AudioFile Collective
Do Not Spit Here and There; A Noise Primer on the Indian Subcontinent
Traffic, prayer calls, bells, horns, dialogue, trains, marketplaces, airplanes and airports, nageswaram and tavhil, tabla and tambour, delighted cinema audiences and even tomatoes dropping into a bucket of water and scratchy radios – “Do Not Spit Here and There; A Noise Primer on the Indian Subcontinent” is everyday ambient sound manipulated, mixed and remixed. Not just a compendium of noises, it is a structured yet playful visit to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“Do Not Spit Here and There; A Noise Primer on the Indian Subcontinent” is a collaborative effort between three travelers (Maga Bo, Grey Filastine and Steven Miller) who independently recorded ambient sounds in India from 1997 through 1999. It explores the myriad of strange and exotic juxtapositions of sound commonly found on the subcontinent and challenges the idea of a traditional audio listening experience. At times, “conflicting” audio information was recorded on site, and, at other times, the “conflict” of disparate noises is a result of experimentation in the studio. As a whole, this disc reflects the incredible density of competing noises while retaining the clarity and impact of the individual sounds that make up the din of the subcontinent.
These are mp3 128kbps continuous mixes and are downloadable for absolutely no (zero) dollars, pounds, marks, yen or sterling whatsoever. If you wanna buy a hard copy you can buy it HERE.
Ship Breaking Dhols 1:44
Calcutta Hawkers 1:51
Wisdom Of Om 1:50
Horn Please TaTa 3:12
Street Beat Lotto Spaz 2:00
Puja 3:52
Bombay Mail Down 2:10
Station To Station 2:08
Train To Thavil 2:14
He Is Number Five 2:35
Jaideb Bullhorn Jugalbandi 1:27
With Electronics Everything's Possible! 2:51
Labor And Machines 2:52
Prayer: Dhaka, Benares, Madurai 6:30
We Can Travel Through The Speakers 5:59
Stereophonic Saraswati Processions 4:17
Namaskar 0:48
Mostly Silence/Burning Places 5:45
Techno info for audio geeks.......The recordings were made in site using portable DAT recorders and high quality condenser microphones. The raw audio was digitally transferred to a Macintosh PowerBook G3 where it was edited, manipulated and, in effect, composed and arranged. After the audio was arranged in the PowerBook, it was transferred to another Macintosh with a Korg 1212 i/o audio card. This enabled the transfer of the audio digitally to 16 tracks of ADAT. Once on ADAT, the piece was mixed in a professional recording studio (DIG Studio, Seattle, WA, USA) to DAT. The master DAT was then transferred to computer where it was mastered and burned to CDR.
Maga Bo is a producer, composer, recording engineer, musician and DJ who holds a degree in Ethnomusicology and specializes in electronic music and sound design. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his main focus is recording, sampling, editing, manipulating, combining and recombining musical and ambient sounds into new forms, contexts and outlets. His current musical fascination is the combination of live, traditional Brazilian rhythms and instruments with synthetically manipulated samples and analog synthesizers.
Steven Miller is a musician, photographer, installation artist, and graphic designer based in Seattle, Washington. He has been working with digital audio since 1993, and has produced two previous CDs of field recordings from India and Bali respectively. Currently, he is in college studying digital photography and playing in Seattle's Gamelan Pacifica, a Javanese percussive orchestra.
Grey Filastine is an artist working with audio within the context of live performance and the recording studio. He is currently directing the drum and sound ensemble Infernal Noise Brigade. Traveling frequently to conduct recordings and learn diverse percussion instruments, he has studied and worked with master drummers in Jajouka, Rajasthan, Istanbul, and Calcutta. He was a founding member of the music and performing unit ¡TchKung!, which toured internationally and produced three full length albums. Greyg's current work focuses on fusing source recordings and intricate beats with contemporary electronic instrumentation.