Disquiet Junto 0260 Tone Fade

The Disquiet Junto this week asked for one note played repeatedly over three to four minutes. It brought to mind works by John Cage and Brian Eno where repetition encouraged a listener to hear the subtle differences in performance.

I'm visiting my out-laws for Christmas, where 'The Wires' were installed by Alan Lamb and Abre Ojos in 2004 for Unsound. When I worked with Lamb for Unsound in 2006, he introduced me to contact microphones and also bowing. Both of these techniques have been useful to me and I've recorded a variety of objects this way, including a slippery slide for my playground recordings.



'The Wires' have also influenced my listening, as their shifting harmonics mean the noise they produce is constantly changing. I spent many hours recording them and hearing how they responded to the environment. Some of these recordings were used in the three-hour collection Vibrating String.

I pruned the treelot around 'The Wires' with plans to record myself bowing on it for the Junto this week. However, it's been windier than forecast and the results included a lot more of the "pew pew" raygun-like sound than I wanted. It was distracting from the close listening aspect of the exercise.

When the local water authority sealed a leak on the nearby water distribution tank, they added the ladder seen in the video. Previously we were able to climb up and get a 360 degree view of the surrounding region, as the tank is on one of the highest hills in Brucedale.

Anyway, when we lost that view we gained this resonant metal and I've been thinking for a while that it might be interesting to record it. So the Junto was an opportunity to hear how it sounds.