Another 45 minutes of psych, library, girl group, wonky pop and just about anything else I can cram in. Hope you all enjoy! Remember to check back next Sunday for programme 3.
Download Programme 2 - 28th March.
- Jb.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Cafe Kaput Podcast - programme 2 of 5.
Another 45 minutes of psych, library, girl group, wonky pop and just about anything else I can cram in. Hope you all enjoy! Remember to check back next Sunday for programme 3.
Download Programme 2 - 28th March.
- Jb.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Cafe Kaput Podcast Episode 1 of 5.
Ok, first episode of the Cafe Kaput podcast is ready for download. 45 minutes of music and... er... rambling! If you like it, tell others and get them to listen. Hope you all like it.
Download Here
- Jb.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The colour of sound...
I was talking recently with a friend about the visual representation of sound. I was trying to get him to think about the fact that sound could be represented in colour, shape and texture. Many of us think about sound in an aural sense, of course; we can describe quite clearly in those terms (is it a loud sound? a high frequency sound? a quiet hiss?), but not everyone thinks visually. We all have the ability, but some of us don't nurture that side of our thinking. This is a shame, because there are many parallels to be found between the two worlds.
Here's an example. When I hear a plucked bass guitar, I hear it visually as a very 'liquid' sound (ok, bear with me here and try and think about what that sounds like... I guess we might think of late 1960s Lalo Schifrin soundtracks, or Herbie Flowers bass playing on Serge Gainsbourg's 'Sous Le Soliel Exactement', or 'You Can Fall' by Broadcast, or 'Torch' by the Sisters Of Mercy). i visualise a kind of tear-drop shape, on it's side, it's probably brown and it has a liquid appearance. That's the kind of thing I mean. The way I arrive at that shape is by thinking of the sounds' envelope (that is, it's attack phase, the decay, sustain and release), it's register on the musical stave and it's associated frequency range. The texture of the visual comes from the timbre of the sound, so in this case, I've gone for a kind of burnt umber liquid.
Similarly, high-hat cymbals sound very 'silver' to me. Thin slivers of silver foil, ribbon-like in appearance. They are thin, because of their place in the frequency spectrum and also because high-frequency sounds tend to carry a lot less energy in a mix.
When I'm mixing a piece of music in a recording studio, I rely mainly on my ears, the monitors and the room in order to make mixing decisions, but I invariably have a spectrum analyser on-screen. In one sense, this gives me a visual representation of the 'shape' of the entire mix, as it is happening in real-time. The overall shape of the mix is more often than not, a 'tapered log' shape. There is good reason for this; low frequencies (bass lines, kick drums etc) take up much more energy in the frequency spectrum than the high frequencies (cymbals, shakers, the 'esses' of the vocal etc). Because of their nature, high frequencies require far less energy to sound as subjectively loud as low frequencies. That's the foundation that most mixes are based on.
Oscilloscopes are another way of representing sound in a visual form. They are very useful tools for analysing the waveform of a sound (not to mention entertaining when connected to the output of an analogue synth), but the visual waveform only gives us part of the picture. The problem lies within the fact that, like the spectrum analyser I mentioned before, they are diagrammatic in their representation, rather than conveying the sound in an emotive sense.
I just wish there was some kind of software out there that would represent the images in our heads, on screen. In the meantime, I'll try and think about sound visually, just a little, just sometimes. Try it sometimes, too. It will alter the way you perceive sound, hopefully for the better.
- Jb.
Here's an example. When I hear a plucked bass guitar, I hear it visually as a very 'liquid' sound (ok, bear with me here and try and think about what that sounds like... I guess we might think of late 1960s Lalo Schifrin soundtracks, or Herbie Flowers bass playing on Serge Gainsbourg's 'Sous Le Soliel Exactement', or 'You Can Fall' by Broadcast, or 'Torch' by the Sisters Of Mercy). i visualise a kind of tear-drop shape, on it's side, it's probably brown and it has a liquid appearance. That's the kind of thing I mean. The way I arrive at that shape is by thinking of the sounds' envelope (that is, it's attack phase, the decay, sustain and release), it's register on the musical stave and it's associated frequency range. The texture of the visual comes from the timbre of the sound, so in this case, I've gone for a kind of burnt umber liquid.
Similarly, high-hat cymbals sound very 'silver' to me. Thin slivers of silver foil, ribbon-like in appearance. They are thin, because of their place in the frequency spectrum and also because high-frequency sounds tend to carry a lot less energy in a mix.
When I'm mixing a piece of music in a recording studio, I rely mainly on my ears, the monitors and the room in order to make mixing decisions, but I invariably have a spectrum analyser on-screen. In one sense, this gives me a visual representation of the 'shape' of the entire mix, as it is happening in real-time. The overall shape of the mix is more often than not, a 'tapered log' shape. There is good reason for this; low frequencies (bass lines, kick drums etc) take up much more energy in the frequency spectrum than the high frequencies (cymbals, shakers, the 'esses' of the vocal etc). Because of their nature, high frequencies require far less energy to sound as subjectively loud as low frequencies. That's the foundation that most mixes are based on.
Oscilloscopes are another way of representing sound in a visual form. They are very useful tools for analysing the waveform of a sound (not to mention entertaining when connected to the output of an analogue synth), but the visual waveform only gives us part of the picture. The problem lies within the fact that, like the spectrum analyser I mentioned before, they are diagrammatic in their representation, rather than conveying the sound in an emotive sense.
I just wish there was some kind of software out there that would represent the images in our heads, on screen. In the meantime, I'll try and think about sound visually, just a little, just sometimes. Try it sometimes, too. It will alter the way you perceive sound, hopefully for the better.
- Jb.
Monday, 8 March 2010
The Maconie Tapes...
If anyone would like to hear the Advisory Circle / Ghost Box chat between myself and Stuart Maconie, broadcast last night on BBC 6music, it is available on the 'listen again' service (this week only), or you can download and keep the 30 minute segment here:
Download Link
- Jb.
Download Link
- Jb.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Moon Wiring Club descend on Resonance FM, Saturday 6th, 4pm
I am positively thrilled to announce that the inevitable Mr Ian Hodgson from Moon Wiring Club will be Jonny Trunk's special guest on the Resonance FM OST show, this Saturday at 4:30pm. Expect all manner of weirdness, banter and good music. Resonance FM broadcasts all across London Town. If you're out of town, you can listen at http://resonancefm.com/
Monday, 1 March 2010
Silence is (not) golden.
I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine the other night (it happens, on occasion). She was telling me that her environment was 'suddenly sounding very different', due to road works going on around her house. Not so much the sound of the drilling equipment, more the sounds she was used to hearing, which were no longer there due to the road being closed. Evenings were especially quiet. She had been used to hearing sirens and traffic and all kinds of other peripheral noises for so long, the sounds had become normalised and as soon as they were no longer there, it all felt a bit odd.
It led me to thinking about the habituation of certain sounds and how we perceive them (or don't, as the case may be). Our brains have a built in automatic gain control system (a bit like a compressor / expander in audio circles) which adjusts itself to it's environment. This explains the phenomena of everything sounding much louder at night, when you nip outside to listen to owls in the woodland or your own footsteps on the gravel. Because the environment is generally a lot quieter at night, sounds are amplified. It's a natural part of the 'fight / flight' system. Really quiet situations are generally perceived by our autonomic nervous systems as 'dangerous' and our bodies are on the alert from thereon, basically.
So, generally, silence is not golden at all. We like a bit of background noise, as it helps our bodies to relax and calms our nerves a bit; it enhances our environment in much the same way as Eno envisaged the purpose of ambient music. 'It should be as ignorable as it is interesting', said Eno. He was talking about habituation of sound in exactly the same way as my friend was when she referred to the traffic noise she was used to hearing (and comfortable with). You don't necessarily need to be actively listening to enjoy it, or feel the benefits. Hands up who likes the sound of their washing machine, or dishwasher whirring away in the background? Many of us. It's a comforting sound.
Audiologists Heller and Bergman conducted an experiment, where they lined up and cajoled a group of people into an anechoic chamber, way back in 1953. These were people with generally good hearing, healthy ears, etc. Within minutes of experiencing relative silence, every single one of them started to experience symptoms of tinnitus. Their nervous systems had reacted to the silent anechoic chamber environment, turned up the volume control on their ears (well, actually their brain) and they began 'hearing' what are known as somato-sounds (i.e. electrical pulses and other sounds originating in and around the brain). This, in turn, felt really uncomfortable and most of them couldn't wait to get out of there and back into a relatively noisy environment.
It's much the same situation with recorded music. Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the sound of 'digital black' in recordings (i.e. no background noise at all in quiet stages). I like a bit of tape hiss. To me, it just sounds more natural. Not necessarily more 'analogue', but it helps glue the sounds together so much more and makes things sound more like 'a record' to my ears. I'm not talking about really obvious 'tape effects' either, I literally mean a subtle, but comforting hiss in the background. If you're in the habit of listening to music recorded in times before the digital revolution, you will have certainly experienced that effect, without even thinking about it. Some of us add these sounds to our records now, in order to create the same feeling (and it doesn't matter how you go about it, as long as it works).
So as you go around your environment (and listen to your favourite records), listen to the background sometimes, instead of just the foreground. There are details in there which may make you think a little, or raise questions about your environment, the sounds around you and how you react to them.
- Jb.
It led me to thinking about the habituation of certain sounds and how we perceive them (or don't, as the case may be). Our brains have a built in automatic gain control system (a bit like a compressor / expander in audio circles) which adjusts itself to it's environment. This explains the phenomena of everything sounding much louder at night, when you nip outside to listen to owls in the woodland or your own footsteps on the gravel. Because the environment is generally a lot quieter at night, sounds are amplified. It's a natural part of the 'fight / flight' system. Really quiet situations are generally perceived by our autonomic nervous systems as 'dangerous' and our bodies are on the alert from thereon, basically.
So, generally, silence is not golden at all. We like a bit of background noise, as it helps our bodies to relax and calms our nerves a bit; it enhances our environment in much the same way as Eno envisaged the purpose of ambient music. 'It should be as ignorable as it is interesting', said Eno. He was talking about habituation of sound in exactly the same way as my friend was when she referred to the traffic noise she was used to hearing (and comfortable with). You don't necessarily need to be actively listening to enjoy it, or feel the benefits. Hands up who likes the sound of their washing machine, or dishwasher whirring away in the background? Many of us. It's a comforting sound.
Audiologists Heller and Bergman conducted an experiment, where they lined up and cajoled a group of people into an anechoic chamber, way back in 1953. These were people with generally good hearing, healthy ears, etc. Within minutes of experiencing relative silence, every single one of them started to experience symptoms of tinnitus. Their nervous systems had reacted to the silent anechoic chamber environment, turned up the volume control on their ears (well, actually their brain) and they began 'hearing' what are known as somato-sounds (i.e. electrical pulses and other sounds originating in and around the brain). This, in turn, felt really uncomfortable and most of them couldn't wait to get out of there and back into a relatively noisy environment.
It's much the same situation with recorded music. Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the sound of 'digital black' in recordings (i.e. no background noise at all in quiet stages). I like a bit of tape hiss. To me, it just sounds more natural. Not necessarily more 'analogue', but it helps glue the sounds together so much more and makes things sound more like 'a record' to my ears. I'm not talking about really obvious 'tape effects' either, I literally mean a subtle, but comforting hiss in the background. If you're in the habit of listening to music recorded in times before the digital revolution, you will have certainly experienced that effect, without even thinking about it. Some of us add these sounds to our records now, in order to create the same feeling (and it doesn't matter how you go about it, as long as it works).
So as you go around your environment (and listen to your favourite records), listen to the background sometimes, instead of just the foreground. There are details in there which may make you think a little, or raise questions about your environment, the sounds around you and how you react to them.
- Jb.
Ok, we'll try again.
Unfortunately, I got it completely and utterly wrong about the timing of last night's Freak Zone. So...
The Freak Zone, Sunday March 7th, 5:30pm. I will be chatting to Stuart Maconie about Ghost Box, playing a few tunes from the revised edition of Mind How You Go and playing a brand new exclusive TAC track that no-one has ever heard. Ever. Apart from myself and Stuart Maconie, anyway.
The BBC 6music website has been updated and it does indeed mention The Advisory Circle as a feature on the March 7th show.
The Freak Zone...
- Jb.
The Freak Zone, Sunday March 7th, 5:30pm. I will be chatting to Stuart Maconie about Ghost Box, playing a few tunes from the revised edition of Mind How You Go and playing a brand new exclusive TAC track that no-one has ever heard. Ever. Apart from myself and Stuart Maconie, anyway.
The BBC 6music website has been updated and it does indeed mention The Advisory Circle as a feature on the March 7th show.
The Freak Zone...
- Jb.
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