mike hallenbeck
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just before diwali
field recordings from north india
Available for free mp3 download from the Wandering Ear web label.
"Field recordist Mike Hallenbeck knows that the sounds documented by phonographers-- by those who tape and collect the noises of the natural and the built worlds-- are both unique and interchangeable..." --disquiet.com [ Read full review ]
brown rainbow
advantage : y'all [ excerpts ]
Download all excerpts as a single .zip file
01. Sheets Soaking Wet (Excerpt 1)
Here I plunge audio of wind chimes and the interior of a bus into a vast void of reverb, and wring within inches of their lives recordings of cicadas, hogs at the state fair, and a laptop trying/ failing to import an audio CD, as Charles lays down some bass and pitch shifted vocals (plus whatever else he was doing while I wasn't looking-- he's a tricky one, that Charles). Find out why they call me The Dronin' Ronin. [mp3]
02. Sheets Soaking Wet (Excerpt 2)
By this point Charles had moved to banjo (which at one point he amplifies and effectsifies), and I to assorted metal objects on the floor that I proceeded to swat with brushes. Charles had set up the bass loop already. [mp3]
03. Not A Communist Anymore
This would be the short and sweet track from these sessions, irresistably catchy and ready for radio airplay. Charles on the Rhodes, me on vocals, both with a healthy dose of pitch shifting. [mp3]
04. Catbox Clean (Excerpt)
Intrigued by the keyboard/ pitch shifting possibilities, I moved over to the Rhodes while Charles picked up a guitar. Melodic shenanigans ensued. [mp3]
05. Loon Wolf (Excerpt)
By this time Jaron had arrived, with a washboard (or some such thing) in tow that he proceeded to amplify. As Charles intoned upon a woodwind instrument of some sort, Jaron beat the toms with a mallet and, eventually, said washboard-esque implement as well, while I deconstructed beatloops on the laptop. [mp3]
living daylight savings time
Composed entirely of field recordings made across the United States, "Living Daylight Savings Time" unfolds as a long-form piece epic in scope yet intimate in detail. The work explores subtle yet radical audio transformations, juxtapositions, and transitions over long periods of time, patiently emerging over about 50 minutes.
The start of the piece plunges the listener into a darkness that gradually reveals itself as the hustle and bustle of a food court in NYC's LaGuardia Airport. Lawn sprinklers, sea lions, windblown leaves, and a variety of public spaces (the New York Public Library, the midway of the Minnesota State Fair, the interior of an airplane at 30,000 feet) materialize and coalesce, eventually dissolving or unraveling into digital oblivion. The resulting dream logic explores a new wilderness humankind has carved out of the old one.
Headphones recommended. Enjoy!
A listing of recordings used, roughly in order of appearance (multiple listings indicate re-appearances of sounds):
Food court, LaGuardia Airport, New York City
College stairwell, Minneapolis
Lawn sprinklers, Minneapolis
Trolley ride, San Francisco
Sea lions, San Francisco
Basilica, Minneapolis
Windblown leaves, Minneapolis
Cricket, Minneapolis
Airplane interior at 30,000 feet, Minneapolis-NYC
Pigeons under overpass, St Cloud MN
Basilica, Minneapolis
Frog pond, rural Wisconsin
Blinds in breeze, Minneapolis
Public library, New York City
Midway, Minnesota State Fair, St Paul MN
Indoor fountain, downtown Minneapolis
Racquetball court, Minneapolis
Bells, basilica, Minneapolis
Fireworks, Minneapolis
Assorted applause, Minneapolis/ St Paul
the secret history of karaoke
Though in fact it has nothing whatsoever to do with karaoke, you can sing along with it if you like. This release consists of three separate works:
1. "2 Turntables and a Microwave" extracts drones and melodies from a brief guitar sample, sprinkling in percussive samples and field recordings of a food court in NYC's LaGuardia airport, the Minneapolis Public Library, and Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
2. "Elephant" presents a lumbering pack of discrete sound events which you may associate or dissociate as you like.
3. "Winter Wonderland" draws on two field recordings-- one of freezing rain in central Ohio, another of my boots crunching through Minnesota snow (the latter drawing on the same source material as "Crunch Time" from the "Immersion: Water Works" CD) and stretches them into an ominous mutated progression.
Enjoy! And write a review over at earlabs.org if you like (link provided by Stasisfield).
the sonics of art spaces
t a c t i l e
various objects and materials in direct contact with a stereo microphone
02. Tactile 02: microphone dragged out of bed (2:38)
03. Tactile 03: leaves pressed around microphone (3:39)
04. Tactile 04: hands on microphone (4:06)
05. Tactile 05: hands on towel around microphone (4:01)
available for free mp3 download on Addendum, a net forum for sound works curated by Ben Owen out in NYC.
eventualities 1 : voice
Bryce Beverlin II vs. Mike Hallenbeck
Eventualities 1 : Voice proceeds from vocalizations by Bryce Beverlin II, recorded by request specifically for this release. I dismantled selections of these recordings (one legato, the other staccato) and put them back together again, using methods ranging from granular synthesis to plain old slowdowns and reverberation. Two resulting montages make up this release.
Available for free mp3 download from Insides Music.
For the holidays, 2006 / 2007:
Silent Night (Shepherds Quake)
"A refreshing take... There's something particularly dreamy about hearing "Silent Night" evaporate mid-hearing." --disquiet.com
i m m e r s i o n
w a t e r- -w o r k s
debut full-length cd from archive (mike hallenbeck)
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Make sure to check out
a net label devoted to field recording- oriented sound works
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more releases
Archive
more info
wandering ear
from Archive / Mike Hallenbeck :
[ music in black and white ]
online release from dark winter
"Synesthesia" is the experience of a stimulus by a different sense than that for which it was intended-- hearing colors, for example.
Whether or not he's a full-fledged synesthetic, sound artist Mike Hallenbeck tends to "see" sounds-- as a space of constantly evolving form, dimension, hue, value, highlight, and shadow.
A group of pieces deemed "greyscale" by Hallenbeck have been collected for "Music in Black and White", a new mp3 release by his sound art project Archive, now available from Dark Winter.
The material ranges from long-form "demixes" of tracks by Fadladder and Datura 1.0 ("In De Stijl of the Night", "That Will Be All") to pieces derived entirely from a binaural recording of a bike shop ("Trappr Keepr") and from the sound of Hallenbeck clucking his tongue ("Spork"). From stark and prickly to gauzy and ephemeral, the pieces blend with the incidental sounds of one's environment to provide a unique listening experience with each playback.
Try it on your headphones at a Man Ray photo exhibit, or as a soundtrack for "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Enjoy!
[ music box hero ]
the secret life of a music box
[ c o m p i l a t i o n s ]
Divinity/Nougat (live duet with Michelle Nagai) featured on 8 Sound Works, a compilation curated and organized by Ben Owen on behalf of the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology
Tramp/Chop featured on the 2005 60x60 compilation
Various pieces by mike hallenbeck featured on Rock's Role (After Ryoanji), a cd released in association with the exhibition of the same name at Art In General in NYC; for more info on the exhibition, see the installations page
Trappr Keepr featured on Quotidian Assemblages: Volume 3
Spotter featured on Locations: Volume 2 compilation of music from field recordings of urban spaces
Guggenheim featured on Phonography.org #4 field recording compilation
Spork featured on USA/USB compilation of American computer music
Mugwump featured on Overdose : The Final Religion ambient compilation
Bitrate, Yes, and Archipelago featured on 8bitrecs (London, UK)
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