experience the gated oscillator

East Texas Summer night

Kevin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:47:27 +0000

For reasons unknown to my everyday conscious, waking self I went camping during the brutal summer we recently survived. The place was one of fond childhood memories--perhaps that was the source of the impulse. The days were scalding, but the nights were densely languid; gravid with possibility. When revisiting these recordings I'd find myself in a reverie, several minutes having unaccountably vanished while I was completely immersed in sound; I'd call it nostalgia, but that seems facile. These sounds aren't mired in the past, but a hope for the future, for continuity, I think. At any rate, I'm sure their pull will not be so strong for you as it is for me, but perhaps they'll remind you of your own lost significant sounds.

Westwood Shores, TX, August 22, 2009
3m01s 3.09MB stereo VBR mp3 (click above to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Washington Square Park, September 16, 2007

Kevin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:09:43 +0000

I still have a few things from my last trip to NYC I haven't processed, including this gem I'd completely forgotten about. It's a very simple setup: just me making a circuit of the park with my binaural mics, trying to keep my head movements slow and infrequent. One of the main reasons I use my in-ear mics is so I can record unobtrusively while still enjoying myself. This wasn't my usual milieu, but I had a blast recording. This is an excerpt of a much longer track.

Washington Square Park, September 16, 2007
6m23s 9.23MB binaural mp3 (click above to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Binaural Tulum

Kevin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:50:31 +0000

Got married in November, and we had an amazing honeymoon in Cancun; I enjoyed myself so much I didn't get around to much recording, but I did manage to get some good sounds during our trip to the ruins at Tulum. The following sequence was recorded using my in-ear binaural mics from the cliffs facing the Caribbean. I was actually looking toward a small inlet beach from the cliff so you can hear two different sets of waves breaking, one on the rocks below the cliffs, and one on the beach, with one in each ear. I thought that was pretty cool. The view was gorgeous--I can't properly describe it, so I'll have a photo or two up shortly.

As always, since it's binaural, headphones are highly recommended.

Binaural Tulum
2m16s 2.36MB binaural mp3 (click above to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Binaural NYC

Kevin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:11:41 +0000

Had a working vacation doing videography in NYC this September and decided to take my personal equipment along. I didn't really want to use my big stereo mic, since i actually wanted to enjoy the city, so my little in-ear binaural mics came in very handy.

Here are a couple of subway recordings I made with them. #1 is a ride on the W train, from 14th to 34th street; #2 is my favorite I think: a dopplering bagpiper in a Times Square station tunnel. The reverb was gorgeous.

W train, 14th st to 34th st
6m03s 6.40MB binaural mp3 (click above to download)

Times Square bagpipes
2m19s 2.51MB binaural mp3 (click above to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Binaural Mexico

Kevin — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:25:24 +0000

Drove to Mexico with Denny in April for a big family reunion (hers not mine) in a little village not far from Nuevo Progreso and actually managed to get a few minutes of audio amongst all the partying (I must have drunk a few cases worth of Coronitas while I was there). It was a wild time and I had a blast, even though my Spanish isn't so great and only a few people there spoke English.

Even got to kill one of the pigs. Or try to. I shot the sucker right between the eyes and it still took a knife in the heart to kill it. Wish I'd thought to get audio of that! Then again, considering the strange looks I got in Progreso while wearing my binaural mics (which I thought were pretty well-concealed!) it's probably best I didn't. (the recording from Progreso is perhaps for another post.)

This recording is from the first night we were there, while the pigs were cooking and the women were making fresh gordas. From scratch. The high-pitched tapping sound you'll here is them flattening the masa (made from corn that was ground on the spot) before they go on the fire. You also might hear some bufo valliceps (Gulf Coast toads) in the background. This little village is in the middle of farmland and there are irrigation canals all around; It was quite loud, but what impressed me most about the soundscape there was the underlying silence. There was no traffic drone, no AC compressors, no aircraft, no sirens. What Murray Shafer calls a "high signal-to-noise ratio." I thought it was beautiful.

So, here it is; a binaural recording from Ebanito Nuevo (headphones recommended); people cooking, eating, drinking, playing, toads croaking. Pictures to come....

And oh btw, the food was fantastic.

Ebanito Nuevo, April 20, 2007, 7:11pm

3m5s 3.6MB binaural mp3 (click above to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Patrick's Ferry never gets old

Kevin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:49:24 +0000

Here's one more piece from my last trip to Onalaska, TX that I've finally got round to editing. It was recorded from the Patrick's Ferry boat ramp pier facing toward the parking lot and the ramps, where the best wave action was. Sunset was approaching and the only other people there were a family with a small child whose voices I captured.

I'm interested in what I record, obviously, or I wouldn't record it in the first place--but recordings from this place move me like no others I've done. I never get tired of them.

Patrick's Ferry boat ramp, November 25, 2006, 3:18pm
5m37s 7.71MB mp3 (click to download)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Binaural balloons

Kevin — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:03:30 +0000

Took a trip to my girlfriend Denny O's folks' in Alvin, TX this weekend for her brother Carlos' wedding reception party thing. Partied so hard i didn't really have time for recording, but just before we left I managed to get a few minutes of binaural audio of the helium balloons tied to the mailbox out front bumping around in the wind. I thought it sounded neat. Plus i was hungover & not really in the mood to do any real sound-searching.

Congrats to Carlos!

Balloons, Alvin, TX, December 10, 2006, 3:57pm
3m37s (click to download 4.96MB mp3)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Binaural Onalaska

Kevin — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:14:43 +0000

This is my second field recording excursion to Onalaska, TX, which was much more successful than the first. I recorded about 10x more material using 2 sets of mics & also had the good sense to take my camera. The location was the same as my previous recordings--Patrick's Ferry public boat ramp, right at the western end of the highway 190 bridge over the Trinity River. The river had risen several feet and the wave sounds were much louder; I also managed to get right under the bridge to record the sounds of traffic passing overhead.

I've finished a rough first-draft edit of a portion of the recording I made with my in-ear binaural mics; the recording begins right under the bridge and i eventually make my way toward the boat ramp itself. Since it's binaural, I highly recommend using headphones to listen to this piece. Enjoy!

Patrick's Ferry public boat ramp, Onalaska, TX, November 25, 2006, 16:55
9m45s (click to download 13.9MB mp3)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.