stopGOstop: field recordings, sound collage, and sound art

An eleven minute binaural recording from the finish line of the Sleepy Hallow Halloween 10k (pumpkin carved by my wife).

Rosco White with a Half-Wax Blend is a slow plotting quintet of sine wave-based software instruments. It concludes a trilogy of compositions that have thought about work and labor within a musical context. Each was scored for traditional instruments and then manipulated, collaged, and recombined. This score was for a brass ensemble, but its final instrumentation features resonant pure tones, with hits of the piano, base, or trombone folded into the waveform. In my mind, the resonance, and complexity of the tones equate to the perceived aftermath of work left in a room, both the immediate and long-lasting. For example, the odor of paint, hint of cleanser in the air, along with how a fresh coat of paint can change the very nature of a room.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out….

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via this link RSS, or search for wanzel in itunes!

The episode begins with low-slow-open synth sounds that form a disjointed, yet repetitive theme. Sonically the first section features two synths, both rich in delay and field manipulation. The second section expands on the themes, slowly at first, then accelerated, repeating with slight variations. It’s voiced by midi piano with a modest amount of synth within the reverberations. The third section partially incorporates these two modes, jumping from the singsong-wide synth sounds, to the rhythmic rolling piano pattern, beeping and repeating high notes, and ending with slow somber tones.

I have been thinking of the first section as morning lauds: a cup of coffee, a run in the park, a walk to the train, or any momentary reflection before the workday. The second section takes its pace and interruptions from repetitive tasks, sometimes sounding like a dance, or at other times, a chaotic ball rolling down a hill. The third part, is a uneven combination of the first two, the bit of work that stays in your head all the way until you fall asleep.

T.M.O. is a direct follow up to episode 85, A Durable Object. The conclusion of this trilogy, Rosco White with a Half-Wax Blend, will be released as episode 86 of the podcast.

A new composition featuring a software orchestra, computer-controlled synthesizers, and processed field recordings. The piece fully embraces traditional scoring techniques, tonality, and meter. Sonically the midi-controlled flutes, English horn, violin etc. are paired with FM synthesis to create the instrumentation. This joins and coordinates the electronic and orchestral sounds (even though they are both manifestations of software).  When composing I was thinking about the pace and regularity of the workday. The repetition of the musical themes with only slight variations; the strong half-note cascades; the low grumble of a time-stretched boat motor: all become stand-ins for the physical and temporal aspects of work. In many ways, A Durable Object is a followup to Towards and The Falls, approaching work from a durational aspect.

Towards, is to be listened to while at work – doing tasks that you may not want to do, or monotonous tasks you like. I would suggest gardening, raking leaves, doing dishes, cleaning the house, watching tv or balancing a budget.

Featuring binaural recordings of walking (in the woods, in a park, and on the train) alongside highly processed versions Chopin’s Nocturnes that have been stretched, collapsed and aggressively gated and EQ’d. The recording is just over 2 hours and 16 minutes in length.

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via this link RSS, or search for wanzel in itunes

This week on the stopGOstop podcast… A plot pickle or looking for a way out of the trouble we’re in, an audio collage of a 1990 speech concerning the emerging field of climate change by Carl Sagan and the made for cable movie Deceptions (1990), accompanied by synthesizer and digital signal processing.

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

http://www.stopgostop.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ep83.mp3

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via this link RSS, or search for wanzel in itunes

If you liked episode 83, you may also enjoy these past episodes:

036: What is Keeping You Awake Right Now

032: Early Summer Rainstorm

This week on the stopGOstop podcast… We will no not what will succeed, an audio collage of a 1988 interview with Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clark, along side the 2017 media availability of Bill Belichick, accompanied by synthesizer.

http://www.stopgostop.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/we_will_no_not.mp3

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via this link RSS, or search for wanzel in itunes

If you liked episode 82, you may also enjoy these past episodes:

042: Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

003: Walking to the Store

This week on the program… there are problems that we can foresee, those that we can prepare for, those that we can dodge, those we can predict… there are others that we cause ourselves, these, the self-inflected are often the hardest.

stopGOstop presents Soft Bodies, an audio collage about war, misfortune and disaster, mostly man-made. Featuring recording about the Challenger Disaster, the Dust Bowl, shipwrecks, resent and historic  environmental collapse and of course atomic power.

http://www.stopgostop.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/081-soft_bodies-1.mp3

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via this link RSS, or search for wanzel in itunes

If you liked episode 81, you may also enjoy these past episodes:

Episode 064: Farmers of the Fields of Stars

Episode 038: I don’t know if there’s an answer to this

This week on the podcast, the exciting conclusion of special three part miniseries event, Leviathan. Part three…of Imagination, listens to Pirates! Whales! Secret Government Technology! Eldorado! Hobbes! Sound Collage! and Much! Much! More!

stopGOstop is proud to present the second installment of a special three part miniseries event, Leviathan.

Part two, …of Sense, listens to World War III, the fundamental structure of natural law and Fargo, the whale dung sniffing dog, alongside field recordings, synthesizers and electroacoustic collage.

And don’t forget to stop back next week for the the exciting conclusion, …of  Imagination, listens to Pirates! Secret Government Technology! Hobbes! Mars! and Much Much More!