Category Archives: music

Mem

Ambient music created on Memorial Day 2013.

This piece was created using the Samplr app for the iPad, and based on sound files originally created using Ableton Live.

Public Piano To George’s Buffet

I stepped outside of “George’s Buffet” bar tonight on Market Street in Iowa City and heard a “public piano” playing across the street in front of the former T’Spoons coffee house. Two people were playing, and some girl was dancing around it. I recorded it from way across the street with my Samsung Galaxy S2. Traffic went by, and a motorcycle roared down Linn St, but they kept playing. And then I went back inside George’s, which is a great “old school” bar.

Mark Rushton’s Domestic Score (disquiet0072-domesticscore)

Information about Mark Rushton’s Domestic Score:

I didn’t have much time this weekend, but I wanted to participate, and I was able to get it done.

Using my Zoom H1, I recorded our door bell, the first 3 1/2 minutes of our dishwasher operating in “one hour” mode, and a few minutes of the dryer operating with a load of nearly-dry towels that had been hanging outside for a few hours. The dishwasher recording also picked up part of our refrigerator’s hum.

After editing the recordings slightly and adjusting volume, I ended up with the arrangement you hear. While the main dishwasher and dryer loops are at the original pitch, I did add some additional versions of these loops that were pitch-shifted down a bit for sonic blending in the mix.

The dishwasher parts are obvious. For this model (a Whirlpool) and in this particular cycle, it runs for 30 seconds and then “rests” for 5 seconds. I had a continuous recording of it for 3 cycles before I repeated it again, only broken up by the door bell. I also looped the dishwasher’s “start up” sounds with the washing cycles, and those add a bit of an eerie touch. The dryer was just additional audio wallpaper.

Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.

This week’s project is based on field recordings of wherever it is that you live. The goal is to produce a relaxing score to your domestic life by employing noises that intrude on that life.

Step 1: Make a recording of your doorbell, or whatever noise it is that someone would make when announcing their arrival at your residence. If you don’t have a functioning doorbell, then, for example, record the sound of a knock on your door.

Step 2: Record between one and three additional sounds that intrude on your life: your phone’s ring, perhaps, or the alarm on your microwave oven.

Step 3: You will now have between one and four sounds recorded. Using those sounds as source material, compose a new, original piece of music that could easily be described as gentle or meditative. You can transform them as much as you choose, but each should in some way still be evident and recognizable in the mix. You cannot add any other sounds to the project.

More on this 72nd Disquiet Junto project, which involves making a domestic score from sounds recorded in your own home, at:

disquiet.com/2013/05/16/disquie…072-domesticscore/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/