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Very quiet recordings

Subject: Very quiet recordings
From: "soundings23" soundings23
Date: Sat Jun 2, 2012 5:43 am ((PDT))
Hi All, just for interest here are two very quiet recordings I uploaded to =
Soundcloud this morning. Both are hydrophone recordings taken yesterday nea=
r where I live.

http://soundcloud.com/tonywhitehead/pond-at-chudleigh-knighton
http://soundcloud.com/tonywhitehead/fish-shoal-little-bradley

I was in two minds whether to upload them, because they are so quiet. But, =
I was fascinated because they are so full of tiny detail, especially the po=
nd at Chudleigh. I also found that I enjoyed listening to them without exce=
ssively turning up the gain - which just seemed to increase the noise of my=
 Edirol's pre-amp.

As I said on the soundcloud page, they make me think of sound work by the l=
ike's of Francisco Lopez, Radu Malfati and Bernhard Gunter .

Ages ago there was a review of this sort of quietness in Ed Pinset's Sound =
Projector magazine where, reviewing Lopez's "Untitled 74" he said

"There's something going on there all right, but what is it? How is it poss=
ible to record and produce sounds so remote and tiny that you're only dimly=
 aware of them? ... No point turning up the volume - that'll only cause mor=
e damage - these are fugitive spirits, like fairies of the air which will v=
anish if you draw to near to them."

I like that. And I like what the hydrophone reveals of these tiny sound wor=
lds.

BTW, while writing this, I felt like I was reviewing my own recordings - wh=
ich would be odd and not a little arrogant - but I don't feel these are my =
recordings, I simply dropped the hydrophone in a pond, hit record, and list=
ened - so I'm reviewing and sharing thoughts what I heard rather than what =
I did with what I recorded.

Be glad of any thoughts on very quiet sounds, or links to anything similar?

Tony








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