Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
Download on the App Store

Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • Topodadanymy
    Part of our Dada Sound project (February 2016) - see more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/dadasounds
    By Fernando Ramalho.
    "The title, «Topodadanymy», refers not only to the topic of the conversation we can listen on the field recording, but also to the effort of producing an alternative and critical cartography, a common
    practice among many groups that assume, in a way, the tradition of the Dadaists, like the Situationist International and their studies on psychogeography. The absurdity induced by the manipulation of
    the field recording may transport us to a scenario where our movements through the city escape the rationalized logic of the contemporary productive city.
    Dada techniques applied – sound poem/cut‐up, chance, collage.
    The reimagined piece features:
    ‐ The original field recording;
    ‐ Slices of the original field recording (sound poem/ cut‐up) placed randomly through the track (chance);
    ‐ Two oscillators (collage). Oscillator 1 is a straight loop, representing the functional and rationalized dimension of the contemporary city, while oscillator 2 is an improvised filter, representing the unpredictability of the city’s everyday life."
    6 min
  • An Antwerp sound poem
    Part of our Dada Sound project (February 2016) - see more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/dadasounds
    By Robert van Riel. "Techniques used: Collage, Sound Poem
    I interpreted the Collage-technique as pasting sounds on top of each other, without smoothing the edges, which is kind of impossible in a collage. So the sound levels can suddenly in- and decrease when a clip starts.
    The Sound Poem-part I interpreted as returning clips at the several intervals.
    I mixed the channels but did not use normalization, so some rough edges remain.
    The original recording can be heard in the first 30 seconds of the Dada-version. Starting there I have cut the remainder of the recording up in clips, which I then pasted onto a second, third and fourth track. Those tracks have been edited in Ableton Live, using sound effects and filters. On each track I used different effects.
    I used Ableton Live as my DAW + the effects:
    Squirrel Parade
    Alter Echo (using Device Randomizer; K-Devices)
    Grain Delay
    Convolution Reverb (Springs)
    Ambience (by Marcus)
    Diffuse (Dub Machines)
    Magnetic (Dub Machines)"
    5 min
  • Improvised street noise
    Part of our Dada Sound project (February 2016) - see more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/dadasounds
    By Ross Taylor and Wayne Martin. "Ross&Wayne used a field recording taken in Bournemouth as the bass player for a free music piece. The recording was improvised to by Ross&Wayne with an attempt to express some of the sounds and experiences of the area. Boscombe and Springbourne are deprived areas of Bournemouth that are well known to us and we have composed pieces dedicated to the area on many occasions. The field recording is tied into the piece both as a contributing musician but also giving a feeling that the music is something the listener is overhearing from the street. The idea is that we have taken street noise and given it a changed meaning simply by the act of recording it. The drive and narrative of the music improvised is entirely dictated by and sympathetic to the sounds of a busy street on a friday evening."
    12 min
  • Random House
    Part of our Dada Sound project (February 2016) - see more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/dadasounds
    By Dave Procter. "(6) Techniques used for composition - chance (coin toss x 2) to determine which section played HH = 1, HT = 2, TT = 3, TH = 4.
    Length of pieces in seconds chosen by using prime numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47 second clips – chance with coin toss x 4 in this case) - collage - just sticking the sound clips together, no processing or editing."
    9 min
  • Reimagined knitting factory
    Part of our Dada Sound project (February 2016) - see more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/dadasounds
    By Sirpa Jokinen.
    " There was a small knitting factory in Brooklyn. The building is still there but not the factory.
    In 2005 I walked past the place with recording equipment and went in to ask if I could record the soundscape. Despite the noise the workers seemed quite happy and one was singing.
    In Finnish language the word spinning means also cat's purring. When I was in the factory they were spinning red yarn. In the soundwork there is also purring sound of my persian cat Sunflower from that time. She died ten years ago.
    The DADA technique I use is collage combining found pieces to make a new poetic whole. There are also pieces from a poetry reading recorded during the same trip as the DADA art is often about language. The poets were asked and they gave permission for recording and using their voices in soundworks."
    8 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

From the publisher's feed

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