Direct mp3 download or play:  Happy Danube (shortwave effect # 1)

Well I guess I’m coming out of the closet on this one. Sooner or later you are going to find out that I like organ music. And I like it a lot. It’s safe to say that most of you have heard or heard of “The Dance of The Blue Danube”. Hopefully you have not heard a rendition quite like this one. The performer is a German organist by the name of Klaus Wunderlich. In addition I processed (butchered) the audio to make it sound like fading shortwave radio. I can imagine listening to this on a vintage high end German shortwave radio. The effect is in stereo, however and I advise you to play it loud. I have more versions of “The Dance of The Blue Danube”, including a very scratchy 78 rpm by Jesse Crawford from the 1920’s. So beware!

Direct mp3 download or play:  Happy Danube (shortwave effect # 2)

Imagine driving on the Autobahn in your new Porsche late at night and this begins to play on the radio. This may be a cleaner, more realistic version of the phenomenon of  “skip” when listening to shortwave radio. Of course, if you are actually listening to a radio, the sound would not be in stereo.  In addition, I have become a fan of the sound of Wersi electronic organs. Occasionally, I may make other versions of this effect. There are some really great free VST effects available on the internet to create these sounds and many others.

Be aware what I’m doing here is just for fun and is not really comparable to listening to the music in CD quality or better without all of the “butchering” of the audio.  My sources for these two tracks were at best 128 kbps mp3. I think the first one was a YouTube video as well.