Spirit Of Place started life as a music project by Frankenstein Sound Lab, which somehow also generated this website... actions sometimes have unexpected consequences.
Ok, it was like this : back in the day, whenever that was (my projects dont really tend to have start dates, they kind of evolve out of ideas and often end up looking nothing like the original intentions) I had this bit of experimental music software which, when you uploaded a photo, would turn the different coloured pixels into sound.
Being experimental and given the random nature of the pixels, , much of what was produced were whistles and swquarks, but it could also generate some actually quite interesting music. These bits I saved, and eventually built up into musical pieces.
Now, I expect most of you are familiar with the idea that photographs capture part of the soul of the person being photographed. Might the same apply to places ? Could you capture something of the spirit of the place (and that's where the title came from...) and express it as music ?
So visits were made, photographs taken, and field sound recordings of the surroundings made - these latter recordings were incorporated into the eventual pieces. You might not always notice them, but they're there. Well, except for the Penshaw Monument piece.... all we got from that was a gale-force wind buffeting the microphone, which wasn't very helpful.
Eleven pieces were recorded. There were plans for several more, but then fate intervened in the shape of Microsoft. Upgradings of Windows meant that the programme wouldn't work any more, and it was never itself upgraded.
And so the project was kind of put on hold - a few videos were made and released on Youtube, but things drifted, new projects took centre stage, time passed....
But finally - here are the eleven original Spirit Of Place pieces. Make of them what you will. Some of them also appear on the pages relevant to their subject. Enjoy...or not, as you choose. All tracks can be downloaded free as MP3 files (little button on each player).
The piece entitled Spirit Of Place - A PsychoGeographical Sound Journey consists of all 11 tracks edited into one continuous piece.
First track starts playing automatically... all the rest have to be started manually.
Ok, it was like this : back in the day, whenever that was (my projects dont really tend to have start dates, they kind of evolve out of ideas and often end up looking nothing like the original intentions) I had this bit of experimental music software which, when you uploaded a photo, would turn the different coloured pixels into sound.
Being experimental and given the random nature of the pixels, , much of what was produced were whistles and swquarks, but it could also generate some actually quite interesting music. These bits I saved, and eventually built up into musical pieces.
Now, I expect most of you are familiar with the idea that photographs capture part of the soul of the person being photographed. Might the same apply to places ? Could you capture something of the spirit of the place (and that's where the title came from...) and express it as music ?
So visits were made, photographs taken, and field sound recordings of the surroundings made - these latter recordings were incorporated into the eventual pieces. You might not always notice them, but they're there. Well, except for the Penshaw Monument piece.... all we got from that was a gale-force wind buffeting the microphone, which wasn't very helpful.
Eleven pieces were recorded. There were plans for several more, but then fate intervened in the shape of Microsoft. Upgradings of Windows meant that the programme wouldn't work any more, and it was never itself upgraded.
And so the project was kind of put on hold - a few videos were made and released on Youtube, but things drifted, new projects took centre stage, time passed....
But finally - here are the eleven original Spirit Of Place pieces. Make of them what you will. Some of them also appear on the pages relevant to their subject. Enjoy...or not, as you choose. All tracks can be downloaded free as MP3 files (little button on each player).
The piece entitled Spirit Of Place - A PsychoGeographical Sound Journey consists of all 11 tracks edited into one continuous piece.
First track starts playing automatically... all the rest have to be started manually.