I recorded these wind chimes that were hanging above the door of my friend Alice and Damon’s house recently. It was early evening and the traffic was light for a Saturday night in Northeast Minneapolis, but you can still hear some motor vehicles nearby in the background. I really like the tuning of these chimes, so I may go back a record them properly soon.
Wind Chimes at Night
Kanta Horio’s recent installation at the Spark Festival consisted of a room with a dozen or more sound making mechanisms suspended by wires. One of the mechanisms was a metal teapot with a magnet traversing its circumference. When I asked Kanta how this was achieved, he graciously removed the lid from the teapot and showed me an internal motor rotating another magnet just inside the inner surface. With some good luck and a bit of patience I was able to get a few minutes alone in the room and capture some of the fascinating sounds that his piece was producing. Please note that no loud speakers were used in Kanta’s piece. This recording is a snapshot of the acoustic sound produced by the mechanisms involved.
Kanta Horio Sounds
This recording captures the welcoming applause we give performers as they walk onto the stage. It was recorded at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the ninth annual Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts.
Welcoming Applause at the Cedar
I like this section, from a seven minute recording in a relatively quiet New York Subway station, because of the quality that the voices and environmental sounds take on in the very reflective surroundings. Tile, cement, glass, and metal surfaces cause the sound waves to reverberate back and forth in a confined yet expansive maze.
Quiet Station
I captured the sound a very old looking group of subway cars going by at the Battery Park City, Chambers Street station. They had an aging deep red paint job and looked as though they were full of some sort of cargo as they flew past.
Old Train in Subway