Click the titles to open the blog entry. Most of the recordings in the entries are 2 channel stereo, some are binaural, all audio files have been converted from the original PCMs to 256 kbps MP3s. Most recent entries are at the top.
Toulouse, France - 17th September 2011
We stayed around 1.5 hours north of Toulouse in September this year and visited lots of old towns and cities, cathedrals galleries and some new stuff as well.
This recording was taken inside Le musée des Augustins in central Toulouse, the image is from inside the La cathédrale Sainte-Cécile in Albi, just opposite the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - 13th August 2011
Whilst out at TES2011 I got some time to have a look around Toronto which has to rate as one of the coolest cities I've visited. Too many great recordings and photos to put here.
The recording is from the Bloor-Darnforth line on the subway from the airport. Almost like a mini composition in itself.
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK - 5th November 2010
Karen and I spent the weekend at the Soundings festival in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a really great city, full of culture and diversity, history and art. We were made to feel very at home by Cathy at the Claymore guest house in the East of the city. If you are ever in Edinburgh this is a great place to stay, especially if you are a veggie!
The audio recording might be a bit of a cliche but it captured the mood.
Mach Loop, Wales, UK - 13th October 2010
A day out recording low flying aircraft in the 'Mach Loop', a military training area in mid-Wales. The weather was brisk but the sun was out and so were the jets. Watch the volume during playback, there are three passes and the last one is especially loud.
Recordings from this trip have been incorporated into my latest Acousmatic piece entitled Low-bypass. The piece is based around recordings of jet engines in various states of motion, both under power and being moved by forces other than the burning of fuel.
Pictures courtesy of my brother Kristian Ramsay-Jones.
Dubrovnik, Croatia - 10th September 2010
The enormous cruise ship, Costa Victoria, leaves harbour in Dubrovnik as the captain gives us 5 minutes or more of the ship's loud and strangely musical fog horns.
Anchored a little way up the coast to the north of the city was the MSC Magnifica, which was one of the biggest things I have seen on the water and dwarfed the Victoria.
Vrboska, Hvar, Croatia - 2nd September 2010
Vrboska - The parish church of St. Lovre was built in the 15th century and was the setting for this recording undertaken not far from its bell tower. Had I known it was 12 noon and all the churches in Vrboska were about to sound there bells I would probably have been a little more prepared with my audio recorder...
Hvar City, Hvar, Croatia - 31st August 2010
The vibrant, bustling square of Hvar City on the Adriatic island of Hvar in Croatia. The city is imbued with Venetian and Ottoman history and their influence can be seen and heard throughout the city and the rest of the island. Sitting somewhere between western and eastern european ideologies, Croatia is a diverse and exciting country which is well worth a visit.
Hack Green, Cheshire, UK - 1st August 2010
Without doubt the find of the year, Hack Green Nuclear Bunker in Cheshire.
The bunker itself has been preserved and houses some of the old equipment used during the 50s, 60s and 70s. Much of this machinery is running to simulate the various stages of a nuclear attack on Great Britain, the recording below was taken in the 'communications room' where printing machines spit out continuous updates from around the UK.
Asian radio broadcast- 1st March 2010
When we were younger, my brother and I used to own a Sonix Detonator radio which used to be able to pick up broadcasts from Citizen's Band and Air Band radio. Ever since these early days I have been fascinated with low-fi, broken and covert radio broadcasts, to the point where I recently bought wide-band scanner, A Yupiteru MVT-7100.
With this device I have been able to seek out and record sounds which were previously unobtainable, and I have even been able to start finding some Number Stationbroadcasts.
The following recording is simple broadcast from Asia which I able to pick up in the UK on a very long wave frequency, exciting enough for some initial playful experiments. I am planning a composition using the MVT-7100 in the coming year, and more of these recordings will be posted in the audio blog later.
Great Haywood, Staffordshire, UK - 7th November 2009
This recording was taken near Shugbourough Hall, Staffordshire on 7th November 2009 during their fireworks display. I'm not sure if the recordings will ever make it into a piece but the sounds are quite fun.
Poole's Cavern, Buxton, UK - 17th October 2009
Poole's Cavern is a great place to visit on a rainy autumn day in October, which is exactly what we did in 2009. There is something spooky yet magical about caves which seems to chime with me, but I can't quite put my finger on what that is; perhaps the odd combination of a sense of safety and danger mixed into one...
Colwich Junction, Staffordshire, UK - 9th September 2009
I don't often find myself sitting next to railway lines in the countryside waiting for trains, but this recording probably goes some way to disproving that. On this day my patience was rewarded with an enormous freightliner which braked to a halt right next to me as a Pendolino flew by bound for London's Euston station. Consequently I got some quite exciting results.
This location was the cause of a high speed train crash in 1986 where two express trains collided, the site of which is now marked by a memorial dedicated to the driver of one of the trains, Eric Goode, as well as a Geocache in memory of him.
Paris, France - 16th March 2009
This is just one of a collection of recordings taken whilst on a trip to Paris in March 2009. This is taken from the top of Notre Dame Cathedral, very close to one of the bell towers.
Kemble Airfield, Gloucestershire, UK - 1st February 2009
These jet engine recordings created the foundation for the piece Low-bypass which is based around recordings of jet engines. The recording below is the sound of the turbine blades rotating freely in the wind, captured by placing the audio recorder inside the engine nacelle pictured above left.
The aircraft in question was an Air India Airbus A310 which had been flown to Kemble Airfield. Unfortunately for the aircraft it was to be its last flight as the jet had been delivered here to be scrapped. Pictures of the jet can be found on Airliners.net.
The Forest Of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK - 11th May 2008
This recording was taken near to where I used to live in the Forest of Dean. The woods are majestic and beautiful at any time of the year, but especially in early summer when they come to life again after the winter.
This recording features a very inquisitive little Hoverfly who decided to see if my audio recorder was food or not; luckily he decided it wasn't.