the music of sound

I remember when I was in secondary school starting a diving class & quitting during the first session because I simply couldnt manually balance the pressure in my ears via my Eustachian Tubes… But quitting didnt bother me at all because I was totally distracted by some other people also using the diving pool for underwater audio experiments. I can still vividly remember how the sound (they were playing music) was omnipresent once you put your head underwater!
Funnily enough I know a few people who work with sound for a living who also cant balance the pressure in their ears, so I decided to consider a blessing… Heres some more info on the process ie ‘prevention of middle ear barotrauma’ – damn! I wish I knew that phrase back then; I can’t go diving cos I’d get barotrauma!
Anyway it doesnt stop me from enjoying sounds underwater. And some of the most beautiful to my ears are Weddell seals, who apparently have 34 different calls & can be heard more than 15 miles! They also happen to sound like analogue synths! check these examples (from here):

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There is some great info about underwater sound here with a ‘focus on musical applications and computer synthesis’ – but of course! And listening to these sounds makes me want to see this Werner Herzog documentary ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD & sure enough, what I previously would have thought was an analogue synth sound is, I am pretty sure a Wedell Seal; have a listen @ 1.40 in the trailer:

I just know there are some people reading this with far more experience than i with modular synths, so a question to you: how would you put together a Wedell Seal patch?

I don’t know why but I had never thought of this until 2 minutes ago: A friend asked me if I had some photos of us mixing that he could use for a seminar. Of course I do, but my photos are mostly all on my Mac at home & knowing myself all too well, I’ll get home & totally forget about doing it.. So I thought how can I schedule an email to myself to remind me? One search later & I’ve found a great new online service: For Later
Its so simple its genius! As long as you set the time as per your local offset, you can then choose a date & time in the future to receive an email from yourself… So other than emailing myself for 8pm tonight (dear immediate future tim, remember to find the mix photos for chris! best regards, slightly younger tim) I started thinking about other emails I could cue up… I could start nagging myself in the future about things I say I want to do but may not quite get around to! Although I can see that particular angle coming upstuck when ‘patient tim’ gets too many abusive emails from ‘drunk tim’ etc….

Akio Suzuki is a fascinating sound artist & his use of stones in performance reminds me of some of the work of local Phil Dadson. But Suzuki-san has his own unique approach to sound, in both performance and in active listening. He is currently in the UK for the School of Sound amongst other things & the following Q&A was recorded on April 20th, where he describes active listening & engaging with the environment & how it provides a ‘cleansing for the ears.’

He calls one of his instruments, an echo machine comprised of springs & resonators, Analapos-70. Have a listen on LastFM plus there is a good article here about some of his work

via London Sound Art blog

Its interesting to see just how popular the iTunes app store is – its more successful than their music store! No, really! And while some of the top sellers are incredibly dubious, and many of the music apps are just distractions this is one app that is perfect for a portable device!
I’ve ranted about the Strobotsoft Tuner before as being the most accurate form of tuning (other than a well refined ear of course) but this is an inspired development… Heres a link to the Peterson FAQ on tuning. Check out the new app here – note Petersons also sell a cable adaptor to enable you to plug a mic or instrument (via 1/4″ cable) into your iPhone or iPod Touch…

This article struck a chord with me…

If someone made a venn diagram I’m sure there would be a crossover point!

I was rabidly reading a list of some of the films that are being screened at Cannes 2009 and one title caught my eye, a film called MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO.

Heres the synopsis: “A solitary young Japanese woman, who works in a fish market at night and occasionally as a hired killer, is contracted to assassinate a Spanish man, who’s blamed for the suicide of a rich businessman’s daughter. Meanwhile, a sound engineer, who’s fascinated by the woman and the sounds of Tokyo, tracks the girl through the city.”

Hmmmmm… heres the imdb page and the official film site and heres also hoping it isn’t like that movie Blow Out where John Travolta holds a bare shotgun mic in his fingers on a windy bridge while listening to some distant but vitally important plot detail….