Recording nature is almost as old as the history of recording devices. But at the time only scientists who wanted to preserve sounds were interested in recording non-musical outdoor sounds. The notion that you can listen to sounds as they occur without any human interaction and perceive them as being musical or at least as having an aesthetical aspect is something that only came about in the 60s (when portable recording devices became more widely available: see how technology influences art?).
These four recordings consist of two originals and two 'remixes' of those originals. Francisco delivered an original recording at Lawrence's address who based a new composition on the original. And vice versa. Interesting? Hmmm, as a concept yes, the realisation is less so. This has mostly to do wit the original material. Lopez's original recordings were made by (as Frans de Waard aptly describes) by 'scraping the bottom of a rainforest'. The resulting recording is by its very nature nondescript: it's simply a very well recorded piece of sonic rainforest. At least to my ears which have never visited an actual rainforest.
The resulting composition by English (based on the original of Lopez) features two main approaches: 1. the sound image is wider (more stereophonic) and deeper (more bass) and 2. it is structured with clear cut specific filtering and compression. Surprisingly English includes material that is not on the Lopez original; at least I missed (multiple times). There is however something weird in the sound palette. All the time, whatever changes there is a low vibrating thud in the background. Sometimes it comes to the foreground, but mostly it stays in the back. This thud wraps all of the other sounds together. The English rework yields an entertaining result.
Lopez's rework of English's original is much more profound. Where English simply changes the soundcoloring (with filters and compression) Lopez charges the material with a different weapon. The first 3.5 minutes he brings the higher frequencies (I guess 3kHz and up) of the original in overdrive (meaning he pumped up the volume) so that they distort. After that a deep bass supports the other sounds. The high frequencies become more subdued. At 6.5 the highs are practically gone. Only the wind (?) can be heard. But it is accompanied by a deep deep drone.
As I said before: entertaining. But also intelligently constructed stuff. |
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