some rediscovered sounds…..and a publication!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated. My excuse? Motherhood. My son has just turned a year old and I am ready to get to work again. And….as a good kick in the behind, musicworks magazine has just published an article about the project (written by the wonderful Nick Storring) in the newest issue (110…in stores now)! So, I’ll start by adding some old but newly revived restaurant sounds.

These sounds are derived from a very exciting dance project I just finished working on called Nosh and Stammer, choreographed by Vancouver/ Toronto based dancer Laura Hicks and featuring Caroline Farquhar and Anne Cooper. The piece was a sort of absurdist look at life in the service industry so Laura and I spent some time in an empty restaurant recording a good number of sounds that are typically heard in the background but are not often given their own space in the foreground. For more information and photos you can check out Laura’s blog at http://laurahicks.wordpress.com/

rusty fisher price play board

i’ve had these play boards for years, holding on to them with the intention of making a new instrument, but plastic is hard to work with and i don’t often bring them out at shows for aesthetic reasons…so i recorded them for this project because I’m mostly interested in hearing them co-mingle with the other sounds on the page.

counting coins….christmas tradition?

here’s the sound of something i end up doing every christmas:

steps in a stairwell

This is one of my favourite sounds so far. I find it funny that at times it sounds like I’m wearing high heels. I was wearing wellies, but there are metal attachments on the tip of every step and many of them are a little loose. Sorry for the microphone glitches.

seeds

another very quiet sound:

campsite bathroom fan

My husband and I just returned from a trip down the west coast to San Francisco. I had plans to do many recordings but was a little distracted by dunes, redwoods, Joseph Cornell, and cheap records. Here is the one I did get. It was a nice change from the monstrous machine gun of a bathroom fan we have at home!

logging mill

I work on an island surrounded by logging mills and other such industry. Every work morning I hear the sounds of one particular logging mill that operates directly beside the ferry dock. I love these sounds. They sound so lonely and melancholy and these feelings are heightened by the fact that I rarely see a human being working at these machines. It’s as if I’m watching an endangered species struggle to carry on their existence.
So I recorded a small sample of it yesterday morning but unfortunately my favourite bit of machinery wasn’t working at the time. This one piece has a beautiful melody that repeats itself in between long gaps of silence. I’ll record it again at longer length when it is working again. But for now……

a very quiet sound

snowy footsteps, etc….

I’ve been searching through some old dictaphone recordings I collected over a decade ago to see if there are any treasures. This one made me happy. I remember most of it but there are some sounds that are a little mysterious to me. I like the way the recording I recorded over comes through a few times.

…still searching….

Mystery Sound; in 2 parts

I made this sound while i was sizing (hint, hint) some material. I split in it two because it’s nice to hear both of them together. Try it!