Category: Field Recordings

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“Working with what you have” Radio piece for Radiophrenia, 2023

Working With What You Have was created for the radio festival Radiophrenia (2023, Glasgow, Scotland) and is composed of field recordings collected during one year of work (April 2022-May 2023) in Manhattan, NY. This piece follows the making of a Tonkotsu ramen soup in a compact kitchen in Midtown. This type of ramen is known for its long periods of cooking that can extend for over 12 hours. The sounds of the different stages of preparing the ramen broth are interwoven with the fast-paced rhythms of commuting to the city, the sounds of the subway, traffic, sirens, walkways, and workers.

A sonic feature of Midtown, Manhattan, brought forward in this piece is the sound of artificial waterfalls abundant in small pocket gardens between corporate buildings, offices, and international consulates. The anesthetic quality of the sounds of the artificial waterfall in an otherwise stressful environment is a revealing piece of the fabric of this neighborhood. Its calmness and sense of rest constitute a feature of the capitalist structure of the city and the sense of empire-building, business as usual, serenity, and high productivity at work.

The latter sounds of this piece are from a Union rally in Manhattan, aiming to unionize a well-known grocery store chain. Voices from different labor unions and work sectors, including construction workers, delivery and service workers, baristas, and other professionals, come together for fairer work conditions in the city.

* The ramen broth is made of pork and chicken bones and served with chashu, toasted minced garlic, scallions, egg, and bean sprouts.
** The Union drive fell short by one vote.

Radiophrenia:

website

soundcloud

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Field recordings: Tidal Marsh, Hudson River

Hudson River fishermen heading out at dawn, Peter Lourie, 1998

Last February 2020, I visited the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary Trail in the Hudson River to make some field recordings of the environment surrounding the brackish tidal marsh. The Constitution Marsh is one of five large estuarine environments connected to the Hudson River and provides natural habit to several species of birds, fish, plants, and many vertebrate and invertebrate species. This wetland area is located on the east side of the Hudson, near Cold Spring, and is surrounded by the Hudson Highlands.

Tidal Marsh, Hudson River, 10’20”, Feb 2020, download

The soundscape above was recorded on a small hill overlooking the tidal marsh. It was a very windy day, so I sheltered the microphone between the rocky steps of the trail. The resulting recording captures the sounds of branches and dry leaves rustling in the wind, bird calls, and the sound of the Amtrak train on the distance with its characteristic horn. The marsh provides foraging, nesting, and resting habitat to more than 200 species of birds. However, this New York State Bird Conservation Area is still subject to a large conglomeration of human-made noises like the train and low flying airplanes.

Hiking trail at Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary Photo Jessica Andreone.jpg

Inside a hollow tree, 2’14”. Feb 2020, download

The more pervasive sound in the area is the constant sound of airplanes. I tried to record the sound of a passing aircraft through the vibrating trunk of a tree by placing a microphone inside of a hollow tree. The airplane’s sound reverberating on the wooden walls resulted in an eerie drone sound.

Reeds, Water and Wind, 2’08”. Feb 2020, download

Phragmites australis, the common reed, is a non-native marsh plant spreading in many of the Hudson River wetlands. This plant forms fast-growing stands of stems, transforming the diversity of the habitat into a monoculture by crowding out native vegetation. Reeds introduce changes to the local microtopography, increase fire potential, decrease salinity, and outcompete plants. These changes have a ripple effect that ends up degrading the diversity of wetlands and coastal marshes and endangering wildlife. The Constitution Marsh Audubon Center dedicates its conservation efforts to the control and management of reeds in the area by using black geotextile material to flatten and cover patches of the vegetation. This method raises the temperature of the soil, killing the root system of the plant, allowing for the future growth of native vegetation.

Small brook flowing into the tidal marsh, Hudon River, 2’08”. Feb 2020, download

Carlo Patrão
*photos by the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center

Hudson River map
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One with the space: A Trombone Conversation

Kalun Leung is a trombone player based in New York City. This interview was recorded during a visit to Freshkills Park in Staten Island organized by the sound artist John Roach, the designer Andrew Shea and their students from the New School. The group is developing a series of installations for the park that translate ecological data into sensory experiences. Freshkills Park, once the world’s largest landfill, is now being transformed into a public park three times the size of Central Park.

Kalun Leung
Sound the Mound

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Zepelim |18.03.2010| “Sound Hunting”

40°12’34.74″N, 8°25’16.11″W

Nesta emissão de zepelim, recuperámos as 8 compilações editadas até à data pela comunidade phonography.org. A phonography.org, nasceu da necessidade de criação de uma plataforma de partilha sonora, técnica e intelectual que permitisse abrir uma maior luminosidade sobre o trabalho em torno da fonografia ou field recordings. Segundo Joel Smith, a palavra fonografia é agnóstica, sem a profundidade oculta de palavras como música ou arte – fonografia é apenas escrita de som/registo sonoro, próxima da fotografia como acrescenta Yitzchak Dumiel. É com base nesses registos sonoros compilados pela phonography.org que construímos o nosso programa, onde poderemos escutar faixas dos fonógrafos: Mark Griswold, Jon Tulchin , Marcos Fernandes, Dale Lloyd, Scott Taylor, Richard Lerman, Quiet American, Yannick Dauby(entrevista em pt), Robert Millis.

Antes de cada recolha sonora, apresentamos as coordenadas do local onde os sons foram gravadas. Desta forma, quem desejar, poderá acompanhar o programa através das imagens de satélite do Google Earth.

Como separadores sonoros utilizámos algumas faixas de John Baker membro da BBC Radiophonic Workshop, presentes em The John Baker Tapes – Volume One: BBC Radiophonics [2008, Trunk Records]. No início e final do programa podemos escutar um breve excerto do drone de Greg Davis em Cosmic Mudra [Mutually Arising, Kranky, 2009] e Emeralds com Side A da cassete  Overlook, 2009, Wagon.

Alinhamento/Coordenadas:

1- 39º57’23.80”N, 75º10’54.34”W

2 – 51º29’31.42”N, 0º13´35.95” W

3 – 51º 30′ 59.92”N, 0º12’41.20” W

4 – 21º20’49.00”N, 158º05’09.00”W

5 – 27º39´53.38” N, 81º30’56.71” W

6 – 50º03’52.74”N, 19º56’41.93”E

7 – 31º 44´17.71”N, 7º47’05.29”W

8 – 47º36’06.03”N, 122º17’53.81”W

9 – 43º 56’48.04”N,  7º10’44.49”E

10 – 13º 25’09.71” N, 100º 23’39.60”E

Realização: Carlo Patrão, Locução: João de Almeida, Técnica: Tiago Pereira

44.244273N, 7.769737E