Since my last post a lot has happened. I managed to get all recordings completed and have even finished the first part to this project titled Cathedral. I have had a lot of fun creating this track and even doing the recordings. Getting to spend so much time in the Cathedral was amazing. I started to hear more of what was going on around me and was able to get a great recording of the bells in the cloisters at 3pm.
The point of the track Cathedral is to capture the eerie and endless feel of the space. In editing and putting the clips together I decided to use a lot of reverberation and echo. This is because when a sound is made in the cathedral it echoes throughout and I wanted to put a lot of emphasis on the size of the building. I guess in a sense what I have done is an exaggeration but nevertheless I am pleased with the sound. The bells feature in the track but only every so often, as I want people to walk around the gallery and listen out for the different sounds that can be heard in the cathedral.
I think out of all three tracks this has been the hardest to do as there is very little sound in the cathedral so obviously trying to create an 8-10 minute track with minimal sound proves difficult. The sounds themselves are unrecognisable, but I think that’s what makes it interesting to listen to; you’re not sure what it is you are hearing but you want to carry on listening to find out. This is definitely a piece of work where the audience should be encourage to move around the room as it will sound completely different at every point. But it is also a piece that can be spoken over and just be there as a background soundtrack; it is up to the person on what they do.
Another aspect to Cathedral is the music. The music is in two different parts; the first part comes in just after 2 minutes and begins with a low drone which isn’t noticeable at first. As it gradually gets louder (not to the point of distracting from the cathedral sounds) higher tones come in, creating a soothing atmosphere which blends with the harsh eerie echoes of the cathedral. The second section of music carries on with this soothing feel but is more apparent, this is to express change in the piece and the movement to the track town.

I have shown my work to some people already and each has said something different; the track is eerie and captures the cathedral well, the track is relaxing and the track is an interesting listen. Ergo, the result so far is positive. I have been worrying a lot about this track, thinking it was boring to listen to but then I suppose I have spent nearly 10 hours on it resulting in hearing the same tracks played over and over. I’m going to leave it as it is for now anyway, I don’t want to over do it and take away the atmosphere I was trying to create.

This week I am starting work on the next track which for now I will refer to as town. I’ve been listening to the recordings I have of the busy city and have decided to not write any music for this section; with this track I am trying to emphasis how busy a city Lincoln is and I think any musical attempt I do will just take away from this. So I’m going to have to be quite creative when it comes to the manipulation and editing of these tracks. I’m looking forward to using the train recordings I have, these will add a rhythmic element and give me something to build the other sounds around.

(Below is a preview of Cathedral)