The skies are never silent.

Invisible to the naked eye, VLF, or Very Low Frequency radio waves, are the sonic equivalent to the stunning visual aurorae that illuminate the planet's poles. Caused by the interaction of solar energy with the charged part of the Earth’s atmosphere, they can only be made audible with special equipment.

This audio feature blends original recordings of VLF sounds with the voices of those who work with them, from science to sound art, King’s Cross to California.

With thanks to:
Dan Tapper, sound artist (www.magneticsignals.tumblr.com) 
Stephen McGreevy, VLF recordist (www.auroralchorus.com)
Dr Simon Foster, Imperial College London
Camley Street Natural Park

Produced by Patrick Sykes (www.patrickjsykes.com)

Sunsong

Based around a recent trip to the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California, this diary includes the drive up to the facility and sounds recorded by the perimeter fence.

Ivanpah generates electricity with 1000’s of computer controlled mirrors programmed to move with the sun and reflect sunlight onto three huge water towers, the heat converts the water to steam, this moves turbines generating electricity. Ivanpah opened in February 2014 and powers 140,000 homes.

When I walked up to the mirrors I found that they made some really interesting sounds. An electronic tone signals each movement of the mirrors, this is followed by the actual mechanical movement of the mirrors which sounds like creaking floorboards.

It would be interesting to have gone closer and recorded the steam powered turbines but the facility was closed off so I couldn’t go further than the perimeter fence.

* In the diary I say there are millions of mirrors, the actual figure is 170,000 mirrors. My response came from the sheer awe of the site. 

More information on Ivanpah can be found here: http://ivanpahsolar.com/

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System -  Sound Diary

We fell in love with Halsey the first time we heard her never mind seeing what she looked like. Her records are killer, and 'Ghost' was one of them that truly stood out as soon as we heard it. When we were working on it we were lucky enough to be down in the carribean soaking in the sun, so we definitely were inspired by the vibes that were around us. Definitely a bit of a new territory for us, but we were excited to try something new. Be on the look out for a bunch of new releases!

Spotify: http://smarturl.it/Room93RemixedSpotify
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/Room93TheRemixes 

Listen on Spotify

Halsey - Ghost (Lost Kings Remix)

Field Recordings of Earth's natural-radio signals in the ELF-VLF frequency (audio) range of 0.0 to over 15 kHz.

These have been recorded in Inyo County, CA in the northern Mojave Desert. The Music of the Magnetosphere - VII

Weak Whistlers Stereo Wr9stl 23august2014 1139z N6nks

Entire live set recorded live @ Brut im Konzerthaus, Wien for the Velak Gala concert series (#86) during The AMRL v3 tour of February 2015.

Many thanks to the people of Velak/Brut for the recording, check out their events series here...
http://velak.klingt.org/

Read more about Trans/Human and The AMRL here...
http://receptionnetworks.tumblr.com

Weak Whistlers Stereo Wr9stl 23august2014 1139z N6nks

Stephen McGreevy

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