Ambient soundscape: Commute V

[respirator]

https://soundcloud.com/respirator-dk/commute-v

Fifth installment in the Commute series. All tracks are based on recordings from my daily commute, each track representing a certain stage.

If any old timers remember my album Monochrome, then this is a sort of follow up.

Br,
Thomas

[Eauson]

A little bit loud and overpowering for me, I certainly don't envy your daily commute.

[wagtunes]

My Feedback:

Music - 1
Instruments - 10
Performance - 9
Mix - 9

Overall - 7.25

Comments: Musically, I couldn't identify with this genre (assuming sub genre of ambient) at all. However, I found it one of the most unusual pieces I've ever listened to. So much so that I'm dying to know how you recorded this. What synths? Any samples? Anything particular that you did that one would consider out of the ordinary? As much as I can't say I enjoyed it on a musical level, I was absolutely intrigued by the sounds and overall atmosphere of the piece.

So any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[respirator]

Hi Wagtunes,

Thank you for your feedback.

I don't really do genres. This is probably too rhythmic for ambient, could also be described as Noise, but is probably too structured. Musique Concrete would be more apt, but not that known. I'm very inspired by the Futurists if that is any help.

All sounds are field recordings from a certain stage of my daily commute. Some recorded with a phone others with a dedicated field recorder. No synths. No external samples.

Unusual techniques on this track could be:
- Controlled feedback loops (looping the track output to the input)
- Playing with micro pitch and formant shifting (via ReaPitch - fantastic plugin)

And then the usual slicing and dicing, layered reverbs and delays, a lot of precision EQ'ing (ReaEQ!), some stretching and a lot of work.

Hope that helps - and that you'll at some time be open for soundscapes outside of stale genres.

If you're interested I might post a few raw audio files that went into this.

Br,
Thomas

[respirator]

A little bit loud and overpowering for me, I certainly don't envy your daily commute.

Hi Eauson,

To each his own. Thanks for listening.

My commute isn't this bad. This is sort of a high light reel.

Br,
Thomas

[wagtunes]

Hi Wagtunes,

Thank you for your feedback.

I don't really do genres. This is probably too rhythmic for ambient, could also be described as Noise, but is probably too structured. Musique Concrete would be more apt, but not that known. I'm very inspired by the Futurists if that is any help.

All sounds are field recordings from a certain stage of my daily commute. Some recorded with a phone others with a dedicated field recorder. No synths. No external samples.

Unusual techniques on this track could be:
- Controlled feedback loops (looping the track output to the input)
- Playing with micro pitch and formant shifting (via ReaPitch - fantastic plugin)

And then the usual slicing and dicing, layered reverbs and delays, a lot of precision EQ'ing (ReaEQ!), some stretching and a lot of work.

Hope that helps - and that you'll at some time be open for soundscapes outside of stale genres.

If you're interested I might post a few raw audio files that went into this.

Br,
Thomas

Ah, so these are actual recordings of your (sounds like a train) ride. For a moment I was thinking to myself (this sounds like an actual train of some sort) but then I said, no. Can't be. Too noisy and something too processed about it. But now I get it.

Like I said, very unusual piece.

[Eauson]

Hey Thomas,

A little bit loud and overpowering for me, I certainly don't envy your daily commute.

Hi Eauson,

To each his own. Thanks for listening.

My commute isn't this bad. This is sort of a high light reel.

Br,
Thomas

I think I should have taken more time to make my response, I feel I have done you a disservice, sorry, I live in a country where only large populated places deserves decent internet coverage and so my response was a bit too immediate, as I can be shunted offline very easily. So I sat down, fingers crossed as I listened again on headphones and wrote this on a notepad

It actually brought to mind sound maps
http://www.soundaroundyou.com

https://citiesandmemory.com/2015/07/top-sound-maps/


I guess more information about the sound collection would add a depth to the piece, conveying a sense of the journey/sonic transit.
Having dabbled in this style myself ( paulstretch and mammut together with an old tandberg reel to reel fed through an old analogue tuner amp, recorded on a zoom H4, where the battery sound would contribute to the audio ) that you deserved a better response than that which I had left.

On headphones you get a real feeling of the journey undertaken ( oh the hours of travelling to and from London) there is a sense of steam and wailing, together with echoed train track beats which add to the sense of the piece, together with the ghostly presence of strangers shifting in space.
Hope this wasn't too long

Regards
Liam

[respirator]

Hi Liam,

Thanks for listening again with open ears. This is indeed best consumed with headphones. Very interesting links.

Br,
Thomas