Knives, in Hungarian kések. 
We are embarking on a new sonological art project, presenting the sounds of different objects of use. First, we experimented with bread knives to show that everyday objects can also have surprising sounds.

Sonic Of Objects

Knives - Kések, Act. I.

Knives, in Hungarian kések.
In the second act, we discover a new sound of knives. It's like being in a real zombie movie. The bread knife, the filleting knife, the hunting knife, smaller and larger knives all show what they can do. They can be as angry, envious and opportunistic, monsters and hysterical as humans. If we make their voices alive when we need to cut, slash or stab with them, they will go to war with us.  Sometimes we get the feeling that the World Knife Federation has been created.

Sonic of Objects

Knives - Kések, Act. II.

Electric switches, in Hungarian kapcsolók, villanykapcsolók. 
So far, everyone has found the sound of light switches uninteresting. To be honest, I haven't come across any musical arrangements where they have been given a leading role. No one has found the clicking sound of the electric switches being turned on and off interesting and suitable for a cover. We simply used the light switches in the living room, kitchen and hall. Switches are as old as the discovery of the first practical application of electricity and the construction of the first electrical circuit. These objects peek into all our secrets, hiding in the walls and watching our every move in our homes. Have we ever considered that we sometimes gamble with our lives when we touch them?

Electric Switches - Kapcsolók, Act. I.

Electric switches, in Hungarian kapcsolók, villanykapcsolók. 
In the second act, we discover a new sound of electric switches. We travelled to a completely alien, imaginary country of electric switches, where the situation is very tense. The smell of the circuit is all over the place. The electric switches are at civil war with each other, divided into two fractions. One party believes that all connections should be cut, while the opposing party is on the side of resistance and believes that electricity should be conducted. That is the job of the switches, the meaning of their lives.

Electric Switches - Kapcsolók, Act. II.

Toothbrushes, in Hungarian fogkefék. Toothbrushes are the most intimate of human possessions, and humanity has a much more intimate relationship with them than with cutlery, forks and spoons. Most people care about what they put in their mouths. The world's first electric toothbrush was produced in 1959, but it was not an instant global success because people were reluctant to put an electric thing in their mouths. Especially as the first electric toothbrushes were noisy and quite expensive. Our intention was to memorialise these first electric wonders. Today's successors of electric toothbrushes are considered to be the basic tools of the noise art, as they are able to cover an extremely wide sound spectrum. They now give us a glimpse into a world where toothbrushes draw in teams, hunt human mouths and make sounds that put insects to shame.  And yet, listening to this sound installation, we somehow get the feeling that toothbrushes have an individuality and a soul.

Toothbrushes - Fogkefék, Act I.

Nut grinders, in Hungarian diódarálók. A housewife's favourite kitchen tool and the big brother of the nut crusher. This grinder can be used to grind almost anything and that's the whole point of the instrument, which is why it's inexhaustible.  The sound of the nut gut, which has seen better days, has an almost velvety sound as it is placed between the teeth of the machine's sharp insert, the classic sound of the machine. And the hard cheeses shred themselves in it with a silky and veiled sound. As an instrument, the nut grinder can not only be used screwed to the table, but also to extract highly amusing sounds while washing up in the detergent water.  No one would have thought that nut grinders could also sing, in fact 10 nut grinders make a choir and can sing a canon.

Nut grinders - Diódarálók, Act I.

Coffee grinders, in Hungarian kávédarálók. In the grocery stores, the grinders were lined up side by side between the cashier and the exit. There were several types of coffee grinders, coarse-grained, medium-fine and fine. There were also poppy and maybe even nut grinders in the grocery stores. After grinding, the machine was banged so that no grind remained. Some people even poked around underneath to see if they could extract a little more. The clatter of the old cash register machines and the sound of the grinders provided the background noise. In Hungary in the 1970s and 1980s, there was no ground coffee on the market, which is why the grocery stores had these machines. It was not only the sound of the grinders but also the smell of freshly ground coffee that characterised the grocery store. The grocer's assistant would occasionally empty the coffee left in the grinder. After each grinding, 1 or 2 decagrams of coffee remained in the machine, and the grocery workers drank coffee from it. Most of the customers would pound the machine until the last bean was out, but many did not bother. We commemorated these strange but lovable devices with this sound installation.

Grocery coffee grinders - Kávédarálók, Act I.

Grocery coffee grinders - Kávédarálók, Act. I.

Milk Frothers, in Hungarian tejhabosítók. As we all know, milk frothing is the process of aerating milk, i.e. creating foamy bubbles to make it froth. Frothing milk is used in frothy coffees whose very name is a musical experience. For example, it is used in macchiatos, lattes and cappuccinos, alongside other hot drinks such as chocolate. The easiest way to make a musical milk foam is to use a milk frother to create splashes or clinking sounds on top of the milk.

Milk frothers - Tejhabosítók, Act I.

Cabbage planers, in Hungarian Káposztagyaluk. In the old days, cabbage was cut by hand with a sharp knife. Cabbage pickling was a communal event, 4-5 neighbours from the village would gather in a kitchen and slice the cabbage there. To process larger quantities, the women used cabbage planers, which were a factory product. The first manual cabbage planers were made by wheelwright craftsmen, and the slicing knife, for example, was made from a scythe blade. Listen to the interesting sounds that the canon of cabbage planers can make.

Cabbage planers - Káposztagyaluk, Act. I.

Wine glasses, in Hungarian borospoharak. Since the 1950s, wine lovers have had the chance to both listen to the music of wine glasses and accurately decode the message of wine. Only in the right glass can wine reveal its values and sing at length about place and time, i.e. the variety, the place of production and the vintage. Wine glasses for Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Viognier have a completely different sound, not only because they all sing about different types of wine, but also because they are different in shape and glass thickness. The blowing of the wine glasses was initially done exclusively by hand, but the advent of mechanical crystal production in the 1970s made it possible for anyone to listen to the chorus of wine glasses. Cheers!

Wine glasses - Borospoharak, Act. I.

Cabbage planers, in Hungarian Káposztagyaluk. The 21st century generation of cabbage planers live in an imaginary chamber where it is always dimly lit because the king of the cabbage planers decreed it so. This is Gyalooland. Three million planers live in total darkness, they are the ones who always side with the king because they can't see in the darkness up to their noses, anything can be planed on them. And the other 5 million cabbage planers in the chamber are completely divided, they revile each other in the darkness, so they can never unite against the powerful planer king. In Gyalooland, there is an opposition to the king in parliament, but they always get a big cabbage from the king, so they never get to play their part. We can listen to the singing of those who live in the dimness of the chamber, sometimes the voices of those who live in the darkness are heard, sometimes only the music of the dimness is heard.

Cabbage planers - Káposztagyaluk, Act. II.

Many people think that noise is death, but it's not, silence is much more deadly. It is the small noises that fill the space around us and help us to enjoy the small pleasures of a life lived among millions of dead objects. So we need to appreciate the little noises carefully.  And loud noises need to be dealt with in their place, just as we deal with maddening silence. Life is fleeting, noise is constant, silence is disappearing...

Granular Up Your Mind

Strange Habits Of Noise

The whole life of a fridge is just a noisy music and concert. Sometimes it's hard to bear the noise of one fridge, but half a dozen is a real chorus. 2-3 regular knocks per second are fine, but 20 knocks is getting a bit tiring. Knocking is usually followed by humming for 5-10 minutes of the gig, with noises like this often being normal operating noises from the mechanical components of the compressor. The crackling or popping sounds heard 2 to 10 times a day are not necessarily unusual in a fridge concert, they are sounds produced by the operation of the automatic de-inking system and are indicative of normal operation. Vibration and rattling are also part of the show, especially if the pipes running along the back of the unit are touching the wall or cabinet, or if the top of the fridge is overly packed. The dying fridge is the most virtuoso player of all. Their constant clicking can also be caused by a software problem or a faulty compressor start relay, which can often be rectified by restarting the unit. The most interesting noises can occur when the cooler is not standing upright, but can also be caused when the tubes around the compressor come together...

Fridges - Hűtőszekrények, Act. I.

Stick blenders - Botmixerek, Act. I.

Drawers - Asztalfiókok, Act. I.

Mechanical typewriters - Írógépek, Act. I.

Sewing machines - Varrógépek, Act. I.

Blood pressure monitors - Vérnyomásmérők, Act. I.

Listen to my other volumes as well:
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol9/tracks
soundcloud.com/soundhuntervol1/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol7/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol6/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol5/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol4/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol3/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/drdonathvol2/tracks

Dr. don Ath is a Hungarian sonicinstaller, sound artist, lawyer and journalist, founder of SynthXLoop Audio Arts.
Since 2020, his sonic installations can be heard mainly in art exhibitions. He regularly works on request with experimental visual artists, advises as a lawyer on copyright law and is legal advisor to several art societies.

Listen to my other volumes as well:

soundcloud.com/drdonathvol8/tracks
soundcloud.com/soundhuntervol1/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol7/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol6/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol5/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol4/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol3/tracks
soundcloud.com/drdonathvol2/tracks

Dr. don Ath is a Hungarian sonicinstaller, sound artist, lawyer and journalist, founder of SynthXLoop Audio Arts.
Since 2020, his sonic installations can be heard mainly in art exhibitions. He regularly works on request with experimental visual artists, advises as a lawyer on copyright law and is legal advisor to several art societies.

New tracks tagged #SonicOfObjects