An edit of three recordings from a windowsill - Location: Back court, Kersland Street, Glasgow. Dates: 24th July between 2300-2400, 25th July 1030-1100, 25th July 1600-1700.

From a Windowsill is the name of a series of recordings made by placing microphones on windowsills, playing with the idea that listening to a soundscape recording provides an open "window" onto another space and time, and investigating the presence/absence of the recordist through a merging of interior/exterior, inner and outer.

From A Windowsill  01 (Back Court, Kersland Street, Glasgow 24-25 July 2013)

Evening Storm (December 2012)

An excerpt from a recording session (from a windowsill) in the Strathmore Valley, from 6am, 11th August 2013.

From a Windowsill is the name of a series of recordings made by placing microphones on windowsills, playing with the idea that listening to a soundscape recording provides an open "window" onto another space and time, and investigating the presence/absence of the recordist through a merging of interior/exterior, inner and outer.

From a Windowsill 02 (Morning Sounds - 11 August 2013)

Soundtrack for a video made by Niall Walker, shown at Trakke's "Many Hands" Exhibition, The Lighthouse, Glasgow July/August 2013. See video at http://vimeo.com/70853347

"Adventure Everywhere" Soundtrack

Tangent Lines was made in October 2013 with field recordings from a trip to Loch Alsh in the north west of Scotland, with Mike Harding and Jana Winderen. Most of the recordings used were made with hydrophones in the waters of Loch Alsh. 

Tangent Lines

Adrift is a composition based on field recordings made in the north east of Scotland 2013-14. Movement 1 is based on a night time recording of the wind, made on 24th December 2013, reflecting on the sound-shapes made by the undulations between violent movements and periods of rest; on the physicality of being-in this environment, both personally and through witnessing auditory traces of the interactions of the wind with other objects in the environment; on resonances, whistles and disturbances created by these interactions; and finally on the invisibility of this force, in particular at night when the swaying of the trees and the rattling leaves are mere shadows of movement. 

Adrift (A Work-in-Progress) - Movement 1 and intro to Movement 2 - stereo version of ambisonic work

Interlude - Stereo Version

Adrift - Stereo Mix

Adrift (Waves)- Stereo Version

Two recordings, one from Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik, Iceland, the other from La Giudecca, Venice, Italy. Activities continue both in response to and in spite of the tolling bells.

While The Bells Are Ringing...

Excerpts from a live performance in LA, September 2015. For the full performance listen to Touch Radio 117 at http://www.touchradio.org.uk/touch_radio_117_bethan_parkes.html

Excerpts from Touch Radio 117: Live in Los Angeles

Excerpt from "Aven", released on Touch 26th August 2016

buy it here: http://touchshop.org/product_info.php?products_id=784
 
Artwork & photography by Jon Wozencroft
Mastered by Denis Blackham

Live at Volume, Los Angeles, 30th April 2016 as part of Touch Conference 

Track listing:

Descent 
Vision 
An Opening 
Canopy 
Low 

The word ‘Aven' refers to an underground shaft that leads upward from the roof of a cave passage.

Recorded with SoundField SPS200 & JrF C-Series contact microphones, Sennheiser ME64, Sound Devices 788T, Elektron Monomachine, RME Fireface UCX, and Cockos Reaper. Field recordings from Iceland, June 2015 and South Africa, November 2015. 

Strings performed by Bethan Kellough. 

Bethan Kellough creates sound worlds that weave together instrumental materials, sound design and ambisonic field recordings. Her composition ‘Aven' is based on a recording made in Iceland in 2015, which features the booming sound of underground geothermal activity escaping to the surface through a small shaft. “Looking down into the darkness, there was a sense that a whole world existed in an unknown space beneath. The sound world of Aven is a journey through such an imagined environment.” The composition is driven by this sonic encounter, but enters the imagined worlds beneath through the instrumental material developed throughout the work. These melodic passages predominantly feature violin, which Bethan has played since childhood exploring traditional Scottish music, rock violin, free improvisation and classical studies. The field recordings used in Aven were made in Iceland during the Wildeye sound recording workshop with Chris Watson and Jez riley French, and in South Africa during the Sonic Mmabolela residency with Francisco Lopez and James Webb. Each of the recordings explore a world of sound beneath a surface, reflecting upon the initial recording environment at the geothermal site. In South Africa, an approaching storm was heralded by wind blowing through bushes in the savanna, underneath which was hidden a Soundfield microphone. A contact microphone on a fence in South Iceland revealed the tones of the wind contained inside the wires, and in an Icelandic nature reserve the wind was also captured by microphones buried underneath a layer of grass – a miniature world sheltered by the strands of dry straw. 

Bethan Kellough (formerly Bethan Parkes) is a sound artist and composer. Her work spans across ambisonic composition, field recording, sound design and multichannel sound installation practices, drawing a focus on sonic spatial experience. Her works are designed to open out spaces with sound, exploring spatial aesthetics and the interactions between sonically and visually articulated spaces. The immersive sound-worlds she creates inhabit the boundaries between music and sound design, weaving together instrumental materials, sound design and ambisonic field recordings. 

She holds a PhD in Sonic Arts from the University of Glasgow. In 2015 she joined the Touch Mentorship Programme. 

Her works have been exhibited and performed internationally, including at Touch Conference, Los Angeles, USA; Gallery of Russian Art and Design, London, UK; Resonant Forms Festival, Los Angeles, USA; Borealis Festival, Bergen, Norway; Jardins Efemeros Festival, Viseu, Portugal; Spazio Bocciofila, Venice, Italy; The Global Composition International Conference, Dieburg, Germany; Symposium on Acoustic Ecology, University of Kent, UK; Sound Thought Festival, Glasgow, UK.


Excerpt from "Aven" - new release on Touch http://touchshop.org/product_info.php?products_id=784

Aven

Descent

Vision

An Opening

Canopy

Stereo version of ambisonic work, installed at Sound Thought 2012, The Arches, Glasgow

Bethan Kellough

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