Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Field recording taken on Av 6 de Agosto in Copacabana, Bolivia at a parade to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the La Paz administrative department.

Recorded by Mark Baldwin on Zoom H4N Pro.

Field recording taken of an extract from a speech on equality on Calle Condell in Valparaíso, Chile.

Recorded by Mark Wilden on Zoom H4N Pro.

Reimagined by John Melillo.

"The key to this recording was a voice in a noisy environment in Valparaiso making a

political speech about gay rights. In my “remix” I wanted to reframe that voice within the

context of two spectral presences: the ghostly presence of a long history of violence

towards LGBT folks in Chile and the present-but- absent noise of everyday life that often

draws people away from political voice and political action. In this recording, I used a

simple spectral frequency analysis tool to select particular frequency fragments from the

original recording. I then used these fragments—which created their own weird, synthetic

voices—to reframe and cut into the speaker’s sounds. I wanted to transform noise into

voice. Rather than just a record of a particular voice speaking to a crowd above the din of

the city, the remixed voice is in dialogue with the diffuse and hidden electronic melodies

that reside within the audio recording. As these sounds “sing” with and against each

other, they recall the implicit past while also foregrounding a desire to be heard and

understood. They figure, then, another way of (political) being together in sound, where

voice and noise remake each other and make audible the possibilities of a different future."

Ecuador jungle field recording reimagined by Jeff Dungfelder.

"For my track “The Shaman” I used a field recording from the Amazon jungle (outside of Tena, Ecuador). The recording consists of nature sounds and conversation about shamans (with Ivan, a local Kichwa guide). “The Shaman” is inspired by Carlos Castaneda and his books about the teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui (Man of Knowledge). These books are descriptions of the practices that lead one to an awareness of energies, beings and worlds which lie outside the perceptual paradigm of the vast majority of human beings on this planet. I used this field recording to create a magical sensory experience of the jungle, where the listener can experience the pressure of mysterious winds and the shiver of leaves at twilight. The textures and sounds created here are dense with animistic meaning, with Ivan's words as the centerpiece around which the apprentice’s mystical experience revolves."

Cusco reimagined by Andy Billington.

"The Layers of Cusco. A complex sample with so much happening.

I lived with it untouched for some weeks trying to imagine the architecture, the procession of the Saints, the collision of cultures and religions, the fervent adoration, the preparation and finally the procession.

All the while aware of the heavy history beneath the streets and in the participants eyes and ears.

A real blur of colours and heavy ritual. Samples reworked and chopped at random.

Like polaroids of the procession found in the streets after the event. Finding an anchor in the guitar and building out the re imagined recording from that.

Making sure that the track worked at all levels. The procession has passed again. The festival has faded."

Potosi bus touts reimagined by Alan Gleeson.

"On hearing the initial raw recording I was struck by the musicality of the bus touts. On analysing the audio I discovered a pitch relationship between the various individuals. Accompanied by an interesting acoustic within the bus station I imagined a performance unfolding.

The fact that this is how information is transmitted is also interesting. In a technology ruled world such situations are definitely in decline with such outbursts a traditional that goes back to the dawn of public transport in every village town and city.

Part of their heritage they may sound be gone, updated by a system, silencing their voices for ever, part of the sonic landscape extinguished. Through spectral analysis and feature extraction all composed material shares characteristics of the original material."

Concepcion, Chile preacher reimagined by Adrian Williams.

"Firstly, I asked my Spanish-speaking girlfriend to translate the words of the recording so I could get an idea of what the amplified voice was talking about, and as suspected it was a deeply religious theme. Even without my initial understanding of the words, it already sounded quite dramatic and passionate to me, so I wanted my music to equally convey this theme.

The recording was quite a noisy one, with a few background sounds creeping in. The kind you would expect to hear in a busy town square - children playing & screaming, general hustle and bustle, and the sound of the preacher banging the microphone (presumably against his chest to hammer home his message to his audience. I initially was going to split the recording up into small soundbites of phrases and use these in small sections, but after trying a few ideas out, I decided to keep the most of the original recording as it was, to keep the flow of it intact. I sampled one phrase to open the piece, and another to end it, with some light processing. For the music, I wanted it repetitive melodies, to go alongside the flow of the voice recording. I began it quite sparse to allow the recording some space to breath, before I brought in several layers of various instruments - guitars, bass, piano, synth and percussion to bring everything together and add a sense of drama and to make things a bit more intense."

Panama Canal reimagined by Simon Woods.

"Whilst the canal/water joins the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans it also divides the Americas.

There are many extra water recordings to represent the vast amount of water that is moved within the locks and hand driers to represent the machinery that moves the gates and water in the locks.

The extra trumpet was played by Phil Nicholas."

Field recording taken at Plaza de la Independencia in Concepción, Chile, amplified preacher.

Recorded by Mark Wilden on Zoom H4N Pro.

Field recording of the ship MSC Branka entering the Gatun Locks on the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal.

Recorded by Mark Wilden on Zoom H4N Pro.