Despite the pouring rain for much of the day, the session was productive. Graham Dunning, Rachel Haines, Dallas Simpson, Andy Ingamells, Ana Milgram and Leon Trimble attended the site to make recordings (or in Andy’s case, scores). Joe Snape also popped in to take a look and meet the others, despite not being able to attend on Saturday.
Dallas used his binaural recording rig to record his performance on the site, using objects, surfaces and features with which to make sounds. He also picked up a range of environmental sounds including an unknown passer-by playing a trumpet, and the sound of the thunderstorm.
Rachel used a battered tape recorder and home made contact mics to record dripping rain (image above) and sang into a large metal air vent to find its resonant frequency. Rachel is interested in the sounds made by the tape machine in the recording process and also documenting her actions, which she did through out the day.
Andy used the site, and specifically the rain, to produce graphic scores. Felt-tip marked pages were left out in the rain to run. The results are to be interpreted by Andy and the other participants on day two.
Ana explored the site with two portable tape recorders, scraping them across surfaces, plants and objects and responding to the environmental sound. She also collected sound from people talking in the shed and the pigeons.
Throughout the day I recorded with various methods including contact miking an umbrella and some cymbals left out in the rain, and recording environmental sound from different locations.
Apologies to Leon for not getting a photo. Leon took recordings in the back shed and throughout the site. He also took video footage of various features, including a panning shot of the inside of one of the excavations, with which to create responsive visuals on day two.
