Transformed wind chimes: Nature-Symphony 78

Nature-Symphony 78 (Inspirational companions in the land of shadows) — Possibly my final Nature-Symphony, this challenging four-layer work goes out on a 'high' — its two 'companions' being the two metal wind chimes used this time. Layers 1+2 are the 'companions' (the original recordings at half-speed and thus an octave lower than the original), while Layers 3+4 provide the mysterious and sometimes menacing 'shadows' (copy of 1+2, reduced to quarter-speed and further pitch-reduced by a tritone). At that pitch level the 'shadows' really do feel shadowy!

It's a curious thing, that when I tried recording the Gypsy and Gregorian chimes together, they were the one chimes combination that I ever found hopelessly, irredeemably, discordant, so I deleted what bit of recording I did make, and never put them together again. — But then just recently I got thinking, the only reason for such a big incompatibility had to be simply that they were at the overall wrong pitches in relation to each other. Therefore all that had ever been needed to make them compatible for Nature-Symphony use was to use solo recordings of each and pitch-shift one or other of the relevant layers once both recordings were in Audacity — which is super-easy with kHs Pitch-Shifter, when used as a per-track realtime effect) (while playing, one just drags up or down in the little dialog till you get the most musical-sounding effect, and keep that setting for that track).

The irony of that, however, was that I found that when the layers were slowed to half-speed, their tuning relationship had changed, and they didn't need any pitch-shifting anyway! So, if only I'd had an inkling that that could be the case when I tried recording them together, I could have kept the recordings and they'd have sounded great once sufficiently slowed-down.

As to why it may be my final Nature-Symphony, it's just that I've notionally come to the end of my to-do list of promising wind chimes combinations and obvious natural soundscapes to use in that manner. I might still get the odd new idea of course.

Chimes used

(Layer 1+3)
Music of the Spheres chimes, soprano+mezzo — 6 tubes each, tuned to different modes on an Eastern European Gypsy scale. When I put them together I regard them as a single instrument

Indonesian bamboo chimes, large and small — generally not much noticed in this work because they came out a bit too quiet in the original recording.

(Layers 2+4)

Woodstock Gregorian Chimes (tenor) — 6-tube, tuned to a bright and seemingly pretentiously upbeat-sounding Gregorian chant scale (which sounds quite different at such low pitches as here).

Indonesian bamboo chimes, large and small — these are the bamboo chimes that usually get noticed.

I made both recordings by the Hunter's Path, high-up on the north side of the Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK — the Gypsy chimes recording on Piddledown, 28 November 2012 (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/703991/ ), and the Gregorian chime at Sharp Tor, on 21 November 2012 (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/705356/ ). Geolocation is for the Gypsy chimes; the Gregorian chime was recorded just a little 'down and slightly left' of that, on a crag overlooking the valley bottom.

Advisory

To get the best out of this, with its mass of detail, listen with high-grade headphones.

A later recording in the same session, using the bamboo and Gypsy Mezzo chimes. The wind was coming over the top of the hill, i.e., from straight ahead in this view.

Techie stuff:

For both recordings the recorder was a Sony PCM-M10, with Rycote Mini Windjammer furry windshield, placed on a Hama Mini tripod (not just 'mini', but tiny!).

Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshield, and widening the soundstage by 160%, which also greatly clarifies the stereo image.

For this work noise reduction was just strong reduction of mic wind noise using my 'extreme wind cut' preset (dynamic EQ) in TDR Nova GE for all layers individually.

Layer pitch shifts (semitones above / below original): L1+2 half-speed (an octave below original), L3+4 quarter-speed, and then pitch-shifted to give 2 octaves plus a tritone below original; cathedral acoustic: L1+2 moderate background, L3+4 background.

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