Athens vocoder voice clip

Sound artist Peter Cusack explaining why he likes to use stereo for soundscape recording. Interview recorded in Rummelsberg, Berlin, as part of research for an AHRC fellowship.

Peter Cusack talks about using stereo for field recording

Sound artist Felicity Ford waxes lyrical about the Edirol R-09, a small handheld digital audio recorder which she used for several years when starting out working with field recordings.

Technically the recorder is quite limited, and she has now replaced it with a more expensive and more professional Fostex FR-2LE. But Felicity says in many ways she still prefers the Edirol. Its simplicity, ease of use and small size encouraged her to make lots of recordings, through which she learned a lot about sound and field recording.

Interview took place in Jedburgh in 2013 as part of research for an AHRC fellowship.

Felicity Ford talks about field recording equipment when starting out

A really nasty example of wind noise in field recording. It was a wild day in Edinburgh, so I went out to record some sounds made by the wind moving things around. I was using a Rode NT4, which is quite sensitive to wind noise, in a full Rycote windshield. It was gale force and the wind was just ploughing into the mic. I tried to shield it with my body, but it was too much. This was such extreme conditions, I'm not sure if any amount of windshielding would have sorted it out.

Wind noise example no.1

A short soundscape composition made with field recordings of Rummelsburg, an area of waterside urban redevelopment in Berlin, and recordings of sound artist Peter Cusack talking about the place. As part of his Berlin Sonic Places project, Peter has been researching the soundscape here.

Recorded in July 2013 using a mid-side pair of Schoeps CMC6 mics with MK41 and MK8 capsules, into a Sound Devices 702 recorder. Edited with Logic. Produced as part of an AHRC-funded research fellowship.

Rummelsburg soundscape, Berlin

'Strata' is an environmental sound artwork by Mark Peter Wright, Sophie Mallett, Yiorgis Sakellariou and Brigitte Hart. It was installed in the BE OPEN Sound Portal in London in 2013. This short excerpt from the work is reproduced by kind permission of Mark Peter Wright.

Excerpt from 'Strata' by Mark Peter Wright, Sophie Mallett, Yiorgis Sakellariou and Brigitte Hart

'Sounding the Portal' was a sound art work by Tansy Spinks, Emanuele Cendron and Sunil Chandy. It was installed in the BE OPEN Sound Portal in London in 2013. This excerpt is reproduced by kind permission of Tansy Spinks.

Excerpt from 'Sounding The Portal' by Tansy Spinks, Emanuele Cendron and Sunil Chandy

This is really an unfair comparison, because the Novation does both 909 and 808 sounds, whereas the TR-09 only does 909. Also the Novation has no sequencer, whereas the TR-09 sequencer is a big part of its appeal. So the two machines are actually very different in use.

But in terms of the sound...

This track starts with a simple beat using the Novation Drumstation, tuned to give the best classic 909 style sound I could get out of it. Next, the same sequence is heard from the TR-09, set up to sound as close to the Drumstation as possible for comparison. I then tweaked the TR-09 to my taste - added some compression on the kick, a little bit of swing etc - and that can be heard in the third section. The three sections then repeat so you can compare the better - Drumstation, TR-09, and TR-09 tweaked.

The levels of all three sections are matched, and have no EQ or effects.

My verdict: There is a clear resemblance between the two machines, but the TR-09 has a rounder, warmer top end, and the kick has more weight. The Drumstation has more high end sparkle to the sound - a bit more modern. The TR-09 really comes into its own when the kick compressor is brought in, which gives it a lot more weight in the low end, straight out of the box. The third section is my favourite by some way. Of course, the recordings were made at 24/44.1 and SoundCloud streams MP3s, so what you'll hear isn't an ideal representation.

If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment.

Drumstation versus TR-09

Demo of Roland TR-09, tweaking the decay times of both hats simultaneously. A classic minimal techno trick.

Tweaking hats Roland TR-09

A classic 909 pattern programmed on the Roland TR-09. Uses kick, snare, clap, hats and ride sounds.

Roland TR-09 demo - typical 909 Pattern

A short demo beat on the Roland TR-09, trying to push it a bit beyond its usual house/techno ambit and more towards garage. Using the extra parameters in the menu, the clap and hats are pitched up, and the crash decay is reduced to make an alternate open hat type sound. I've tweaked parameters a bit to show how the TR-09 is great for getting movement into beats.

Garage beat TR-09

Modular Demo 1

Edited soundscape recording of HMV, Princes Street, Edinburgh, 20.1.2012. HMV has gone into administration, which has prompted lots of discussion about physical media, the music industry and high street retail. I wanted to document what one of their flagship stores sounds like.

HMV Princes Street, Edinburgh

A short piece from Radio Scotland's 'Good Morning Scotland' show about 'Kilmahew Audio Drift No. 1', a sound work I made for a ruined landscape near to Cardross. The drift is designed to be listened to on portable MP3 players whilst walking around Kilmahew. It was produced in collaboration with local community groups and arts organisation NVA, as part of the Invisible College research project: http://www.theinvisiblecollege.org.uk/AudioDrifts

Kilmahew Audio Drift on BBC Radio Scotland, 23.3.2013

Academic researcher interested in environmental sound and audio media. Background in human geography, childhood studies and education. I also make music.

Michael D Gallagher

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