Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland, has discovered the world record for the ‘Longest Echo’. The 1970 Guinness Book of Records is the last claim for the ‘longest echo’, when the solid-bronze doors of the Hamilton Mausoleum in Scotland slammed shut, it took 15 seconds for the sound to die away to silence. In researching his new book Sonic Wonderland: A Scientific Odyssey of Sound Trevor Cox discovered a place where the sound echoes around for a full minute longer, smashing the previous record.

Trevor Cox travelled to the oil storage complex at Inchindown, near Invergordon, Scotland. These reservoirs supplied the naval anchorage in the Cromarty Firth at the bottom of the hill. The tanks were constructed in great secrecy amid concerns about the strengthening of Germany’s armed forces during the 1930s and the threat posed by long-range bombers, which is why the tanks were dug deep into the hillside. The vast complex took three years to complete. His guide was Allan Kilpatrick, an archaeological investigator for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

Trevor had to enter the tank through one of the 18 inch diameter oil pipes because there are no doors. The tank could hold 25.5 million litres of fuel and has walls 45cm thick. The space is about twice the length of a football pitch, 9m wide and 13.5 metres high.

Allan fired a pistol loaded with blanks about a third of the way into the storage tank, and Trevor recorded the response picked up by the microphones about a third of the way from the far end. This is a standard technique used in concert hall acoustics; old black-and-white photographs show a gun being fired on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall when they tested the acoustics back in the 1950s.

Sonic Wonderland - World's Longest Echo

This is a collection of songs written by Adam Buxton or Joe Cornish, either for their BBC 6 Music radio show (and it's podcast), Adam's Sky Atlantic TV show 'Bug' or just for the heckings of it. Some of their other songs have been released on iTunes on the albums Song Wars Vol 1 and 2. These are the ones that have yet to appear on any albums.

Too Beautiful For A Cranky Old Bag Like Me (Adam Buxton)

another mix,
In answer to the questions I keep getting asked.
 ccai pt2 , part 1 is Drukqs, as that was the first thing I released that utilised computer controlled instruments, namely a modified Yamaha disklavier, 2nd gen and a couple of midi controlled solenoid based drum mechanisms I made just after I got the Disklavier.

I kept seeing them [disklaviers] in hotels, usually used to pipe muzak around the place and thought why doesn't anyone actually use one of these to compose music on and make beats etc! 
A couple of times when i saw them in hotel lobbies, i sneaked up to the disklavier and set it to play ultra low pitch and very slow, funny watching peoples reactions, it was down every corridor etc
NOBODY i spoke to back in around 1999 inc. people at yamaha knew how to connect one of these to a computer and I had to take my computer into Yamaha to try it out to see how fast these things could go, no info on the net then either.
The first year I burned out countless solenoids in the thing and learnt how to repair them myself, the more recent gen ones like I used at the barbican have temperature cut outs on them thankfully, i’ve still fried a few though!

Diskhat ALL Prepared1mixed [snr2mix]

Bach--->Grisey

Adam Buxton talks to Louis Theroux about holiday buffet etiquette, then checks in briefly with BaaadDad (Adam's father Nigel) to get his facts straight.

EP.1 - 'HOLIDAY BUFFET' WITH LOUIS THEROUX

Syro

Syro U473t8+e [14198][piezoluminescence Mix]

u473t8+e [141.98bpm][piezoluminescence Mix]---Aphex Twin /Syro /009

After the Rain (1983) for shakuhachi, violin, seven ocarinas (three players) and percussion (16 min)

Frank Denyer - After The Rain

Octandre in conversation with Frank Denyer, part 1/7: 
How did being a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral influence your life?

Frank Denyer on being a chorister

Hans Abrahamsen: String Quartet No. 1 "10 Preludes" (1973)

Bach--->Grisey

Patrick Brennan

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