Too much work makes me start thinking about the next excursion and apart from visiting Japan again, I am also planning to visit South Korea and Indonesia, in particular Bogor, 48 kilometres south of Jakarta. Why so specific? Well theres a Gong Factory there that that I would love to spend some hard earned cash at! You can read a bit more about it here and here
All of its employees are descendants of the laborers hired when it first opened in 1811 and the work is very much based on the many decades of experience: “It’s like making dough: It can’t be too soft or too hard, it has to be perfect,” the manager Hidayat said. “A lot of this process is instinctual.”
I couldn’t imagine a more interesting field trip and just imagine recording the ambience!!
Cool articles on gong making. Looking forward to your own take, recordings etc.
Speaking of vibrating brass, check it out–electric
gongs:
http://ericarcher.net/devices/electric-gongs/
Read about this guy Eric Archer on the deviantsynth.com
there is a very interesting article on Indonedian gamelan/gong making here:
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~stocktoj/Moravian/bronze.pdf