The recordings in this collection span several years and several countries. They are essentially documents of my travels as a tourist with a microphone. Each soundscape was recorded in a sacred place, or captures the sound of a sacred ritual. This notion of sacred sounds was the initial thematic concept for the collection. However, while selecting and preparing the material I became more aware of the secular sounds that are present alongside the religious sounds I originally set out to record – the profane. These commonplace, usually quieter sounds have a powerful ability to frame, contextualise and ground the listener, drawing one back from the spiritual and abstract, to the concrete.

What is also interesting for me, as a non-religious visitor / listener / observer, is how one feels as an outsider, sometimes literally confined to the outside of the temple. In this scenario, I am uninitiated in the mysteries and rites of the religion, but yet participate in my own tourist rituals of visiting these ‘important religious sites of interest’, and documenting them with numerous photographs or sound recordings. I am required to partake in rituals such as ‘remove your shoes and place them in the plastic carrier bag provided’ to carry with me whilst visiting mosques in Istanbul.  I exchange my Thai Baht for 108 satang to make offerings to the reclining Buddha in Wat Pho. I find myself asking to what extent do these acts really demonstrate reverence? Is there some irreverence in the manner that one ‘collects’ religious sites?

Religious sites and activities have historically been one of the most prominent contributors to the soundscapes of human habitation, and in a world that grows increasingly noisy these sounds often still prevail; though their reach may be somewhat limited or require amplification. Ironically, it is within the architecture of these same sites that one may seek relative silence, or certainly a hushed sanctuary when the tourists have subsided.

And so this duality of the sacred and the profane, of prominent punctuation and muted quietude, inside and outside, came to influence my process of deciding what sounds to include in this collection and where, within each recording, to make the cut.

Sacred & Profane | Iain Armstrong

SOUNDkitchen - Iain Armstrong & Annie Mahtani
An excerpt of a recording of a live performance given at Klang! Electroacoustique in Montpellier, June 2014.

SOUNDkitchen Live At Klang!

These excerpts are taken from my orignal score for Cali Danza's contemporary dance work 'Donas'. The complete work draws inspiration from Galician folk music, orchestral music, hybrid cinematic music and features vocal sampling, strings, woodwind and percussion alongside electronic sounds and textures. 
'Donas' premiered in Lugo, Spain, Jan 2024.

Donas

Donas Excerpt 1

A soundwalk with Birmingham REP's architect Graham Winteringham. Recorded at Birmingham Repertory Theatre summer 2015. Sound Design Iain Armstrong. Created by Olivia Winteringham, KILN. www.kilnensemble.org |www.iainarmstrong.net | www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

A Journey Round My Theatre

Reconstructed documentation of a public soundwalk around central Birmingham. On 25/09/15 SOUNDkitchen led a guided soundwalk that combined listening to the soundscape with previously made recordings of hidden sounds and other sonic features of the area. The walk was presented in association with Still Walking for the Birmingham Weekender and coincided with the opening of the refurbished New St Station and it's upstairs neighbour Grand Central shopping centre.

https://soundkitchenuk.org/project/soundwalk-grand-central

The track includes the following recordings:

- John Bright St
- Squeaky flag pole (contact mics)
- Trains from Swallow St car park
- Demonstration and Army Cadet recruitment in Victoria Square
- ATM montage, New Street (coil pick ups)
- Temple St construction work and air con fans
- St Philips Cathedral choir rehearsal
- Cherry St and Cannon St
- Corporation St road excavation
- New St
- Religious conflict - Christian preacher vs Islamic book stall
- Bull Ring shopping centre
- New St Station approach and walkthrough
- Shop montage

SOUNDwalk Grand Central

SOUNDwalk Grand Central Edit

Stereo reduction of three short excerpts from a 30 min, 5 channel sound installation produced by SOUNDkitchen. Inspired by the advent of commercial radio broadcasting in the 1920s, the work was presented via vintage radios and employs archive broadcasts, commercials and recordings of music from the period.

The Theatre Of The Mind (Excerpts)

Excerpt from a live performance by Anvil & Stirrup (aka Iain Armstrong & Antti Saario) given at SOUNDkitchen's 1st Birthday, Birmingham, UK. 17.02.11

Anvil & Stirrup at SOUNDkitchen's 1st Birthday

For this demo I used 7 diferent libraries from the Piano Book project:  
(The only sounds that don't come from the libraries are the drums)

- Flute + Violin (by Jon Meyer): https://bit.ly/2JZmI9u
- Air Piano (by Christian Henson): https://bit.ly/2qC7Mr2
- LoFi String Tapes (by David DeRose): https://bit.ly/2qAnimW
- Infinite Guitar (by Angus Roberts-Carey): https://bit.ly/2NSLIjO
- Ambient Guitar Tremors (by Joshua Meltzer): https://bit.ly/2pH3T3X
- Cyclebox Fux Pad (by Bryan Rheude): https://bit.ly/34E3YUP
- E Guitar (by Pete Malkin): https://bit.ly/2PY0YOU

Download it for free here: www.pianobook.co.uk
I composed this new piece on purpose for this project.
Mixed and mastered by myself, feel free to comment! :-)
© 2019 Dominique Charpentier. All rights reserved
www.dominiquecharpentier.com
Artwork photo by Simon Stratford: https://bit.ly/2WZe4gu

Free Download

Mirage - The Piano Book demo / 7 Libraries (Contextual)

https://artlist.io/song/37576/furtive
https://artlist.io/song/37575/furtive
https://www.jamendo.com/album/451653/furtive
https://www.pond5.com/royalty-free-music/item/158364788-furtive
https://www.pond5.com/royalty-free-music/item/158364808-furtive-no-drums

Furtive

I'm a composer and sound artist. I'm interested in the act of listening, phonography and finding musical ways to express these interests. Now and again I perform live with a laptop, creating soundscapes from field recordings. I do this solo, as Anvil & Stirrup with Antti Saario and with Annie Mahtani as SOUNDkitchen. I also compose music and create sound design for theatre, dance, film and audio drama.

More examples of my work are available here 
https://linktr.ee/iainarmstrong

Donas Excerpt 1

Iain Armstrong

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