Season 2 / Week 1 / Day 3 Wednesday: From Start to Stop with Paul Paulun

Buongiorno tutt* !

We are so happy to see you again!

We wanted to thank you for your contributions in the last two days - it's so nice to hear what you hear!

“There are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout”

Henry David Thoreaus

Maybe, you got already a bit impatient with us and you want to start mixing sounds and play with your recordings? Maybe mere observation is not enough for you anymore …

But if we want to be good at playing, we need to observe closely and get to know the individual elements of the game in detail. Don’t worry, later on in this season you will be allowed to experiment and add some tricks and loops and overlaps here and there.

But for the time being, we still focus on documenting. From start to stop ….

Listen to your recordings closely: What noise makes the baseline of your soundscape? Are there sounds creating a rhythm? What is the high pitch signal? What creates a melody?

In our podcast, Paul Paulun portrays artists who are documenting locations in various ways. They are pretty much approaching perfection in observation! What an ability!

There is for example artist Jana Winderen with her piece re_Surge (2020). She recorded the sound of a spruce tree that was planted before the First World War in 1907 by her great grandfather on the family farm, which he took over from his parents in that year.

Or there is the great work of Justin Bennet - The Mosques Of Tanger (1994). It contains a single recording of the mosques of Tanger at sunrise. Recorded high up on a rooftop, the calls from the many different mosques mix and resonate as they cross the city. Recorded with an M/S stereo microphone.

To give you a third example on how interesting it can be to just observe and document is the work of Alejandra and Aeron titled Lavadouro / Barbearia Salao Ferreira (2005). Can you imagine what goes on there??

But now, back to work! Here we are with more observation tasks:

Today, we want you to go and find a quiet place. What is quietness about? Is there a place in your community, the city where you live, where you would say: Here I find my quiet?

Take us with you, into your quiet moment - where your thoughts form…. Let us hear the things we can only say, if we are calm and quiet, and do not shout ….

Again, we simply ask you to observe closely using your ears: Press start on your recorder, wait for one minute and press stop again.

From Start to Stop :-) Just as we did yesterday! As simple as a kiss!

Once you are happy with the result of your explorations - please share your sound and an image with us:

• Post a film / recording (around 1 minute in length) with an image on Instagram using the #startstopsound #ambientradio (like this, we find your work!) or

• Also please upload your sounds on Google drive. Please give your track the following title: startstopsound_yourname_yourplace3. Like this we find your work for the weekly remix! or

• Alternatively, drop an audiofile into our Telegram chat!

We wish you a quiet day, full of the attentiveness that real listening requires …

We wish you depth in thought and a calm soul.

Kiss kiss, love love

Pan, Delia and the Ambient Radio Crew!