An excerpt of a recording I made whilst sheltering under the Narnain Boulders on route to The Cobbler/Ben Arthur in Scotland. We had terrible weather and had to turn back in the end as visibility was so poor.
Photos by Curtis James
Dungeness Field Recordings
A few snippets of some longer recordings I made in Dungeness at the weekend. The landscape is quite strange and there is a sense of entering in to a different dimension as you pass the Army firing range and glimpse the nuclear power station in the distance. These recordings, made using contact microphones, are suitably otherworldly and will no doubt be used within my sound design and music work. I'm looking forward to spending more time in the Dungeness area as there are so many sound gathering opportunities.
Abyssinia Bothy Sound
I recently spent a week wild camping in Scotland with my brother Curtis (who also took some lovely photos). I was keen to gather some Ambisonic recordings and find out if I could hack the outdoor life. I've never really been a fan of camping as I'm a bit too used to my home comforts, but the lure of potential new sounds to record was strong enough, and it turned out to be an enjoyable, if not completely successful trip because we had a fair amount of wet weather which made recording difficult and sometimes impossible. I'd initially planned on getting lots of Ambisonic recordings (even if my brother did think I was mad to carry such an amount of gear in my pack), but I think I ended up preferring the recordings I made with the simple stereo spaced pair setup. I also got a recording of the wind howling through a fence near a remote mountain Bothy we stayed at one night. I used a pair of JRF contact microphones, which record the physical vibrations of an object rather than sound waves moving through the air like a traditional microphone. I love contact mics as they always surprise in the hidden sounds they uncover.
I think I'm hooked on wild camping now too!
Listen below. Headphones recommended.
The Detectives - Murder on the Streets
I worked with composer Andrew Phillips on series 2 of the BAFTA nominated crime documentary The Detectives. The first of four episodes is broadcast tonight on BBC 2 at 9PM.
“The access is staggering, the stories heartbreaking, the storytelling magnificent”
Blood Culture Radio Academy Award Nomination
Just found out that radio drama Blood Culture, that I composed music for and sound produced two episodes of, has been nominated for a Radio Academy Award in the Best Fictional Storytelling category.
Promax Horror Channel
Nice feature in Promax Daily Brief about the recent Horror Channel branding I worked on with director Chris Turner and Holman & Hunt.
The effectiveness of H+H’s Horror Channel rebrand can be boiled down to the following components: 1) A series of 12 stylish, boldly subtle IDs that favor a sense of unease over traditional scare tactics. 2) An extreme minimalist on-screen graphics package driven by frightening red clouds that spread across the screen like a nightmare. And 3) a thrumming, painstakingly crafted soundscape by sound designer Simon James that was made possible because, unlike most channels, Horror does not carry a continuity voiceover.
“One of the great things about this project was having the space to do what we wanted with the audio,” (Richard) Holman said, “because sound is so important in enhancing the mood of the uncanny and unnerving.”
Akiha Den Den album
The Akiha Den Den soundtrack album is now available. Really pleased with the work Nick Taylor has done on the design and packaging. Big thanks to Colin at Castles in Space Records for releasing this odd selection of music and sound design. I was devastated by the loss of a close friend whilst working on Akiha Den Den, and the project gave me the perfect place to escape to.
“This vinyl and CD package collects electronic music created for an abandoned space: Akiha Den Den, the crumbling amusement park at the centre of a surreal radio drama, and the setting for a story woven from the very fabric of radio.”
“Released on a specially requested opaque clear vinyl LP, the physical package also includes a redacted Akiha Den Den booklet (all artwork by Nick Taylor) and a beautiful bonus CD filled with over 70 minutes of Buchla Modular, EMS, drones, dramatics, cassette 4 track abuse and noise from the Akiha Den Den radio series.”
CBS Horror Channel branding
Back in January I completed the sound design for a series of 10 second branding idents, directed by Chris Turner, for the Horror Channel. I'm excited to say that they have now launched, so tune in to see/hear them. Sound wise they are a mix of electronic sound design and foley (thanks to Sue Harding for the fire advice) and I had a lot of fun conjuring up suitably dark sounds on the Buchla Electric Music Box and Oberheim OB-6, of which the latter features heavily in this production.
““When Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson were writing the screenplay for ‘The Shining’ they kept referring to Sigmund Freud’s book ‘The Uncanny’; a book which explores the way an image or scene where something is not quite right can make the skin crawl and quicken the pulse in a much more visceral way than mere shock and gore. We took the same approach. Each of our idents provides the thrill Horror fans love without ever making the source of that emotion explicit.””
Ambisonic Recording in Scotland
I had the pleasure of recording on the East coast of Scotland last week for a project for Salesforce Trailhead. I used the brilliant Sennheiser Ambeo microphone, which records 4 channels and allows for post processing in to various stereo microphone configurations, binaural and most versions of surround. Whilst the technique has been around since the '70s, it has gained in popularity in the VR world recently as the positioning can be linked to head movement within a virtual reality environment. It is one of the only microphone systems that records vertical as well as horizontal, and captures a truly immersive sound space.
Below is an excerpt of a longer recording I made in the rock pools near Dunnottar Castle. (you can just make me out in the image below) The microphone was placed so that water was bubbling and moving all around it and lapping against the rocks. This version is encoded in to the binaural format, which requires headphones to fully appreciate the 'surround' effect.
What is so exciting about this recording technique, is the amount of flexibility once back in the studio. If I wanted to, I could choose to encode this same recording in any number of stereo mic configurations (and directions) or full surround. I'm seriously considering creating some library collections and I'm already planning another trip to Scotland to spend an extended period recording on the West coast.
Photo by Clive Howard/Blue Canary
Delaware Road at Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker
This July I'll be joining a group of like minded electronic sound experimenters in an immersive night of music in a cold war nuclear bunker in Essex, just off the M25, as part of Alan Gubby's Delaware Road music/theatre/fiction project. The star of the evening is undoubtedly the setting; the dusty, eerie tunnels that lead to rooms filled with (thankfully) unused armageddon paraphernalia and the odd mannequin here and there. A fully equipped BBC studio is one of the many oddities that you'll discover wandering around this tomb of false hope and desperation.
Kelvedon Hatch is a chilling time capsule of how the other half might have lived after a nuclear war; where the government, or what was left of it, would try to rebuild and start again.
I doubt they could have imagined the place as a venue to mind expanding electronic music and visuals courtesy of Ian Helliwell, Howlround, DJ Food, Teleplasmiste, Concretism and others, but that is exactly what is happening on Friday 28th July. Tickets (including a an optional bus service) are selling quickly, so don't hang around.
I'll be there conjuring outer dimensional oscillations, spirit invoking modulations and frequencies to welcome all beings with warmth; exploring the sounds that come from deep inner space as they vibrate around the subterranean and spread to the remotest reaches of outer space. From pulsing strobed rhythms and incantation arousing sequences to glacial tone shards and shapeshifting drones; the vast range of the Buchla Electric Music Box will be shared in a 3hr exploratory performance. Here's a little taster....
Self Generating Exploration
I use a modular synthesiser called the Buchla 200e Electric Music Box. It crops up in nearly every project I work on and is an endless source of inspiration. Its inventor Don Buchla, whilst a synthesiser pioneer just like the better known Bob Moog, chose a more experimental approach to his designs, preferring to discard traditional interfaces like the common white and black keyboard, and instead creating touch sensitive input panels with layouts that better suited the human anatomy.
This recording uses the 266e Source of Uncertainty module to drive a self generating composition. Pulses and modulation are randomly generated and control the rhythm, pitch and timbre of a single oscillator with the results being very musical. I could just leave this patch alone and it would play endlessly, but I'm making subtle changes to various settings to interact with the machine music. The original idea for this particular patch came from Todd Barton, Buchla expert and inspiration source for many synthesiser explorers.
There is one last element to this recording, the Ciat-Lombarde Cocoquantus - which is a cosmic looping machine from another dimension. More about that another time!
Hyperloop
A piece of music from the 'techno thriller' radio drama series Blood Culture, which topped the iTunes podcast charts in its opening weekend, knocking stalwarts The Archers off the top spot. (update - and is now nominated for a Radio Academy Award)
This particular piece of music underscores a scene from episode 5, and so I can't say too much about what is going on for risk of spoilers, but I can say that it involves violence, a cattle prod and emotional revelations.
Episode 2 of Blood Culture will be available in two parts soon. As well as music throughout, I also sound designed and mixed this episode.
Find out more about the series, including how to subscribe, here.
Love Bite - UK Television Premiere
Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and her disturbing black and white drawings gets its television premiere tonight on Sky Arts at 10.45 (repeated May 1st at 1.15am). A great opportunity to watch this very personal portrait of a brilliant creative being, and to discover what drives her to make her extremely detailed art.
Blood Culture Trailer
A new online radio drama that I've worked on with a lovely team of talented people, is being released on April 20th. Here is the trailer.
More information here.
Blood Culture
Coming soon. A new radio drama from Lance Dann (Flickerman). I'm doing the sound design for two episodes and providing music for the full series.
The Sound of Story
Myself and Neil Cargill were invited to speak at The Sound of Story a couple of weeks ago. As well as sharing insight about our radio drama, Akiha Den Den, it was a fantastic opportunity to immerse ourselves in a weekend of discussions, talks and workshops on the subject of sound and story telling. Check out this review of the symposium.
Akiha Den Den - Electronic Sound Magazine/The Sound of Story
Very pleased to be featured in the latest edition of Electronic Sound Magazine in an excellent article by Scanner (Robin Rimbaud), which places Akiha Den Den in the historical context of experimental radio. To be able to create radio drama where the sound design and music doesn't get relegated to a supporting role, but instead takes equal billing with the cast in telling the story, is something I've been working towards for a while. Its the culmination of a lot of hard work for myself and Neil Cargill (writer and director) in a particularly rewarding collaboration.
Listen to Akiha Den Den here.
We will be talking about the creative process of making Akiha Den Den at the excellent The Sound of Story symposium taking place this week in Brighton. Billed as An Exploration of Sound and Music in Storytelling, the event runs over 3 days and features talks, demonstrations, discussions and workshops from leading practitioners in the field.
We'll be speaking at the symposium on Friday the 18th at Brighton Dome Studio and will be joined by Sue Harding (Foley Artist - Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Imitation Game, Le Misérables and In Bruges), Matthew Herbert (Musician / Artist / Producer / Writer - Life in a Day, Bodily Functions, One Pig), Anne Kroeber (Sound Designer / Effects Editor / Recordist -Blue Velvet, Dead Poets Society, The Horse Whisperer), and Paul Davies (Supervising Sound Editor / Sound Designer - Hunger, The Queen, ’71, We Need to Talk About Kevin). Quite a line up!
Tickets and more info here.
Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and Her Disturbing Black & White Drawings
I just heard that Jim Scott's fantastic film is picking up awards at film festivals. Well deserved as Jim has created a dark, touching beautiful film. Proud to have played a small part, providing music for a scene at the end of the film. I'm looking forward to attending the Brighton screening on the 14th of November.
Akiha Den Den trailers
I've been making these trailer videos for Akiha Den Den. You can find more at the Akiha Den Den website. A huge amount of sound design and foley went in to this series, so much that I sometimes forget little bits and then I'm pleasantly surprised. This episode uses a recording of Brighton's Palace Pier Ghost Train that I made for this.
Akiha Den Den Bonus OST
As the Akiha Den Den series unravels I've been sharing tracks from the soundtrack in between episodes. I'm also busy putting the finishing touches to the soundtrack album which will be released on vinyl in the new year. Here is a piece of music used to introduce Silph, the thought mining cockroach. It is pure EMS Synthi A magic.
Video feedback is by Ian Helliwell.