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(New version, cleaned-up — see further below)
Nature-Symphony 44 ("In the weeping land, trees sat down beside me, seeking to work out a solution…") — A contemplative and predominantly sad-sounding work, though with a sense of eventually working towards something constructive. That's really quite odd to me, because I was expecting the Blues chime to counter the melancholy sound of the Gypsy chime in contemplative mood, but what actually happened was that the Blues chime in this context was sad itself! I brought in the particular small bamboo chime (in two layers) to give a contrasting timbre and also to lighten-up the atmosphere, which it does.
The initial strong activity of the metal chimes gradually dies down to a lower plateau, when we hear the gentle pitter-patter of a very light shower, the wind then abruptly dropping further, so that only very quiet sound is heard from the metal chimes for some 8 minutes (It's about 20' in the full half-speed version of the original) — though punctuated by the bamboo chime.
This replaced the original upload of this work, following my noticing some hiss in the main quiet section. I'm now using Bertom Denoiser Pro, which, at a modest price, gives me a lot of control over denoising my recordings. I've found that for some purposes Audacity's spectral subtraction system of noise reduction works better, but the Bertom tool is still excellent, even though no doubt there are still better (presumably AI) denoising tools, at a price.
The changes since the original upload are all in the metal chimes layers; the bamboo layers were just fine, and I've left them untouched. I've reduced the hiss to a much lower level, and the Bertom Denoiser has also enabled me to get a really sweet-sounding reduction of the wind-in-trees sound to an optimal level, and sounding much lighter and smoother than I got with the TDR Nova dynamic EQ VST. These changes have resulted in a greater overall clarity of all the metal chimes sound — at least, to my own perception.
— Except that I was increasingly bugged by the fact that I'd reduced wind sound far too much, and although, yes, this version is beautifully clear, it lacks a lot of the sense of drama and impact of the original version. Hence my uploading my FINAL version, which restores the wind sound while retaining the hiss reduction; https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/729050/ , to which I refer you.
Chimes used:
(layers 1+2)
1. Music of the Spheres Gypsy Soprano (6 tubes, tuned to an Eastern European Gypsy scale)
2. Davis Blanchard The Blues (8 tubes, tuned to a laid-back sounding Blues scale)
(Layers 3+4)
3. Indonesian bamboo chime, small (c. 30cm longest tube) (5 tubes, imprecise tuning, but musically potent)
I made the original metal chimes recording on 26 April 2018, on rough steep ground just below Hunting Gate, highest point on the Hunter's Path, Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK. Original recording not on Freesound. The bamboo chimes recording dates from 21 November 2023, on Piddledown, a little above the Hunter's Path. Geolocation is for the metal chimes.
Advisory
To get the best out of this, with its mass of detail, listen with high-grade headphones.
Two Davis Blanchard chimes being recorded in a previous session at the same spot; in this recording one of those was replaced with the Gypsy Soprano chime.
Recording the bamboo chime. It did have 6 tubes, but I had to remove the smallest one after I'd accidentally trod on its tip, causing a spit, which destroyed its ability to sound a tone.
Techie stuff:
Recorder for the metal chimes was a Sony PCM-D100, ill-advisedly with three nested custom Windcut furry windshields, on a Zipshot Mini tripod.
Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshields. For this second, cleaner, version I used Bertom Denoiser Pro to considerably reduce the hiss and reduce wind-in-trees sound to a really nice level, and sounding much smoother into the bargain.
Layer 1: half-speed, giving an octave pitch reduction; acoustic: middling foreground in cathedral;
Layer 2: half-speed plus further pitch reduction to give pitch an octave plus major sixth below original; acoustic: back of cathedral.
Recorder for the bamboo chime was same as for the metal chimes, but mics set at narrow angle (90°), and two nested furry windshields were used.
Post-recording processing: as for metal chimes, except that A1 Stereo Control was used to widen the soundstage (135%) to provide a modest zoom-in.
Layer 3: half-speed, giving an octave below original; acoustic: middling foreground in cathedral.
Layer 4: speed reduction to give an octave plus a tritone below original; acoustic: ditto.
Please remember to give this recording a rating — Thank you!
This recording can be used free of charge, provided that it's not part of a materially profit-making project, and it is properly and clearly attributed. The attribution must give my name (Philip Goddard) and link to https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/728285/
Type
Flac (.flac)
Duration
42:13.400
File size
182.9 MB
Sample rate
44100.0 Hz
Bit depth
16 bit
Channels
Stereo