Land and sea sounds from Grundafjordur, Iceland and nearby, recorded early February 2015. Ambient, contact and (home made!) hydrophone mic recordings


A week in Grundafjordur

Between April and June 2011 I made recordings at 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, the intention being to capture what the fields sound like in their natural and transforming states. I was interested in capturing the sounds of the land before it became the festival, and hearing the changes it went through to become Glastonbury festival. I've used both ambient and contact microphones - the latter to try and capture what the land itself 'hears'.

The festival is such an iconic event, its sounds well known, understood and broadcast around the globe. Yet those sounds only exist for 5 days of the year - the rest of the time the site sounds very different. It has a life outside the festival that is not nearly as well known. This project was intended to explore, share and give a voice to the land that people know and love as Glastonbury festival, so that it can tell the rest of its story and be understood more completely.

This set contains tracks created using recordings made at 13 locations, over 9 visits to the Glastonbury festival site between April and June 2011.
The sounds recorded at each individual location are joined together in order of date recorded, to discover how the sound of each location changes over time.

Each visit is assigned a length of time. Samples from each visit are played consecutively, fading into the next according to a specified duration. Early visit samples are longer to reflect the more relaxed activity on site. The samples from visits immediately preceding the Festival are shorter, to suggest a sense of increasing urgency associated with the ‘crescendo’ of the Festival build. By the time of the Festival itself, sample length has increased again as the site is once again in a more fixed state. The final visit sample returns to the length of the first; this is the close of the Festival and the site is a long and slow, waiting for people to leave, gently beginning to return to what it was a few months previously. 

Huge, sincere thanks to Sasha, Toby, Emily, John and all involved in Glastonbury Festival for allowing me to visit and make these recordings. Massive thanks to all the friends and family who supported me in this project too - it was an amazing experience!

Visits were made on the following dates in 2011
11 April, 6th May, 13th May, 2nd June, 15th June, 16th June, 17th June, Glastonbury Festival, 27th June (festival closing monday)



Worthy Sounds - Linear Locations

Between April and June 2011 I made recordings at 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, the intention being to capture what the fields sound like in their natural and transforming states. I was interested in capturing the sounds of the land before it became the festival, and hearing the changes it went through to become Glastonbury festival. I've used both ambient and contact microphones - the latter to try and capture what the land itself 'hears'.

The festival is such an iconic event, its sounds well known, understood and broadcast around the globe. Yet those sounds only exist for 5 days of the year - the rest of the time the site sounds very different. It has a life outside the festival that is not nearly as well known. This project was intended to explore, share and give a voice to the land that people know and love as Glastonbury festival, so that it can tell the rest of its story and be understood more completely.

This set contains tracks created to give an idea of the sound of the site as a whole, on a particular date. They were created using recordings made at 13 locations, over 9 visits to the Glastonbury festival site between April and June 2011. 

The tracks have been created using MAXMSP (programming by MickFeltham) from a 'Vertical score' i created, intended to represent the sound of the Festival site as a whole, by visit date. It imagines each location as a single voice or ‘part’ and constructs them into a chorus, singing together, moving in and out as both locations and moments in time.

Each track is made up of a samples taken at each location on a particular visit date (13 samples per track). The samples are all available for the MAXMSP programme to choose to play. The programme chooses at random to play 3,7 or 15 seconds from within each 1 minute sample, or it chooses to play an equivalent length of silence. This process repeats indefinitely. There are 13 of these processes happening concurrently (1 per location). So what you hear are the locations playing (or not playing) all at once, moving in and out, interacting with each other. This is intended to give a sense of the overall sound of the whole site on one particular visit.

These are the locations that you can hear on each of the tracks (panned Left to Right - works best listening through headphones)
Pyramid Stage
Treehouse Cafe
Pennard hill
King's meadow
Green crafts field
The crossroads
AeroDiner
Block9/Arcadia
West Holts
Bella's Bridge
PGC
Dofunny
Meeting Point

Huge, sincere thanks to Sasha, Toby, Emily, John and all involved in Glastonbury Festival for allowing me to visit and make these recordings. Massive thanks to all the friends and family who supported me in this project too - it was an amazing experience!

Worthy Sounds - Vertical Visits

Solo improvs

sketch interpreting the constellation Orion using voice. recorded on macbook mic. very draft indeed. possibly very bad!

Orion (rough)

On top of Cissbury Ring, facing west
Recorded June 19th, 2021

Top of Cissbury Ring facing west

A stoat barks in the woods at the ascent to Cissbury Ring. 
Recorded June 19th 2021

A stoat in the woods

Wild horses on Cissbury ring, grazing
recorded 19/06/2021

Cissbury Ring Horses grazing

Quick improv with battered old harmonium and 3 violin lines, rough recorded through macbook mic

Queen of the New Year

sound recording of the back gardens here during the last of january's storms, with improv violin & guitar

Midnight, January 31st

A collection of recordings made on a visit to Brede Steam Giants on 2nd July 2022.

They are open to the public (for free!) on the first Saturday of every month, and Bank Holiday Mondays.
https://bredesteamgiants.co.uk

Brede Steam Giants third hall

Brede Steam Giants second hall

Brede Steam Giants entrance hall

Sicknote

multiple cut and paste with a few fx from field recording under a full moon in april & having a little sing.

Moon Song

3 line improv with this evening's storm for company, windows open, scratchy violin

Storm song

Contact mic recording of the lock gates at Eastbourne Sovereign Harbour, 20/6/2021. 
Recorded on a trip to view the Sovereign Lighthouse with Eastbourne Sea Safaris. 
https://www.eastbourneseasafaris.co.uk
The lighthouse is long decommissioned and now (August 2023) in the process of being dismantled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Sovereign_Lighthouse

Lock Gates (Contact Mic)

Ambient recording of the lock gates opening at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, recorded on 20/6/2021 on a trip to view the Sovereign Light Tower, with Eastbourne Sea Safaris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Sovereign_Lighthouse
https://www.eastbourneseasafaris.co.uk

Sovereign Harbour Lock Gates

Audio recording of visit to the decommissioned Royal Sovereign Lighthouse with Eastbourne Sea Safaris on 20/6/2021. We are circling the light tower and asking questions of the captain. The currents around the light tower mean we need to keep the engine on and moving and you can see the difference in the water. The light tower was inhabited by a small crew between 1971 and its automation in 1994. After more than 50 years of reliable service as an aid to navigation, Trinity House turned off Royal Sovereign Lighthouse on 21 March 2022 at the end of its serviceable life.
https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/articles/royal-sovereign-lighthouse-finishes-its-service
https://www.eastbourneseasafaris.co.uk

Sovereign Lighthouse

A soundscape of field recordings made on a trip to visit the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse, on 20/6/2021, with Eastbourne Sea Safaris. 

Growing up in Hastings, the shape of the light tower on the horizon was synonymous with home for me, and I always felt a thrill to find it with my eyes. It is a part of my earliest memories and wondered about its shape all my life - why was it a T with a little lump on one side? It wasn't what I understood a lighthouse to look like at all. So to view it up close in 2021 was illuminating (pun intended) and extraordinary. As we circled the structure, I thought about what it must be like to live inside the crew quarters - the horizontal bar of the T I had looked at for so many years. I wondered what it sounded like inside, and daydreamed about contacting Trinity House to ask if I could go aboard and make some recordings of the space, maybe play my violin inside it. I wondered what those sea battered rooms had sounded like to the small crew living in there, receiving their shopping and newspaper on a Sunday. I wanted to hear their echoes, record the memory of the empty rooms before they were dismantled. Listen to old ghosts of the lives spent at sea.

Alas, I never contacted Trinity House so we'll never know if they would have said yes - I convinced myself it would be too complicated a thing to arrange - and now the structure is in the process of being dismantled. However! 'The iconic Royal Sovereign Lighthouse Lantern Tower will be saved and brought ashore soon. It is hoped that with planning permission, this unique piece of maritime history will form part of a maritime centre regeneration project in Bexhill-on-Sea.' More information here.
https://www.bexhillmaritime.org

https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/articles/royal-sovereign-lighthouse-finishes-its-service
https://www.eastbourneseasafaris.co.uk

Soverign Lighthouse soundscape, Jun 20 2021

home-made hydrophone recording of water flowing under ice, in a stream near Kirkjufell Foss
 

Under Ice

contact mic recording of the walkway down to the boat moorings in Stykkisholmur harbour

Walkway to boats @Stykkisholmur

a howling, blizzard gale, of which Grundafjordur (and most of iceland i gather) had seem more than their fare share this winter just gone. feb 2015

Blizzard

Dawn, approx 10am on tuesday 3rd Feb 2015, Grundafjordur

Dawn birds

Contact mic recording of the wind whistling across a metal wire, anchoring an aerial at Kolgrafafjordur

Aerial singing @ Kolgrafafjordur

Ambient mic recordings made standing under the dead tree of the pair which host the Treehouse Cafe in the Park stage area at the Glastonbury festival. recordings made between April and June 2011



Treehouse Cafe Ambient

Contact mic recordings of the dead tree of the pair which host the Treehouse Cafe in the Park stage area of the Glastonbury festival. recordings made between april and june 2011

Treehouse Cafe Contact

This track is created from ambient mic recordings taken at the Glastonbury festival Pyramid Stage. The stage is a permanent structure on site made of a hollow steel frame, which is covered in tough, fabric sheeting for the Festival and the stage is constructed within. 
Recordings were made standing within its footprint and, later on, underneath its stage structure. During the Festival itself recordings were made in front of the structure rather than within it, due to access restrictions.
Recordings made between April and June 2011. 


Pyramid Ambient

This track is created from contact microphone recordings of the Pyramid Stage structure at  Glastonbury Festival. It is a permanent structure on site made of a hollow steel frame, which is covered in tough, fabric sheeting for the Festival and the stage is constructed within. 

Recordings were made by attaching a contact microphone to the steel uprights of the Pyramid structure. During the Festival itself, contact recordings were made of the speaker stack within the Pyramid stage compound and of the metal cable housing which runs to the sound booth in front of the Pyramid Stage, due to access restrictions. 

recordings were made between April and June 2011

Pyramid Contact

This track was created from ambient recordings made at Pennard Hill, a popular public camping field in the south of the Glastonbury Festival site. Recordings were made at the top of the field, by the side of a water trough. The trough sits in the grass, surrounded by nettles and brambles and is a permanent feature of the field; festivalgoers pitch right alongside it.

Ambient recordings were made crouched down at the side of the trough, in the long grass. recordings were made between April and June 2011

Pennard Hill Ambient

This track was created from recordings made at Bella's Bridge, the bridge over the Whitelake River, named in memory of Arabella Churchill who was a co-founder of the Festival. Constructed of stone and wood, it is located between the Circus and Theatre fields. It is a key thoroughfare for the northeast and south east of the site, particularly from and to Pedestrian Gate C.

Ambient recordings were made standing on the centre of the bridge facing west, looking over the water. Recordings were made between april and June 2011

Bella's Bridge Ambient

This track is created from ambient recordings of 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, taken on the 11th April 2011. it is intended to give an overall sense of the sound of the site as a whole on that date. Each location is panned from LtoR. 

It is a breezy, dull and overcast day, with some rain. The site is in its natural state prior to any Festival related activity taking place. Cows are grazing near to the Pyramid structure and birdsong is the dominant sound around the site. A helicopter from Yeovilton airbase flies overhead.

11th April 2011 Ambient

This track is created from contact mic recordings of 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, taken on the 11th April 2011. it is intended to give an overall sense of the sound of the site as a whole on that date. Each location is panned from LtoR. 

It is a breezy, dull and overcast day, with some rain. The site is in its natural state prior to any Festival related activity taking place. Cows are grazing near to the Pyramid structure and birdsong is the dominant sound around the site. A helicopter from Yeovilton airbase flies overhead.

11th April 2011 Contact

This track is created from ambient recordings of 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, taken on the 6th May 2011. it is intended to give an overall sense of the sound of the site as a whole on that date. Each location is panned from LtoR. 

It is a bright and breezy day with BBC 6 Music onsite, broadcasting from the Festival site office.  Cows are grazing on site and a fighter jet passes overhead. There is some bin painting activity taking place and the track way is beginning to be laid. The grass across site has grown long. 

6th May 2011 Ambient

This track is created from contact mic recordings of 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, taken on the 6th May 2011. it is intended to give an overall sense of the sound of the site as a whole on that date. Each location is panned from LtoR.

It is a bright and breezy day with BBC 6 Music onsite, broadcasting from the Festival site office. Cows are grazing on site and a fighter jet passes overhead. There is some bin painting activity taking place and the track way is beginning to be laid. The grass across site has grown long.

6th May 2011 Contact

This track is created from ambient recordings of 13 locations around the Glastonbury festival site, taken on the 13th May 2011. it is intended to give an overall sense of the sound of the site as a whole on that date. Each location is panned from LtoR.

The perimeter fence is going up at the south of the site and the day is sunny and calm. The  Park stage is being built and there is more evidence of structural activity taking place across the site. The original recording location at Block 9 has been removed. Cows are grazing in the north of the site.

13th May 2011 Ambient

Music making, sound recording, noise explorer.

I am a musician, composer and sound artist from Hastings, UK, who has been making music, sound sculpture and field recordings for over 20 years. My work is centred around improvisation and uses sound to explore our relationship with landscapes, encouraging the re-evaluation of mundane or familiar space through soundwalks, maps and field recordings.

I set up this account initially as a place to share a sound project I did about the Glastonbury festival site (see 'Worthy Sounds' sets). I perform solo as YOU&TH and can also be found making a racket with Slum of Legs.

YOUandTH

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