Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Reimagined by Ben Schulman.

At its core, the source material seemed to express ideas about communication between different elements of the "natural world." There are the ritual communicative voices used to express...what, exactly? Homesteading? Hunger? A need for connection? A need to express? This informed how I used the "natural" source material to combine with aural elements with my own domestic sphere - that of knives being sharpened [hunger], shared communications and the need for closeness [snippets of conversation with my son], discarding paper [ritual cleaning/home] and a simple guitar melody [expression] that weaves in, out, and under the noise. A choral note hovers toward the end. Is there a frequency on the spectrum that all tap into?

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Reimagined by Michael Parker. 

"I morphed the sound, detuning & manipulating it to see what atmospheres they brought."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Reimagined by Adrian Shenton.

"It's a short recording with lots of detail so I used time stretching and sampling, plus a synth drone and a guitar track, to bring them out, imagining the feeling of being in the air over the water."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

Reimagined by June Lopez.

"I was inspired by the title "waiting for the flying squirrels". I listen to the recordings several times, observing the sounds with my eyes closed, and I felt like I was there. As a kid, I would frequently visited Kerhonkson, New York - Catskill Mountains at Peg Legs Country Club where I would see flying squirrels at night - at first I thought they were bats. I was just a city kid who wasn’t exposed to the country life, led along the forest and beautiful mountains at first. Of course that led to more visits and path the way to explore more of the forest. 

Onto the process:

My approach and process was simple - I wanted to acknowledge the presence of the animals, leave the recordings untouched to preserve the sound and create a melodic rhythmic groove that set the mood. I felt that it was necessary to allow the listener to hear how the composition came to light from just listening to John Roach’s recording along with my composition. I wanted to build sound and utilize the textures that were already there and create a bed of sounds that would compliment the movements in the forest. I carefully chose sounds that wouldn’t get in the way of the soundscape and played a solo with my harp synthesiser. I also utilized a push and pull concept that is generally used by painters and performing artist alike. I wanted to use anything in my surroundings as instruments to shape the sound and colours to help me create these imaginable movements and performance. I used the following instruments along with Ableton Live - a drumstick, shakers, wood blocks pitched up, banging on the door, a ping pong paddle, an empty plastic GAP bag i had laying in my closet, wooded shells, and my latin percussion - conga. I just wanted composed an ambient soundscape to show my love and appreciation for these amazing flying creatures. "

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Recorded by Paul Collins.

"During my stay in Caochangdi, I was told that the cicada's song is so loud, that were one to chirp in too close proximity your ear, it would damage your hearing. Here we have cicadas and a bird in incessant syncopated song on a hot summer afternoon, while an errant dog barks at nothing."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Recorded by Valentina Villarroel Ambiado.

"Registro de un ave llamado Diucón, en la comuna de San Pedro de la Paz, sector Laguna grande."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Recorded by Matt Rogalsky.

The call of eagles can be heard over a bay in Canada.

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

Recorded by John Roach. 

"This is a recording in the early evening at Danum Valley in Sabah in Borneo. Danum is a relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp forest. The recorder (a Zoom H2n) was left by the edge of the road as we waited at some distance for the appearance of the flying squirrels. The loud sounds at the beginning are the Rhinoceros Hornbills flying by. Our guide informed us that as the sun went down, the squirrels would appear shortly after the cicadas started to call. He was correct, and what I have edited out of this recording is the very human chorus of AHHHHHHHHHH! As the squirrels sail from one tree to the next."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Riga tram reimagined by Wendy McCredie. 

The original recording felt quite prosaic and ordinary, but I was playing around with reverbs and another of my recordings from Riga to create different effects, and thought I'd try it on the Tram recording and thought it sounded like a ghost train. There's a lot of history in Riga, the obvious older history, and the more recent history lurking just below the surface. It felt a little like the tram had just rumbled out of the past and if I dared get on it, it might take me off to another time entirely.

Recorded by Wendy McCredie in Riga, Latvia, in front of the National Theatre.