idea: pianoā€¦ drifting through an echo canyon, then out into space (somehow) where the digital signal gets decomposed over the light-years.

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#30

Music From a Distance has to be slow and deep. I wanted to do something with fog horns, but did not found something I liked. So these samples are just abused trombones, plus some drum and noise samples.

I think the original idea was to hear it withouth the distance, but I liked it more this way. Thanks to Valhalla Space Modulator, Valhalla Supermassive, Valhalla Delay and Riviera it sounds as it would be heared thru a large area of foggy mountains, I could imagine the alps, maybe an encounter of fog horns and alp horns and some breaking glaciers.

6 Likes
#31

This week immediately put me in mind of Dying Air by Kevin Drumm (https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/dying-air), which comes with the recommendation ā€œPlay this on a stereo and go into another room while listeningā€, which Iā€™ve always loved the idea of.

I wasnā€™t able to actually play around with playing sounds through speakers into rooms this weekend, but put this together with two recordings I already had to create a sort of similar feel. I wanted this to sound like ā€œsomething is happeningā€ in the room, with an element of the mystery / ambiguity of Dying Air. It has clear sound events, but also lots of background texture which I hope should blend interestingly with the sounds of the room, and be interestingly muted by the distance from the listener.

This is to be listened to from another room.

3 Likes
#32

This week, I made a sound art installation piece which becomes explanatory as you experience it. It is quite literally meant to be listened to from a variety of distances. Below is a transcript of the piece:

"This is a piece about the relationship between distance and the perception of sound. Specifically, it is a sonification of the Inverse Square Law. Before we begin, make sure that you have set up the following:

(feel free to pause this recording at any time in order to make adjustments to your setup)

A sound-emitting source, such as a speaker. It should be placed at the same height as your ears. This is the source from which you should be listening to this recording.
Five markers of distance in a linear path away from the sound-emitting source. The distances of these markers should correspond to:
1.5 feet
3 feet
6 feet
12 feet
24 feet

These distances have been chosen, as they are easy measurements to make accurately utilizing a 25-foot tape measure, which should be easily accessible to most people in the United States. However, the same effect can be realized by measuring out any 5 distances in a linear path from the sound-emitting source which plays this recording, assuming that the same proportional distance is kept between each marker.

The Inverse Square Law states that as the distance between a listener and a sound-emitting source doubles, there will be a perceived negative difference of 6 decibels in the loudness of sound. In other words, the sound will be heard as 6 decibels quieter when the listener doubles their distance from the source of said sound. For example, a sound which is heard at 36 decibels from a distance of 5 meters, will be heard at 30 decibels from 10 meters away. If the distance doubles yet again, the same phenomenon occurs. Thus, that same sound would be heard at 24 decibels at a distance of 20 meters away. This very piece which you are now listening to is a sonification of this law.

At this moment, you should be standing at the first marker, which is 1.5 feet away from the sound-emitting source. Take notice of how loud the recording seems to you. Keep in mind that this piece is as much about your own perception of loudness as the listener, as it is about the theoretical principles of physics that pertain to this particular sonic phenomenon.

Now, take one step backwards to the second marker, which sits at a distance of 3 feet from the sound source, double the distance of the last marker. Take notice again of how loud the recording seems to you. At this point, you should notice that the sound appears to be the same volume to you as compared to from the previous marker. This is because the gain of the recording has been increased by 6 decibels to compensate for the perceived decrease in loudness due to your increased distance from the sound source.

Now, begin walking backward toward marker #3, which sits at 6 feet from the sound source. Once you arrive at this marker, you should again notice that it is the same perceived volume as compared to the previous marker, which is also the same perceived loudness as from marker #1.

Now, begin walking backwards toward the fourth marker, which sits at 12 feet from the sound source. As you do so, continue taking note of how loud this recording seems to you. Once arriving at marker #4, you should yet again notice that my voice is perceived at the same loudness as compared to from the previous 3 markers.

Finally, begin walking backwards toward the fifth marker. Again, continue taking note of how loud the recording seems while you are walking. The 6 decibel increase in gain has been automated in such a way that it attempts to create no perceived loudness difference, even during the process of walking between markers. However, the effectiveness of this approach may differ depending on your particular backwards-walking speed.

By now, you should have arrived at the fifth and final marker. For the last time, notice again that the perceived loudness from the distance of 24 feet appears to be the same loudness as from the previous 4 distances.

This piece has been a sonification of the Inverse Square Law."

4 Likes
#33

Awesome! Iā€™m so glad to see that the biophonic sounds of your area became an integral part of the piece!

2 Likes