Agent Fresco (acoustic set) @ Nordic House During Iceland Airwaves 2010

Agent Fresco - BinauralAirwaves.com - Acoustic Set at Nordic House - Iceland Airwaves 2010 by BinauralAirwaves

Congratulations to Agent Fresco on their newly released CD!

Check it out at Gogoyoko.

Aaron

Rökkurró plays Ferðalangurinn: an exclusive binaural set from Iceland Airwaves 2010

Útidúr (from Iceland) plays "The Glow / Retreat" exclusively for BinauralAirwaves.com

Útidúr (from Iceland) plays "Killer on the Run" exclusively for BinauralAirwaves.com

1.5 Million Large Bat Colony Under Bridge in Austin, Texas

1.5 million large bat colony under bridge in Austin, Texas by BinauralAirwaves

The Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin Texas is home to approximately 1.5 million bats that emerge to forage for food at dusk. It is the largest urban bat colony in North America. I was in Austin in the Summer of 2009 and recorded the bat sounds underneath the bridge.

Aaron

A Far Cry - 15 Member Unconducted String Group

A Far Cry - St. Pauls Live - Dvorak Serenade for Strings by BinauralAirwaves

Preconcert Sound Check. Manikin is in middle of aisle ~3 rows back.

It is not everyday that you experience the novelty that is a 15 member unconducted string group. But this fact belongs only as a footnote in the compendium that deserves penning for the passion, precision, and soul that this group seems to effortlessly breath into their musical art. This group of professionals reenergizes classical music by transforming groups of notes into stuning statements of elegant meaning. This is the aptly named: A Far Cry.

To add to this, classical music is probably the most optimal type of music for binaural recording since it is an inherently acoustic form of music that tends to be played in prime acoustic spaces. If it's great for our ears; it's great for binaural.

And they're playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings!!!

A Far Cry
www.afarcry.org
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
2009, March 6, Friday, 20:00

Antonin Dvorak
Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op 22
(Use Headphones for All Recordings)

Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

A Far Cry will soon be releasing an album with recordings from the legendary Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, MA-world renowned for its ideal chamber music acoustics. In addition to my binaural recordings there were stereo and 5.0 recordings made by Jesse Lewis who is a really top notch audio engineer at Sound Mirror. This was tracked entirely at 2.8MHz/1bit and promises to be a very exciting release. I'll post more info as it's available.

Aaron

A Far Cry - Encore

I can't help but post the vivacious encore from A Far Cry's (15 member unconducted string group) encore at St. Paul's Church.

(Use Headphones for All Recordings)
Encore:
A Far Cry - St. Pauls Live - Encore by BinauralAirwaves
Binaural Recording Info:
Microphone Setup: Ultra Hi-Fi Binaural Manikin Head
Master Recording Format: 5.6MHz/1bit Direct Stream Digital
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

If you liked this: check out my other binaural recordings of them playing Dvorak's Serenade for Strings here.

By the way, notice how close the violins on the left sound. Compare this to the violas on the right that are the same distance away. This difference is because the violins have a lot of lead lines and their instruments' strongest acoustical projecting side is pointed at the binaural manikin head. Instruments are directional like headlights on a car (for an exaggerated example). They're really bright when you stand in front of them but if you're in back of the car, you might only see the reflected light of the headlights illuminating objects rather than the direct light. This is analogous to the directionality of both instruments, speaker drivers, and other acoustic radiators.

For the specific case of violins (as well as the rest of the classical bowed string instruments: violas, cellos, and double bass which all have similar acoustic design) the "f-hole" (technical term, not a dirty word) on the violin is the most dominant directional source. The f-hole is similar in function to the open circular hole in an acoustic guitar and when it is pointed at a set of mics and another similar instrument is pointed away, much more of the facing instrument's sound reaches the mic and it therefore sounds more present and close, just like in this recording. To tie in my previous analogy, imagine a car headlight coming through the f-hole on the violin and the light being acoustic energy AKA sound. Now imagine how much more bright/loud/present it will be at the binaural manikin/your ears due to the violins facing you, compared to the violas facing away from you. It's pretty amazing how directional sound can be.

Aaron

Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull run off: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

The volcano in Iceland!!!:

Behold, the run off of Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall:

In light of the recent epic volcanic activity in Iceland here is my recording of one of Iceland's most scenic waterfalls that originates from the glacier the volcano is melting that, in turn, is causing flooding.  In fact, the bridge we drove on to get to the falls is in the midst of the floods.  Here is how it sounded before the most recent eruption.

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall:
(Use Headphones for All Recordings--they're "binaural recordings")

Song/Piece: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
Microphone Setup: In-Ear Microphones
Master Recording Format: 44.1kHz/24bit
Streaming Format: mp3 LAME 3.97 variable bit rate ~240 kbps 44.1kHz

Be aware that throughout this recording I am wearing the 2 mics in my own ears and am turning my head quite a bit to check out the place. Therefore, your perception of where the waterfall is will likely make drastic spatial shifts often.

...On Monday I went on a road trip with the Icelandic Band Rökkurró (they have an AWESOME forthcoming album as of April 2010) along Iceland's scenic south coast. There was a lot of green moss and grass, volcanic rock, and fog. Rugged yet beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon Coast sans trees.


Seljalandsfoss Waterfall in the distance as we arrive by car:

2008:

2010 with floods from the volcano melted glacier:

 

The first waterfall, Seljalandsfoss, we stopped at was unique in that you could walk in back of it making a complete 360 walk of the waterfall. This 360 encircling of course meant you got pretty soaked with icy waterfall spray but that was no big deal-rather refreshing.

About to go behind Seljalandsfoss:

In back of Seljalandsfoss:

At the end of our walk we decided to try some pure Icelandic water direct from a stream. We used our hands to ladle the water out and it tasted quite deliciously pure. This was rather Vikingtastic I guess.

A fine grained look at the ultra-green moss that gives so much to the landscape:

We then made a stop at a second and far more internationally known waterfall called Skógafoss. To me, this looks highly similar to the "waterfalls" in NYC that were installed in the Summer of 2008. This is why I say "far more internationally known": replicas of this waterfall appear all over NYC. In my mind, this looks very similar to many of Elias Eliasson's waterfalls because the water exits the stream in a wide parallel formation (even though aspect ratios vary between Eliasson's falls). I'll agree that the aspect ratio of the fall is not exact to any one of Eliasson's falls but the exiting of the stream across a seemingly sharp 90 degree linear edge seems to be highly similar to this waterfall in Iceland.

***Disclaimer: I have not investigated much of Eliasson's theory other than seeing his exhibits first hand in NYC. Though, perhaps my innate visual perception of the falls is far more primary than a relation to an abstract theory convoluted by an artist for one's exhibit: a general conclusion, not a railing on Elias Eliasson.


A picture is worth 1000 words... Skógafoss Waterfall:

Along the ride we saw many interesting and beautiful sights.

...

Man, Icelandic Horses are sickeningly cute.

If they mated: Viking horses + '80s hairband =

(pssssst, where are their crazy guitars? and spandex? and pyrotechnics?)

We finally made it to the very coast where, in a quaint small town, there was amazing food.

Tumultuous Icelandic Coast in Stokkseyri (there is a rock wave break kind of far out):

The really great meal we had was at the restaurant where Dave Grohl ate when he came to Iceland. Amazing lobster. The really funny story about Dave Grohl eating here is that he heard some local teenage band practicing nearby and invited them to play a song to open for the Foo Fighters. Nilfisk is the band's name. It means "No Fish" (This is a fishing town). They'd been playing together for, effectively, just days. Pretty awesome story. You can see video coverage in the film "Screaming Masterpiece".

Aaron

Podcast Host Changing

Do not be alarmed if you are experiencing weirdness (missing files/broken links) with the podcast. I am in the process of changing my audio host to the future: www.soundcloud.com When this move is complete, I will provide info on how to subscribe to the new and improved podcast.

Aaron