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(FINAL version, with wind restored! — 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.
Says me (used to looking silly in public!), the sordid truth is that from my own perspective the 'cleaned-up' version I uploaded on 22 March 2024 (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/728285/ ) increasingly bugged me, because it was effectively too clean and lacked impact and atmosphere, leaving me largely unmoved. I therefore went back to the original version and removed the definitely unwanted bit of hiss, and indeed a quite strong subsonic element, but omitted the wind removal stage that had weakened its effectiveness. This time, instead of this replacing the over-clean version here, I'm retaining the latter alongside this one — also being mindful that some Freesounders may find the over-clean version more useful for their using as a sound source for their own creations.
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 final version I used Bertom Denoiser Pro to considerably reduce the hiss and an inaudible, subsonic element of the recordings.
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/729050/
Type
Flac (.flac)
Duration
42:13.400
File size
191.0 MB
Sample rate
44100.0 Hz
Bit depth
16 bit
Channels
Stereo
1 month ago
Oh what a great little report to hear, Logancircle2! — Yes, yes, that's just the thing to do! I don't yet know any type of music that could be so cultivating for *genuine* mental health! Let others take a leaf out of your book and subvert people's workplace blues with real healthy stimulation from these Nature-Symphonies instead of the mind-numbing, awareness-reducing music that people usually have as their background! :-)
1 month ago
I'm always glad to see other audio nerds creating weird gems like this. It's a piece of art. I put it on in the office without telling anybody and it changed the feel of the Monday morning.