djkaboodle, kaboodle Kaboodle Sound
Boiled, Sawn, and Wiped Clean [disquiet0011-motoring]

This was another creation for the Disquiet Junto (details below). The idea was to record an everyday mechanical rhythm.

I decided to try to make something in the vein of Einstürzende Neubauten, so I tried - but failed - to make a decent field recording of my car, using contact mics. I wanted to record the sound of the engine while driving and especially changing gears. I couldn't get the contact mics to stay in place or avoid interference from rattling or moving bits.

So instead, I recorded the windscreen wipers by attaching the contact mics to the windscreen. I also recorded me tapping on the windscreen, the sound of the 'squishers' (water jets), and the resultant squeaks. Bits of all those sounds are in this recording. The rhythm is composed of an unprocessed recording of the wipers changing from slow to medium to fast speeds, and back again.

Enjoying the above process, I also recorded my gas boiler being ignited and used. Tapping the boiler lightly created the banging/drum sounds, as did the noise of the ignition.

While editing the recordings in Audacity, a tree surgeon turned up next door and started chainsawing up a tree - so I recorded him from my window, and threw in a few chainsaw sounds to the final mix as well.

All the sounds were chopped into 'hits' in Audacity, passed to an Electribe SX1 (which I can't stop using at the moment), and played live or programmed. No other instrument was used. All the sounds in this recording are from the above three field recordings. The dog howl sound is a pitch shifted sample of a windscreen wiper squeak.

I calculated the BPM of the windscreen wipers at each of the three speeds as 66.8, 131 and 182.9. I programmed and played patterns to fit these BPMs. The wipers do not stick to an exact beat, so there is some rhythmic drift.

Although it's nothing like Neubauten, I managed to keep a general 'horror' theme.

The image is from here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...Leatherface.jpg

Here is the original assignment for the Disquiet Junto:

"The eleventh Junto project requires you to make an original field recording, and to then make something of it. This project focuses on rhythm. The field recording should be of some rhythmic mechanical sound from everyday life: a dishwasher, a car's turn signal, a hard drive, a bicycle, whatever you choose. That recording should serve as the main rhythmic element of your track. You can edit the recording, certainly, but it should remain recognizable; you should only edit it to whittle it down to a core rhythmic section. To it you can add whatever sounds you like, but the rhythm should be central and prominent in the finished track. "

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

Disquiet Junto.