electrocd

Track listing detail

Sub Terra

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Duration: 16:26
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T2050164218

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010209

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 5.0

ISRC CAD501010222

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

The concert work Sub Terra crystallises into a musical form that which is most abstract from the installations of the Sub Terra Cycle. Under earth, the roar, the grate and the prickling delicacy of sound resounding beneath us.

[xii-09]


Avoid Being Eaten by Mimicking Other Less Palatable Species (ABEMOLPAS)

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2003-04
  • Duration: 10:50
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • Commission: SARC with support from the Arts Council of Great Britain
  • ISWC: T0006348431

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010210

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 5.0

ISRC CAD501010223

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Avoid Being Eaten By Mimicking Other Less Palatable Species (ABEMOLPAS) began with the idea to apply a process called ‘stochastic resonance’ to sound transformation. Stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where, under the correct circumstances, noise can boost week signals instead of drowning them. This seemed an interesting way to explore the morphology between camouflaged and clear sound materials. In Avoid Being Eaten By Mimicking Other Less Palatable Species (ABEMOLPAS) cuddly farm animals take on a humoristic new suit of clothes.

[xii-09]


Avoid Being Eaten By Mimicking Other Less Palatable Species (ABEMOLPAS) was realized in 2003-04 at the composer’s studio and premiered on April 27, 2004 during the Sonorities Festival at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) — Queen’s University in Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK). Avoid Being Eaten By Mimicking Other Less Palatable Species (ABEMOLPAS) was commissioned by Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) — Queen’s University with support the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Composition

Premiere

  • April 27, 2004, Sonorities 2004: Natasha Barrett, Sonic Arts Research Centre — Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK)

Microclimates III-VI

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007
  • Duration: 23:32
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • Commission: Grieg-07
  • ISWC: T0029536319

Multichannel 4.0

ISRC CAD501010274

Microclimates III-VI was originally four sound installations spatialised in 3rd-order ambisonics and later remixed for concert performance. Each movement attempts to capture the total-senses experience of four Western Norway locations during a field trip in April 2007.

[xii-09]


Microclimates III-VI was realized in 2007 at the composer’s studio and premiered on September 1st, 2007 during the Sleppet project in Bergen (Norway). The piece was commissioned by the organisation Grieg-07 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Grieg’s death. The work was first released in 2009 on the disc Sleppet, +3DB (3DB 006).

Composition

Premiere

  • September 1, 2007, Sleppet, Bergen (Norway)

Microclimates III-VI, 1: Glacial Loop (Microclimate III)

Natasha Barrett

  • Duration: 5:48
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779039

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010211

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010224

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

On my first attempt to record sound at the foot of the Briksdalsbreen (Briksdal glacier) in Stryn (Norway) I arrived when the wind was so strong that it forced rain horizontally. For brief milliseconds I could open my eyes to glimpse a blue ice monolith through the turmoil. Some days later, on my second attempt, the scene was completely different. Although grey and drizzling, there was not a breath of wind and the forms in the ice were revealed: an enormous wall of blue twists and gashes, suspended vertically an unknown distance away across a lake. I jumped into the small rowing boat and slowly lowered two hydrophones (underwater microphones) into the water. The guide rowed so close to the face of the glacier that as my microphones recorded its electrical sparking, sucking, squeaking, whistling, burning and clicking sounds, I could at the same time run my hands over the smooth curves of its close-up form. To this constant singing and talking was added a single underwater ice fall. Gracefully the boat glided away from the face. Glacial Loop (Microclimate III) is an evocation of this boat journey.

[xii-09]


Microclimates III-VI, 2: Wet Face (Microclimate IV)

Natasha Barrett

  • Duration: 6:46
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779028

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010212

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010225

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Wet Face (Microclimate IV) takes sound from marsh birds, dripping water, squelching mud, tearing moss and rotten tree-wood in the Sandane area in Gloppen (Norway). Initially the forces appear gentle. Later, when the microphones are subjected to what for our normal ears is a gentle ‘pitter-patter’, we hear a bombardment. The rhythmic performance of incessant dripping had begun when I arrived. Its millisecond timing was mechanically perfect. I expect it will be the same year after year. Maybe the rhythm will change as the rock is eroded.

[xii-09]


Microclimates III-VI, 3: Water Fall (Microclimate V)

Natasha Barrett

  • Duration: 4:46
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779017

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010213

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010226

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

For Water Fall (Microclimate V) I threw two hydrophones off a bridge into white rapids in Holvik (Norway) while two normal microphones captured the air-born soundscape. Turbulence and eddies dragged the hydrophones, tossed them suddenly into the air or further down stream, smacked them into eddies or plunged them into imploding air cavities. After a while I attempted to anticipate where the microphones would end up and what type of sound they would capture — or to ‘play’ the waterfall.

[xii-09]


Microclimates III-VI, 4: Remote Gale (Microclimate VI)

Natasha Barrett

  • Duration: 6:06
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779006

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010214

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010227

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

The timing of my trip meant that an excursion to Utvær island — the most westerly point of Norway — would not enable entrance into the main attraction of the lighthouse, nor to overnight on the island. Instead the idea was to overnight at Hardbakke — a westerly point on the mainland — and daytrip by boat to the island. When I arrived a full storm brewed in the distance. Later that evening I received an SMS from an old sailor friend reading “full storm, 40 knots south westerly. This is no weather for sailing in the open ocean. Stay on land.” The next morning a call came from the captain saying he needed more time to get hold of a “bigger boat”… The driving rain and wind had clearly not deterred him. Out at sea my stomach continually leapt into my mouth. At Solund the wind and rain drove horizontally (an experience I would once again have at the glacier). The wind sung around every rock, every corner, through every gap. The island was scattered with small houses. At one end rose the lighthouse. Open porches offered some rest from the raw weather. The lighthouse’s locked door hid a tower of still air. The wind knocked me over and my equipment became entangled in a thorny bush. The wind buffeted both bush and microphone as one.

[xii-09]


Mobilis in Mobili

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2006
  • Duration: 8:08
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T0006908402

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010215

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 5.0

ISRC CAD501010228

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

The ocean’s physical nature, mystery, drama, mythology and concept have inspired art and culture throughout history and throughout the world. Mobilis in Mobili is the central axis of the larger electroacoustic work Trade Winds (2004-06) reworked into a self-contained composition inspired by this vast expanse of sea.

The title Mobilis in Mobili is from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, 1869) by Jules Verne (1828-1905).

“Several times, during various lulls of wind and sea, I thought I heard indistinct sounds, a sort of elusive harmony produced by distant musical chords” “A few moments later, eight strapping fellows appeared and dragged us down into their fearsome machine.” “[…] suddenly plunged into darkness, utter darkness. The ceiling lights went out so quickly, my eyes literally ached.” “[…] a sliding sound became audible. You could tell that some panels were shifting over the Nautilus’s sides” “Suddenly, through two oblong openings, daylight appeared on both sides of the lounge.” “What a sight! What pen could describe it? Who could portray the effects of this light through these translucent sheets of water, the subtlety of its progressive shadings into the ocean’s upper and lower strata?

[xii-09]


Mobilis in Mobili was realized in 2006 at the composer’s studio and premiered on June 8, 2006 during Synthèse, the 36th Bourges Electronic Music and Creation International Festival (France). (The original Trade Winds was commissioned by Notam (Norsk nettverk for Teknologi, Akustikk og Musikk / Norwegian network for Technology, Acoustics and Music) with funds from the Norsk Kulturråd (Arts Council Norway) and the Norsk Komponistforening (Norwegian Society of Composers).) Thanks to Storm Weather Shanty Choir (sea shanty extract), and Jon Varhus (captain of the Anne Christina).

Composition

Premiere

  • June 8, 2006, Synthèse 2006: Concert, Bourges (Cher, France)

Rhizaria (Barely: part-4)

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Duration: 12:54
  • Instrumentation: cello and processing
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779084

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010216

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 4.0

ISRC CAD501010229

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

In Rhizaria (Barely: part-4) the idea of ‘experienced thresholds’ are explored with extreme close microphones and live electronics capturing nuances of the cello’s quieter sound world and performance details in a way a listener never hears. In this work the electronic layers are created directly from the cellist’s performance. The idea is to ensure a unity of electronic sound and gesture over micro- and macro-time.

[xii-09]


Rhizaria (Barely: part-4) was realized in 2007-08 at the composer’s studio and premiered by Tanja Orning and Natasha Barrett on December 7, 2008 during the Kick-Off Festival presented by Electric Audio Unit at Det Åpne Teater in Oslo (Norway). The work was researched and composed during a stipend from the Norsk kulturråd (Arts Council Norway), 2006-08.

Composition

Premiere

  • December 7, 2008, Tanja Orning, cello; Natasha Barrett, processing • Electric Audio Unit Kick-Off Festival: Concert, Det Åpne Teater, Oslo (Norway)

About this sound recording

This version was recorded at the Notam (Norwegian network for Technology, Acoustics and Music) in Oslo (Norway) in May 2009 and mixed in the composer’s studio in June 2009.

Performers

Recording

Mixing


Gentle Sediment (Barely: part-3)

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2008
  • Duration: 9:35
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779073

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010217

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 4.0

ISRC CAD501010230

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Gentle Sediment (Barely: part-3) is an acousmatic concert work designed such that details in terms of volume, frequency, space, sound identity and structural relationships over all time scales may be performed to function at the experienced threshold under different concert situations. For some listeners the work offers a minimalistic and meditative experience. For others its low volume and shimmer of details may evoke the opposite experience of active listening and heightened awareness, enticing the listener into a state of attention, concentration and a sensual experience.

[xii-09]


Gentle Sediment (Barely: part-3) was realized in 2008 at the composer’s studio and premiered by Natasha Barrett on June 4, 2008 during the 38th Synthèse festival in Bourges (France). The work was researched and composed during a stipend from the Norsk kulturråd (Arts Council Norway), 2006-08.

Composition

Premiere

  • June 4, 2008, Synthèse 2008: Électroac 4, Palais Jacques-Cœur, Bourges (Cher, France)

Kongsberg Silver Mines

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Duration: 7:16
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: 4- / 6- / 8-channel fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T2050164230 / T9247779062

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010218

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010231

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Kongsberg Silver Mines is a journey on the old miner’s train used to transport silver ore and miners in and out of the silver mines of Kongsberg (Norway). The deafening sound and immense vibrations of the old trucks transport us finally into the depths of the mines. Here a guide drifts in and out with snippets of description and history.

[xii-09]


Under the Sea Floor (Coring and Strata)

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Duration: 6:30
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: 10-channel fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T9247779051

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010219

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010232

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Under the Sea Floor (Coring and Strata) originated in a University of Oslo (Norway) research project where a 10-meter long core-sample was taken from a ‘pockmark’ in the Oslo fjord, 32 meters below sea level. For two days I hovered in the background on a research ship and on a drilling vessel, recording sounds from on deck, below water and on the sea-floor. From these recordings came one set of two sound-types used in the work. The second set of sounds originated from a seismic shot created by a large TNT blast in a quarry. This shot was recorded by an array of 2000 geophones spread over tens of kilometers. The sound on each geophone is about 15 seconds long, and records the response from the Earth’s crust and well into the mantle. This data was used to synthesise sounds and control the transformation of other materials. The two types of sound create two clear sections to the work. In the installation they play simultaneously in adjacent spaces. In this special remix they play consecutively.

[xii-09]


Sand Island

Natasha Barrett

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Duration: 5:22
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: (HRTF) binaural fixed medium
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • ISWC: T2050164230 / T9247779040

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010220

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Surround 5.1

ISRC CAD501010233

  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Sand Islandis originally composed for headphone listening (using HRTF encoding) and later was realized for loudspeakers. A holiday sandy shore is transformed. Imagine telescoping down to the size of a sea snail. The lazy Norwegian tide and the soft golden sand take on a new perspective. Two hydrophones were buried under the sand in the tidal zone of a small bay on Søndre Sandøy in Hvaler (Norway). After some time the tide lifts the hydrophones out of the sand and carries them into a floating bed of seaweed.

[xii-09]


Barely: part-1

Natasha Barrett

Stereo

ISRC CAD501010221

  • AAC, 320 kbps
  • HRTF, 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • MP3, 320 kbps
  • 44,1 kHz, 16 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Multichannel 5.0

ISRC CAD501010234

  • Dolby Digital, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • DTS, 48 kHz, 24 bits
  • 48 kHz, 24 bits

Barely: part-1 was originally a 70-minute spatial sound and visual immersive installation resulting from a collaboration between Natasha Barrett and architect and designer Birger Sevaldson along with the group Ocean North.

The work was designed as a site-specific installation for Kanonhallen in Oslo (Norway). The Germans requisitioned Kanonhallen during WWII for use as an artillery factory. The space is 50 meters long, 13.5 meters wide and 8 meters high. The walls and floor are concrete. High glass windows allow the changing light to penetrate the room throughout the day. Barely: part-1 was installed in October 2007, which in Oslo is a month of rapid daylight change. The room acoustics are complex: In addition to a reverberation duration of over three seconds, various flutter echoes and comb filter effects are found at different points of the room.

Visual materials for the installation consist of 20 clear, colourless one-mm thick, one-meter wide and four-meter long polycarbonate foils hang from a 9 by 8-meter ceiling grid. The foils were painted with a line pattern in ultraviolet reflective paint. This pattern was designed in detail through computer simulations to both enhance and skew the spatial topology. Naturally occurring sounds from in- and outside the space were recorded and classified in terms of intrinsic (spectral and temporal, or ‘inside’ the sound) and extrinsic (referential, or referring ‘outside’ the sound) content. These materials included everyday sounds such as the activity of a janitor and two onsite workers, sounds from the neighbouring building site, a kindergarten, a motorbike courier and a distant propeller plane. Outdoor sources were recorded both outside and inside Kanonhallen so as to be filtered through the unusual room acoustic. The blend of indoor and outdoor sounds dissolved the sense of boundary. In addition, close-microphone recordings, which exclude room acoustics, were used to rearticulate detail when micro-scale variations in temporal and spectral information were lost. Editing and transformation served two main functions. To explore extrinsic information by creating a continuum from a sound suggesting a direct causal basis or concrete reference, to a sound of remote causal basis or abstract reference. Sounds of concrete reference were used to create a network of indicative relationships suggestive mainly of human activity in ordinary environments. And to explore intrinsic information by drawing attention to, and isolating, small details and fluctuations in sound identity, spectrum and morphology. (Even more information about the work can be found in the composer’s website.)

The listening level of Barely: part-1 should be adjusted such that the sound is just audible.

[xii-09]


The audio of Barely: part-1 was realized in 2006-07 at the composer’s studio and the installation premiered on October 9, 2007 during the Ulitma Festival at Kanonhallen in Oslo (Norway). The installation was made possible by support from the Norsk kulturråd (Arts Council Norway), Notam (Norsk nettverk for Teknologi, Akustikk og Musikk / Norwegian network for Technology, Acoustics and Music), Fond for Utovender Kunstnere, and the Ultima Festival. On Bouteilles de Klein Barely: part-1 has been remixed and reduced to 39 minutes in 2008 at the composer’s studio and is intended to create a background sound environment. The work was researched and composed during a stipend from the Norsk kulturråd (Arts Council Norway), 2006-08.

Composition