Chimes

Audio installation made in 2020 for stereo to 8-point surround

Installation COVID project using recordings of all the wind chimes I could find within walking distance of my apartment. Runs using MAX/MSP and presented a few times in different contexts: an audio installation, pre-concert music, part of a sculpture, etc. I wish I could do more installation work (I wrote about this in more detail with For Halsey), and while writing this note, I’d love to do installation work with cassette tapes… I have so many ideas.

This project was fun to put together: I literally took a hand-held recorder on walks and would try and get good recordings of the resonance (not the attacks) of wind chimes. Nobody ever said anything… nobody ever stopped to ask what I was doing… I don’t even know if anyone saw me make these… Now that I’m writing this note over 5 years later… maybe it was a bit of a weird thing to do!

I’ve used these recordings for a ton of things, but especially as pitch material for other things. Of course, most wind chimes are some pentatonic scale, but some of them are a bit goofier than you’d think, and certain combinations make for extremely interesting source-material for other things.