hangforum.com - The Archive

In one of my other lives, outside of these forums, I'm a sound artist. I work mostly with field recordings (recordings made out in the world, rather than the studio); typically I collect sound that interests me (for one reason or another) as I encounter it, and then work with it as a raw material in the studio later. Usually the work I do comes from the sound I find, rather than vice versa -- that is, I very rarely go looking for specific sound to make a work I already imagine.

I've been looking forward to sharing a work I made late last fall here, but it wasn't until this weekend that I finally posted it on my site:

http://quietamerican.org/commissions_et.html

The piece, Embertide, is something kind of different for me. It's based around a field recording, but instead of one made in public space about something I encountered by chance, it's based on the 18 or 20 hours of recordings I made of my wife in labor, when she gave birth to our daughter Ember last fall.

When I originally sought a Hang, one reason was the vision I had of playing it (and of my wife playing it) while my daughter was still in the womb; I imagined that she might become familiar with the sound and vibration, and hearing it again on the outside might help put her at peace, and ease her transition.

It didn't quite work out that way; I ended up getting my Hang second hand right around exactly the time my daughter was born, and only learning to play it in her very early months.

But the sound of it has infused her early development, and it's been a delight observing her learn bit by bit to "play" it and other instruments we have in our living room, such as a HAPI and, more recently, a Freenotes Wing I won on eBay. Her very first tool-use was using the HAPI's mallets to play it, something I also recorded.

The piece I made is quite long, about forty minutes, and it is not always easy to listen to. But I thought someone here at least might be interested in it.

The reason I have been looking forward to sharing it is that was made by using my studio tools (on my computer-based digital audio workstation) to "marry" the sound of my wife in labor, with the sound of our Hang. Technically, I used the process of FFT-based convolution to "multiply" two sound files, in a sense; the character of one was combined with the character of the other, and those parts that were in common were retained, and those that were different were discarded, more or less... I used the result as the main building block, but then did some other processes as well, including layering different copies pitch shifted down an octave, or a fifth, and so forth...

So for most of the piece, the sound that you hear is not a recording of my wife, exactly; or a snippet of me playing Hang, or striking the Ding, exactly; it is some combination thereof.

For most people, the effect is just what it is. But for those here, who are intimately familiar with the sound and timbre of the Hang, it might be something different... a chance to hear the "ghost" or "shadow" (or perhaps "light" would be better!) of the Hang, cast on another recording.

Symbolically, I was very satisfied to be able to marry these two gifts that came into my life at the same time together to create a soundscape that I find very beautiful -- majestic, if dark.

I know that Felix has been quoted (I think, even in the most recent note on the Hangblog, as writing directly) as saying that the essence of the Hang escapes recording, and digitalization.

But I hope that this piece in some small way suggests that that does not mean that the spirit of the Hang may not sometimes be held, if only as a lingering scent, as if a beautiful sprite who has passed through the room, and left only a perfume in the dark...

aaron

PS the sort of work I do generally, and this piece in particular, is certainly not for everyone, so no worries at all if you don't like it

Hi Aaron,

just start the download.

It sounds like an very interesting project. I burn the mp3 on a CD after download and than I hear it with the best possible sound on my hifi-system.
Very curious. I dont know when I have the time to listen the whole piece , but after that, i give you my feedback.

Greetings
Frank

i will give it the full listen tonight or tomorrow aaron,

i like what i have heard so far

i skipped through it and i love the build up and rich drones that you have created.. also can i hear hammer dulcimer towards the end?

Hah. I know what you mean.

Actually, that is the sound of the 'Atheneum' recording by the Australian band The Necks, which we were listening to on poor-quality portable speakers in the room...

... so you're hearing my merely OK recording, of their album playing on poor speakers, in a room already filled with other electronic and other noise.

One of the 'bones' of the piece is that that piece (Atheneum) happened to be a very long meditation in D minor (or some closely related key), so when we had our shruti box droning in D, they blended perfectly...

...and then, I could use the native D-A harmonic center of the Hang directly!

aaron

PS I should have said, I have no expectation that anyone devote forty minutes to listening to this It's a lot to ask, even for an audience interested in such things...

PPS I cannot recommend the Necks highly enough, especially the side of their work that is based around the piano (rather than organ)... their control of timbre, and exploration (exclusively) of long-form collaborative meditative improvisation, seems perfectly aligned with many Hang player's relationship to their instruments and music practice!

In this piece you very much capture the intensity and beauty of the moment. Those 22 year old memories of the birth of my son came rushing back. Thanks for evoking them.