When a door closes in front of someone, another one opens somewhere in the same second.  Slowly squeaking. Somewhere in our world or in another corner of the multiverse.  We see doors as a metaphor for human destinies, for possibilities. No one has ever really asked the doors what they think of humans. The sigh of doors is their squeak. When they are content with our fate, they do not squeak. Doors start to creak when they have something to say about the person using them. Metal doors, church gates, front doors, plastic bathroom doors all read our lives and believe me, they all have an ironclad opinion of us. They speak their minds with a thick squeaking sound, opening and closing and singing to us, to us, about who we are.

The SoundHunter Project

Behind Squeaky Doors

Knives, in Hungarian kések. 
We are embarking on a new sonological art project, presenting the sounds of different objects of use. First, we experimented with bread knives to show that everyday objects can also have surprising sounds.

Sonic Of Objects

Knives - Kések, Act. I.

Knives, in Hungarian kések.
In the second act, we discover a new sound of knives. It's like being in a real zombie movie. The bread knife, the filleting knife, the hunting knife, smaller and larger knives all show what they can do. They can be as angry, envious and opportunistic, monsters and hysterical as humans. If we make their voices alive when we need to cut, slash or stab with them, they will go to war with us.  Sometimes we get the feeling that the World Knife Federation has been created.

Sonic of Objects

Knives - Kések, Act. II.

Toothbrushes, in Hungarian fogkefék. Toothbrushes are the most intimate of human possessions, and humanity has a much more intimate relationship with them than with cutlery, forks and spoons. Most people care about what they put in their mouths. The world's first electric toothbrush was produced in 1959, but it was not an instant global success because people were reluctant to put an electric thing in their mouths. Especially as the first electric toothbrushes were noisy and quite expensive. Our intention was to memorialise these first electric wonders. Today's successors of electric toothbrushes are considered to be the basic tools of the noise art, as they are able to cover an extremely wide sound spectrum. They now give us a glimpse into a world where toothbrushes draw in teams, hunt human mouths and make sounds that put insects to shame.  And yet, listening to this sound installation, we somehow get the feeling that toothbrushes have an individuality and a soul.

Toothbrushes - Fogkefék, Act I.

Cabbage planers, in Hungarian Káposztagyaluk. In the old days, cabbage was cut by hand with a sharp knife. Cabbage pickling was a communal event, 4-5 neighbours from the village would gather in a kitchen and slice the cabbage there. To process larger quantities, the women used cabbage planers, which were a factory product. The first manual cabbage planers were made by wheelwright craftsmen, and the slicing knife, for example, was made from a scythe blade. Listen to the interesting sounds that the canon of cabbage planers can make.

Cabbage planers - Káposztagyaluk, Act. I.

Fear And Loating In Le Pari

Granular Up Your Mind

Cabbage planers, in Hungarian Káposztagyaluk. The 21st century generation of cabbage planers live in an imaginary chamber where it is always dimly lit because the king of the cabbage planers decreed it so. This is Gyalooland. Three million planers live in total darkness, they are the ones who always side with the king because they can't see in the darkness up to their noses, anything can be planed on them. And the other 5 million cabbage planers in the chamber are completely divided, they revile each other in the darkness, so they can never unite against the powerful planer king. In Gyalooland, there is an opposition to the king in parliament, but they always get a big cabbage from the king, so they never get to play their part. We can listen to the singing of those who live in the dimness of the chamber, sometimes the voices of those who live in the darkness are heard, sometimes only the music of the dimness is heard.

Cabbage planers - Káposztagyaluk, Act. II.

We went to play a little music in the city tunnel, and found lots of awesome and wonderful sounds. Again, we chopped, chewed and minced the sounds we collected and ended up with this.

Signs from the tunnel

Signs From The Tunnel

We went to a rural airport to collect sounds. We listened to the roar of the wind over the noise of the engines and the whirring of the propellers.  With the hissing of the foundry equipment behind us, we boarded a small plane to exterminate mosquitoes. We could feel the taste of milk chocolate suddenly bitter in our mouths from all the bass.

Sonologist at the airport

Sonologist At The Airport

Many people think that noise is death, but it's not, silence is much more deadly. It is the small noises that fill the space around us and help us to enjoy the small pleasures of a life lived among millions of dead objects. So we need to appreciate the little noises carefully.  And loud noises need to be dealt with in their place, just as we deal with maddening silence. Life is fleeting, noise is constant, silence is disappearing...

Strange Habits Of Noise

Listen to my other volumes as well:
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol9/tracks
soundcloud.com/soundhuntervol1/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol7/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol6/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol5/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol4/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol3/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol2/tracks

Dr. don Ath is a Hungarian sonicinstaller, sound artist, lawyer and journalist, founder of SynthXLoop Audio Arts.
Since 2020, his sonic installations can be heard mainly in art exhibitions. He regularly works on request with experimental visual artists, advises as a lawyer on copyright law and is legal advisor to several art societies.

Knives - Kések, Act. II.

Dr. don Ath - Vol. VIII.

Related tracks