Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • Segments
    "It's an exploration of pattern-recognition. Certain sounds have regularities, and noticing their timings can make the world feel like a working system. The birds call every few seconds, people walk by every half minute, planes pass every few minutes… Anyway, by jumping around a field recording in tempo, the sounds are sorted, and become easier to hear as a melody. 

    I used pure data, a patch that divides an audio file into segments of equal size and then shuffles them, sometimes clinging to certain segments or areas, sometimes evenly spacing itself across the whole file. 

    Either way, melodic patterns seem to crop up, melodies that are almost noticeable - it's a miniature of the experience of listening to a park in real time, how our brains attempt to make sense of it all."

    Piece by Nicolo Scolieri as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    4 min
  • Reflections of a moment through the passing seasons
    "My idea was to take ambient elements of the recording and create a piece of music that captures those moments but also gives a contrasting perspective considering this particular moment in the wider context of the passage of time."

    Piece by Andy Lyon as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    9 min
  • Dew fall and the scent rising
    "The field recording prompted me to remember the scent of orange blossoms as the dark came down in our garden when I was a child. I wanted to transform the busker's voice into a sound representing that scent. 

    The voices of birds and the water fountain are also retained. My aim is to convey an idea of the sensations of memory travelling from the 1970s through all the filters that time has added to my experience."

    Piece by Skipism as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    7 min
  • Nostalgia
    "The audio file were turned to MIDI and rearranged into piano and strings tracks.  Although the result may sounds with a 'human touch', all the elements were developed exclusively electronically. 

    The melody of the song "I cant help falling in love" was used in a unrecognizable way. This overlapping of the elements results in the nostalgic mood of the title."

    Piece by Andre Perim as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    8 min
  • Eden
    "I didn't want to stray from the vocal and acoustic song, which is the centrepiece for me. Heavy EQ to bring out the singer amongst all the background noise, started and finished with an aircraft engine roar. I put myself in the square with him and this is what came out of me."

    Piece by Mark Baker as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    6 min
  • Satori in Orange
    "When I was listening to original recording, some pleasant memories instantly came to my mind. Moments of epiphany, when everything is clear, spotless and matches perfectly. A certain deja vu, which felt like belonging to this particular place and this moment. Seeing into one's own true nature. Satori in the midst of an orange sunset.

    The basis for composition is bits and pieces (deja vu's) of original recording processed through Mutable Instruments' Elements. Comb filter and resonator in it gave a nice feeling, almost like a warm blanket. Yet bright, clear and a bit sitar-ish as well. Tabla-like rhythm seems natural for it. After 90+ minutes of modular jamming it was rather hard to choose the best fragments but actual editing was fast and straightforward. Everything fell into place once again."

    Piece by Vlad Suppish as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    8 min
  • Horti Amoris
    "This piece called 'Horti Amoris' and is based on the Elvis Presley song in the original field recording. I have taken the original chord structure, slowed it down to 55bpm and chopped up and reordered the melody lines. 

    I've used some glitchy sounding synth sounds and processed some samples from the original recording. I'm hoping that it still has the same journey feeling that the original has."

    Piece by Richard Watts as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    5 min
  • Why did he take me here?
    "Listening to the sound from the Roman gardens and reading the description of the day in which it was recorded, it did sound a bit too perfect. I thought that it would have been fun to turn the entire scene upside-down."

    Piece by Cristina Marras as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    5 min
  • Der Orangengarten
    "Upon my first listen of The Orange Garden field recording, I felt like it was full of many micro worlds of sound waiting to be explored. 

    I imagined myself traveling from one sound world to another, recording my travels along the way. 

    My composition “Der Orangengarten” is a document of this journey through the sounds of this new world. One where my imagination took me to new experiences of discovery."

    Piece by Jeff Dungfelder as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    7 min
  • Guitarists in orange, rearranged
    "The piece is simply made up of cuts and pastes from the original recording. The cuts were pitched up or down, EQed and rearranged. 
    No synths were used in the making of this piece."

    Piece by Simon Woods as part of The Orange Garden project by Cities and Memory, in which multiple artists create a new composition using the same original field recording as source material and inspiration - see the whole project at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden
    3 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.