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Accelerate Drone (Recording_34)

by Christopher Nosnibor

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Accelerate Drone (Recording_34) 23:24
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Recorded using a child’s Accelerate light-up karaoke mic with echo (in pink) on a Sony Xperia E5.

Converted from MP4 to .WAV using Microsoft Audio Convert Any Format app.

Mastered using Audacity on an HP LAPTOP-8HL7PBAM to Standard MP3 @ 170-210 kbps.

As is so often the case, the origins of this recording are accidental. Having been on the lookout for source sounds to use in the creation of noise backings for recordings of various rage monologue pieces, I could hear the potential in the howls of feedback generated by my daughter’s echo mic when placed too close to her mouth with the volume up.

I’d spent some time on an afternoon wringing out every last drop of noise I could, when it ran out of charge. I was satisfied; I’d accumulated a fair quantity of audio recordings suitable for mashing up in Audacity. I’m no expert when it comes to music software, and since my needs are basic, basic free software is more than adequate.

On plugging the device in to charge, I switched it back on, for reasons unknown. Face down on my desk beside the laptop, it began tossing again, only this time, the sound was gentler, more of a droning hum than anything I’d heard emanating from it previously. There was something appealing about the timbre, and realising I’d achieved a quintessential drone sustain, set the voice recorder on my phone rolling again.

Initially, I envisaged cropping the sounds of me starting the recording, and thought I would either hold my breath or leave the room for the duration of the recording. Instead, I swiftly and spontaneously concluded that my presence formed an integral part of the recording. On a theoretical level, the sounds of me shuffling in my seat, moving around, coming and going, typing, moving objects around the room, scratching my knee, represent the same kind of interactions as the presence of the audience and the mute orchestra players in any performance of John Cage’s 4’33”. On a practical level, I discovered that my proximity to the device could alter its pitch or tone – but not in any predictable way, and during the recording, I sometimes placed my hands (and sometimes face) extremely close to the mic in order to deliberately alter (and on some occasions, restart) the sound.
On completion, I considered adjusting the recording, if only to increase the volume of the mastered MP3. Ultimately, any alteration felt somehow dishonest, and I concluded that the file stored on my phone as Recording_34 would be best birthed to the world unadulterated: a document of an experiment.

It was supposed to have a duration of 23:23, but the stop button took a fraction longer to respond.

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released April 6, 2019

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Christopher Nosnibor York, UK

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