Melbourne Sound Artist. Drain Birds 2

Drain Recording #2

Second of the drain recordings focussed on tweaking the methods and work process of the first. Honed aspects included the source composition (remixed in response to the resultant first recording), equipment set up (signal leads were extended and balanced for better quality of sound), positioning within the drain (deeper), width between the speakers (increased up to 60 meters apart) and microphone placement (microphones were placed at a fair distance from small ‘waterfalls’ as the volume of their sounds over dominated the mix.
Final mix of the piece is a gentle balance between the dry (original) and the wet (recorded within the drain) compositions. The two pieces are layered one over the other. At points in the wet composition where the bird calls become too resonant and/or lack clarity of sound and movement the dry piece is brought forward via an increase in it’s volume. The wet recording’s level decreases accordingly. Moments at which the unique sounds of the drain are heard in a pleasing volume ratio with the birdcalls are points at which I am able to increase the volume of the wet recording alone - without the assistance of the dry composition

Images by Lennart Katzwinkel