Melbourne Sound Artist. Samadhi Recordings

These recordings were collected for the piece, ‘Samadhi Mechanism’. This is my first production in which I have created both the sound and the visual elements. The following is an excerpt from my final writeup on the experience,

Initiation: Concept and Inspiration
I haven’t travelled much. I would go so far as to say that I’ve been to far less places that involve the crossing of oceans than most. I did manage to make it to Germany to meet the mother-in-law and experience . The festival left me gob smacked – the mother-in-law much the same... While I’ve watched others trip off to far away countries and perhaps even zip interstate, I have continued my (possibly?) mundane existence of work/sleep/eat/work.

‘You need to get away, just head off to Bali or Indo for a week seriously man, it’ll do you good’

I’m sure it would.
I would like to go.

My lack travel has pushed me to acknowledge the thought that you may create the experience of travel without leaving your regular life. With the possession of a mind - perceptions, experiences, fears, memories, joys and interpretations - worlds of unspeakable fascinations are able to be deciphered on entering a space. There are spaces I walk into that exude the experiences of past and present, tantalising me with hints of the future. Stories of happenings, occurrences, meanings, action and intent intermix and generate waves of inner visualisation. They hang in the air like a scent for me to smell and bang on the doors of a reality I regarded as being absolute - confusing me as to which one would lead back to my place of origin.

The state of is one that Zen masters refer to as one of pure experience.

“It is the visceral feeling that shifts the filters of consciousness from those of passive, objective observation to ones of proactive, subjective participation, and this participatory immersion in the experience modifies it's perceived reality."

Robert Jahn and Brenda Dune, “Sensors, Filters, and the Source of Reality” 2004

The discovery of this conscious acknowledgement was quite a moment for myself, the result of which, led me firmly throughout the development and work process of this final composition. My intent was not just to document a space – but to attempt to portray my own perception of it and the experience it generates for myself, allowing others to join me in that moment.

Work Methods and Spanners
The sounds used within this composition were selected and recorded by myself in order to recreate the sonic space. The only audio in the composition that is not a field recording is the melody. Recorded sounds and techniques included the following

- Domestic Printer: C-ducer contact microphones. Stereo paired

- Cavity beneath a Train-line bridge: Sennheiser MKH 30 + 8020, MS recording technique

- The machine itself in movement: DPA 4060. Stereo paired

- Hallway and room cavity beneath the chairs: DPA 4060. Stereo paired

- Top level of inner city convention centre housing it’s ventilation and airflow ducts: 2 x DPA 4060, 2 x Rode NT4 (stereo), Sennheiser MKH 30,
Sennheiser 8020.
Self developed surround recording technique (see images)

Industrial scissor lift: Rode NT4 (microphone in XY stereo configuration)’

More information on this work can be found at my blogg