Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • Ring in the new
    Pisa bells reimagined by Nick St. George. 

    "A bit of a departure for me - something of an academic exercise in sound manipulation. A musician neighbour recently introduced me to "granular synthesis" and, as a result, all of the audio in the piece (bar the poem and a little vinyl surface noise fx at the very end) originates in the field recording. 

    "This was then processed via "granular" software and various Garage Band filters. Reading by Jemma Blythe c/o librivox.com."
    8 min
  • There was a day
    Hawaiian shama reimagined by Audio Obscura.

    "I tried making various tracks using this source sound and in the end went for a more stripped down feel. 

    "There is a beauty to the bird song in the field recording and I wanted that to still have prominence so the rest of the musical backing I tried to keep subtle and not clutter the piece too much."
    5 min
  • In the beginning: a call to life
    Tirana mosque prayer reimagined by Mark Taylor. 

    "The final piece was created using 6 fragments of audio taken from the original field recording – all processed and edited within Omnisphere using its extensive granular synthesis and sampling capability."
    3 min
  • Quadrat
    Nepal traffic reimagined by Simon Kennedy.

    "The more than brilliant Dillon Bastan’s Emit was used for the work. There is no processing at all other than slowing time by 4000%.

    This study is what I am calling a Ganzfeld audial experiment. Ganzfeld is a Gestalt term describing a phenomenon of perception caused by exposure to an unstructured, uniform stimulation field. The effect is the result of the brain amplifying neural noise in order to look for the missing visual (or audial) signals. If you have seen a James Turrell environmental installation then you’ll get the idea of the Ganzfeld effect. Max Neuhaus is an artist whose sound work encourages the effect. 

    Many composers (John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and Eliane Radigue) have worked with a form of composition that combines their spiritual (often Buddhist) practise with a sonic minimalism. Many academics refer to this work as requiring a focussed, reduced, deep, layered or quantum listening. 

    This piece offers a mandala or quadrat to stimulate reflection. 

    Katmandu lies in the valley known as the Nepal Mandala. A mandala is known, in some faiths, to represent the spiritual journey, starting from outside, venturing to the inner core, through transitional and increasingly enlightened layers. The mandala is a meditative simulacrum to be repeatedly contemplated to the point of saturation, such that the stimulus becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and can then be summoned and contemplated at will as clear and vivid.

    A mandala traditionally has four gates. This quadrat imagines four gatekeepers offering wayfinding to, perhaps, a spiritual meditation on the four stages to enlightenment. Or the four deracinating stages of culture shock: disorientation, negotiation, adjustment and assimilation (or, often, revulsion). Maybe we follow the path from simulacra to simulation when we realise we do not experience a faithful image or copy of a place but a perversion in which our experience has no relationship to any reality or place whatsoever. The final gatekeeper suggests we reflect on the environmental and ecological consequences of our journey and our impact on this place: creation-germination; croissance-augmentation; existence and division; degradation, collapse and extinction."
    13 min
  • Istanbul transit reimagined
    Istanbul trams reimagined by Matthew Zook.

    "Listening to the original field recording I felt I was actually present on the train. The sounds inspired very real sensations and feelings. Using samples from the original field recording only, I wanted to capture the same transit experience, the same journey, but through a different lens- whether that be manipulating the listener's sense of time(temporal) or producing an experience related to that of a heightened state of consciousness or awareness. Perhaps this reimagining is a memory of the trip? It is the same journey but looked at from another perspective. Due to the emphasis on subtle volumes and low frequencies, it is recommended you use headphones or stereo speakers to fully experience the piece." 
    6 min
  • Added value transit
    Saint Petersburg escalator reimagined by dssPower. 

    "In this piece the Gorkovskaya metro station in St Petersburg Russia is transformed by the addition of past, and future yet-to-be memories of a time when humans were more connected to nature and the Earth that was.  These faint, ancient memories create a yearning for this fragile connection. With the addition of animals like Loons (Northern Hemisphere), Flamingos (Southern Hemisphere), and Bats (both Hemispheres) and the sounds of the resonance of fragile glass the space is now artificially connected to nature like a zoo with glass walls.

    The original audio was split and processed through a number of outboard paths and then re-mixed to create the desired effect when layered with the additional material. The equipment used in various combinations was: Aphex Compellor, Yamaha R1000, Carver C-9, ART FXR Elite, Electro Harmonics Blurst, Joyo D-Seed, and Shure Audio Master, and one fine wine glass."

    4 min
  • Going up!
    Field recording from the escalators at Gorkovskaya metro station, Saint Petersburg, Russia, by Masha Sha. 
    3 min
  • Garlands for Than Tao Mahaprom
    Bangkok shrine dances reimagined by Vlad Suppish.

    "Before making a reimagined version of the recording I've watched a few videos about Erawan Shrine and its deity - Than Tao Mahaprom. 

    "What caught my attention is the amount of offerings to it, especially garlands. Layers upon layers of them. 

    "Also layers of overpasses above the shrine. Spiritual sanctuary in the heart of large and busy city.

    "My version is precisely that - layers upon layers of heavily processed original recording. No external sound sources were used.
     
    "I hope that while listening to my composition, people will get some of the virtues from Than Tao Mahaprom - kindness, mercy, sympathy and impartiality."
    7 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world.