01. Mark Griswold - Wasp Nest
Wasp nest recorded in my backyard.
02. Murmer - Burning Charcoal [MP3 - 2.1 MB]
Contents of a summer barbeque crackling as the coals are prepared. Recorded in June, 2001.
03. Josh Russell - Transgenic Bacteria Freezing In A Dry Ice/Methanol Bath
Transgenic bacteria in a lyophilzation flask being flash-frozen in a dry-ice/methanol bath. Recorded with an Audio-Technica 822 stereo mic into an AWIA mini-disc then transfered to computer and normalized to 0dB.
04. Mark Taylor-Canfield - Ion Emission And Beam Transport
Electromagnetic Discharges From A Cyclotron Particle Accelerator The enormous energies created by the cyclotron particle accelerator at the University of Washington result in electromagnetic emissions which can be measured. These signals can be converted into audio frequencies which make it possible to monitor them with the human ear. The cyclotron accelerator is powered by a huge Van de Graff generator which creates extremely high voltage emmissions. Sometimes these EM discharges manifest themselves as visible light. But photon emissions are only one variation in the multi-media symphony of frequencies generated by the process. Radio frequency emmissions can also be recorded at several locations on the accelerator tube and around the high voltage equipment. Each part of the machine has its own particular electromagnetic signature and accompanying acoustic sounds. Sometimes lab staff say they can almost hear voices or music in the sounds, but it is usually blamed on the long hours in the lab or sleep deprivation since the experiments somtetimes continue on a 24 hour basis. This recording was made in the year 2001 on a Sony minidisc recorder. A standard crystal radio receiver was utilized to capture the radio frequency emmissions.
05. Dale Lloyd - Stairwell Acoustics (Former SPL Building) [MP3 - 5.7 MB]
This is an excerpt of what may be the last (if not very rare) document of the main stairwell in the now defunct Seattle Public Library building (downtown central branch). Recorded several months before it was demolished during the autumn of 2001.This excerpt was recorded at the first floor level, of which, there were five floors (plus a basement with a separated stairway between it and the first floor). The drone sounds were caused by the elevators situated next to the stairwell. The acoustics of the stairwell also reverberated and amplified the drones and occasional errant tones that occurred within. The building was built in 1960.
06. John Hudak - Cloister 4, May 2001
St. Agnes' Convent (Kláster sv. Anezky ceské), Prague, Czech Republic. Recorded 4 May 2001 on a Sharp MD-MT15 minidisk recorder with Soundman OKM CX binaural in-ear microphones. The buildings, which now house the 19th century Czech paintings of the National Gallery, are the oldest example of Gothic architecture in the city. Its founder St Agnes died a full 700 years before the Pope deigned to make her a saint. Popular opinion held that miracles would accompany her canonization, and sure enough within five days of the Vatican's announcement the Velvet Revolution was under way. For the recording, I stood at the end of a line of three large interconnected halls. The voices I recorded were that of three tourists admiring the varied architecture within the three halls, each of which appeared to be from different time periods.
07. Phillip Pietruschka - Tract
Recorded early July, 2001. Late evening, heavy rain, a shearing shed somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. A small Sony stereo microphone onto a Sony RZ-70 minidisc recorder.
08. Jon Tulchin - Wind, Power Lines, And Birds
Recorded in Moanalua Valley, Hawaii.
09. Marcos Fernandes - Freight Train, Jasper, BC, Canada
Recorded on DAT 10/2000. Train leaving the station.
10. Eric La Casa - Lozere
Recording: August 12th, 1998, 13H. Place: Foret domaniale de Ramponenche. Area: Lozere - Mont Lozere (South of France).
11. Yannick Dauby - Bois De Caravagne [MP3 - 5 MB]
Alpes-Maritimes, France. Stags chanting in the forest. Insects, slight rain and wind. 09/10/01.
12. Mike Marlin - Howler Monkey Troupe
Recorded in January/2000. This troupe of howlers resides in the Bladen Nature Reserve, one of three watershed systems flowing through the Maya Mountains in Southern Belize. There are three troups living in close proximity to and circumnavigating the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE), a facility encompassing 1153 acres nestled among 3 million acres of pristine rainforest. The troupe featured here hangs out in clusters of Sapadilly trees forty or fifty feet behind the caretaker's house, and I was fortunate to be hanging out inside the house when they began their swirling chorus that ordinarily lasts thirty minutes. I grabbed my gear and asked the kids in the house to stay quiet for five minutes and I crept out on to the veranda and pointed my mic toward the trees. This was very lucky, because if you hear howlers from a distance and then approach them they will grow silent and wait for you to leave. The only time I was able to creep up on a howler was finding a lone barker by accident and then kicking the tree he was perched in. In this troupe there are a few males (barking) and several females (the high cooing and growling sound). If it isn't obvious from this track, howler monkeys are LOUD!
13. Toby Paddock - Night Bugs And Watthour Meter
Unprocessed recording from August, 2001 near Cle Elum, Washington, USA, using Panasonic WM-61A electret cartridges, Radio Shack Windscreens, deflated junior sized soccer ball, and Sony MZ-R37 minidisc recorder.
14. Saw Trigge - Sailboat Anchored At Night, My Father Snoring
Recorded late at night, early Autumn 1997, cabin of wooden sailboat moored on Turkey's Adriatic coastline. Mono-recording Sony electret mini-shotgun mic (since misplaced with my memory of the product number) and Sony Pro Walkman WM-D6C. The sound of my Fathers' nocturnal glossal fibrillations (improvisations?) provided a delightful counterpoint to the creaking of boat timber and anchoring ropes and the gentle periodic splashing of the waves.