Chiming MP3 from Chris Herbert

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

It seems like forever since the excellent record label Kranky has updated its free MP3 page. But a Kranky artist, Chris Herbert, whom many heard for the first time courtesy of a Kranky MP3 posting back around August 2005 (disquiet.com), has recently posted one at his own website, chrisherbert.net. The track, “Quiet Sun,” starts off quietly enough, a chiming figment of lush-ness that feels, on each cycle of its most prominent rhythmic swell, like it may burst into a proper song (MP3). (The file’s name, “autumn.mp3,” refers to the season of its release.) Instead, what it does is slowly fade — how much it fades isn’t particularly evident unless you put the thing on repeat, and then the difference between its quiet close and that opening haze is quite evident. It’s a somewhat rare occurrence of “scream-to-a-whisper” composing, and a delectable one at that.

I corresponded with Herbert about what he called “a peek at the ever-bubbling gumbo,” and he provided some additional details, which he said were OK to reproduce for the general public:

the mp3 is really a little test snippet, no biggie! it’s an offcut (and lord! are there hours of those – i seem to have a real talent for starting tracks that wither on the vine) from what turned out to be an hour-long drone piece which was really just an experiment, it’s not likely to turn up on anything or be documented so i thought i’d post a couple of minutes. the source was originally a track sent to me by a friend called andie who had recorded her bass and voice, i took a short phrase from that and expanded it. we may try and collaborate at some stage so i guess on some level it may have been a ‘proof of concept’.

The Andie in question is identified in the track’s data fields as Andie Brown. Several more Herbert MP3s are downloadable from his myspace.com/chrisherbert page.

Cassini Sounds of Saturn WAV File

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Who says in space no one can hear you scream? Sonic material is among the many data that the spacecraft Cassini is collecting on its mission. NASA has posted a fascinating WAV file of emissions from the planet Saturn that fall in the radio spectrum (WAV).

The recording is spooky as heck, just waves of what seem like otherworldly moans — well, they sort of are otherworldly moans — that could easily have served as sound cues in an episode of Star Trek, UFO or Space: 1999. As one friend said, it could just as easily have been part of the score to Forbidden Planet, by Louis and Bebe Barron; how is it that their nascent electronic work sounds so much like the real thing?

The NASA online coverage of Cassini explains the science behind the sounds, and how they’ve been prepared for human ears:

Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which have been monitored by the Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth’s northern and southern lights. This is an audio file of radio emissions from Saturn.

The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions in April 2002, when Cassini was 374 million kilometers (234 million miles) from the planet, using the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument. The radio and plasma wave instrument has now provided the first high resolution observations of these emissions, showing an amazing array of variations in frequency and time. The complex radio spectrum with rising and falling tones, is very similar to Earth’s auroral radio emissions. These structures indicate that there are numerous small radio sources moving along magnetic field lines threading the auroral region.

Time on this recording has been compressed, so that 73 seconds corresponds to 27 minutes. Since the frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio frequency range, we have shifted them downward by a factor of 44.

That compression is similar to the effects implemented on the recording of an iceberg that I wrote about back in May (disquiet.com). That iceberg story has been one of the most popular posts on Disquiet.com this year. More info on Cassini and Saturn at nasa.gov, where the three images above were made available. For additional reading and listening, I mentioned an NPR story on Cassini’s recording in August 2005 (disquiet.com, npr.org) and also European Space Agency posts of Cassini recordings from Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, in January that year (disquiet.com, esa.int). (Thanks to Scott A. Gilbert, of apeshot.com, for the outer-space tip.)

Prepared Piano MP3s

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Anthony Pateras‘s music ranges from threadbare ensembles, to theatrical vocal pieces, to solo piano. There are several MP3s of his work at his website, anthonypateras.com, including two from the trio in which he plays prepared piano, along with Sean Baxter on percussion and David Brown on prepared guitar. “Ataxia” (MP3) and “London Two” (MP3) are rattly excursions into group improvisation, the latter especially recommended for its deeply sublimated energies. It’s rare to hear three musicians work so hard to achieve such quiet results. There’s also an excerpt of a solo prepared piano piece, “Chasms: Residue” (MP3) — interestingly enough, it’s downright orchestral relative to the restraint of the trio efforts.

Abstract Ringtone MP3s

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

My take on cellphone ringtones can be summarized best by a misreading of a Rufus Wainwright song. When he sings, “My phone’s on vibrate for you” (off the album Want One), I entirely miss any lascivious innuendo and take it to mean that, out of politeness, he’s turned off his ringer. See, my phone’s been set on a subsonic ringtone — that is, on vibrate — since the previous millennium.

Still, ringtones are one of the most pervasive examples of electronically mediated sound, and judging by the website toneshared.com, they’re also a nifty form of self-expression.

The site is home to a growing collection of freely downloadable ringtones by electronic (and otherwise outward bound) musical luminaries, including Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto), Atom Heart (aka Uwe Schmidt), Chris Herbert and Francisco Lopez — almost 100 individuals and acts as of this writing. They’re available as plain old MP3s, which, according to the site’s brief help section, most phones can treat as ringtones.

The majority of the entries are well under a minute in length, and though most appear to honor the call for ambient/abstract content, some toy with the whole idea of ringtones. There’s a Leafcutter John entry titled “Sunriser” that plays for over a minute, by which point most portables would have moved on to voicemail (MP3); several Telefon Tel Aviv entries (including the pin-drop “Ballito SMS,” MP3) are credited as having originated on an album titled I Hate My Phone; and unharmonious Thomas Brinkmann contributions include a stunted take on “Happy Birthday” (MP3) and a feedback-enriched “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (MP3).

Among my favorites are Stephen Vitiello‘s glistening “Tone 2” (MP3) and the glitchy, sonar blips of si-cut.db‘s “Glow” (MP3). Perhaps the best way to enjoy the toneshared.com offerings is to just download a few dozen and play them on random. (Thanks to Shawn White, of xtrasauce.com, for the tip.)