At about 10:15 pm on these warm June nights when the first fireflies can be seen, the bats are coming to hunt. They fly circles and eights over our little pond at breathtaking speed in the dark, hunting for insects. Most of what you'll hear are the small Pipistrellus bats which are common here; sometimes there is a larger bat, possibly Eptesicus, but I'm not an expert.
This is my first recording with two (cheap) bat detectors, creating a stereo track. Listen with headphones to get an idea of the movement.
I removed the pauses - sometimes the bats were hunting elsewhere for several minutes

20220619 Bats in stereo

For more than 30 years, Michael Peters has explored the world looking for new sounds. Most of his musical output veers from the mainstream and has been difficult to categorize. The renowned WIRE magazine has reviewed two of his albums in their "Outer Limits" section, which says it all.

Michael's main instrument is the guitar - he studied with renowned guitarist, Robert Fripp and also is influenced by guitarists David Torn, Eivind Aarset, and Fred Frith. He extends the guitar using electronic effects, midi, and livelooping techniques. He has played in avant rock and open improvisational groups.

He also has experimented with sampling and cutting up random FM radio broadcasts to use as elements in live improvisation.

By the same token, he has become more and more fascinated by using more stuctured compositions, using the computer as a musical instrument.

For anyone with open ears, the world of sound outside of regular music is also full of wonder. Michael loves to record interesting environmental sounds (field recording) and then recontextualize and sculpt them using digital tools such as granular synthesis, incorporating the results into musical compositions and soundscapes.

Michael is a member of Looper's Delight, a very active international community of people who use looping technology for their music making. He also is a seminal and pivotal member of the Chain Tape Collective, a group of dozens of electronic and electro-acoustic composers whose musicians create collaborative music projects together.

From time to time, Michael Peters has also been active as a programmer and visual artist in the field of abstract computer graphics. He is an avid photographer and has designed his own websites as well as the one for the Chain Tape Collective.

In the year 2000, he started an ambitious project called MY2K where he created an all original 10 second piece of music for every single day of the year.

In 2008, he hosted the 1st International Livelooping Festival in Cologne, featuring ten livelooping soloists from Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and USA. In 2009, he performed at livelooping festivals in Belgium, Italy, and California.

Michael Peters lives in a small village east of Cologne, Germany. He loves to sit on a bench outside, listening ... 

20220619 Bats in stereo

fieldveloopity