Here are a couple of recordings of sounds exclusively from the internet. They are somewhat messy and I’ve been wondering since January if I should post them. Both parts feature live streaming audio from hydrophones (underwater microphones), several webcams with fairly high-quality audio, and radio noise from online Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio receivers. In part 1 in particular, the tones were created by feeding the VLF radio noise into a VST frequency shifter and “tuning” it until I got the repeating tones. In addition, the sound was back fed into a microphone simultaneously which captured the sound of my room. That was actually a mistake, but I decided I liked the added room ambience.
Here are some of the voices from the “How Dare You” collage. They are in no particular order and some of these voices were not in the original collage. There is two seconds of silence between each comment and sound. I may be making more versions of “How Dare You” as well. I’ve always liked hearing the sound of people and animals at this kind of mid-grade level of anger and frustration. It really isn’t too intense, but it is definitely “sassy.” Of course, I have my fair share of mid-grade anger and frustration, too. The cat hissing is Isis and she would hiss at Buddy, my other cat. Buddy, my little black cat, passed away in 2004. Now in this new version, I have added a few more comments and brought up the audio level. Maybe it could be considered “sassier.”
This updated version from September 2009 has some comments that are not featured in “How Dare You,” and were likely played on Over the Edge in the 1990s. Now updated with MEL GIBSON! Now updated with audio from a caller on a talk radio show, Swift Justice With Nancy Grace, a guest on The Steve Wilkos Show, and three YouTube Videos entitled “Neighbor’s Worst Day,” “Angry Woman abuses garage owner,” and “The Three Stooges In Crime On Their Hands.” Now updated with “He burns me up,” from a 1960s public service announcement about mental health.
Now updated on June 8th, 2013 with audio from a YouTube video entitled “2003 Chevy Z71 Fire 8-8-2012,” and added some links. Note this video appears to be removed from YouTube as of October 17th, 2016.
I made this sometime in 1989 using several synthesizers. I can’t remember for sure, but I think there is an Oberheim OB-X (four voice), Casio CZ – 101 Digital, a Roland System 100 Model 101, and at least one audio signal generator, probably an Eico 377 with vacuum tubes. At least one outboard effects processor was used, most like my DeltaLab Super Time Line Model 2048. For some reason I chose to record only on cassette tape even though I owned a DAT recorder. Luckily the cassette machine was a fairly decent Denon three head unit and the tape is Maxell UDS-II and Dolby “B” was used. I played the tape on my Sony TC-D5M with Dolby “B” switched on, and the line level signal ran through a Mackie 1402-VLZ mixer. The lows and highs were boosted in the mixer about 3db. The output of the mixer runs to the computer sound card (unfortunately unbalanced line level) though my new high end Mogami cable with Neutrik connectors. I recently upgraded my sound card to the Asus Xonar Essence STX which has quarter inch tip and ring line input and RCA jacks for line out. The sound was captured using VSTHost with one plugin only, LoudMax set to hard limit at -.4 db. The audio during capturing never reached -.4db, so any dynamics in the sound were unaffected and a 16 bit 48 Khz .wav file was made. I then put the .wav file into Adobe Audition and adjusted the amplification (calculated normalization and left/right not locked) to -.34db. I put fades at the beginning and ending (before and after any audible sound) and no other processing. After saving this new file, an MP3 at 320 kilobits per second was made using the LAME encoder with RazorLame. In spite of all this technical jargon, the quality is only fair, with the noise floor being around-45db (more technical jargon) which is considered poor.
As with anything I’ve created that may be more, dare I say, more musical, I’ve become more protective and shy due to my lack of music theory. I will say I created this “piece” originally entitled “Synthesizerdrone Dec. 1989,” (according to the label on the cassette tape) when my mother was suffering from complications of breast cancer and the strongest earthquake (Loma Prieta) that I had ever witnessed happened earlier in October. It is possible those events played a role in the creation of this recording. In addition, there was no thought as to what key or scale in musical terms this should be, and I never actually thought about it until yesterday. There seems to be a lot of G sharp major going on throughout this piece. To prove it, I have provided this link which should open a separate player which has the G Sharp Major Tone at 415.305 Hertz. The tone will not be exactly in tune due to inaccuracies in tape speed and tuning.
Suppose you’re moving along, singing a song, watching tv, doing what “certain men” want you to do, when all of a sudden, THIS happens! What do you think will happen next???
This is a device I put together in the 1980s to use in Negativland performances. It doesn’t make lightning effects, but it looks more like an arc welder. It produces loud snapping sparks. It creates about 600 volts direct current and has parts from an old TV set and military surplus. I can’t remember what I did on stage, but I think this is pretty close. It was definitely dumb! Check this YouTube video at approximately 11:25 on the counter for more. These are the remains of a hazelnut that was zapped repeatedly inside a carved Halloween pumpkin. I honestly can’t remember if this was from the public access TV show about Halloween safety where I played E.T. or one of the Negativland performances. I am quite sure the hazelnut is authentic and from the 1980s. One thing I do remember is that I nearly always referred to the nut as a macadamia nut. Somehow that seemed funnier.
I hope to be adding items to this post and correcting mistakes in the coming weeks. There are more Thanksgiving family tapes and I hope to have one up by the middle of November. I hope to be doing more here in general as long as my “2012 madness” doesn’t get the better of me. By the way, Happy Halloween!
SPARK MACHINE PARTS
Transformer – Reactor – U. S. Navy
General Electric Pyranol Capacitor
Ceramic Insulators on Capacitor
Makeshift Fuse in Glass Bottle and Power Transformer
5U4 Vacuum Tube
Sprague Clorinol Capacitor
General Electric No PCB’s (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) Capacitor
Random Intelligent Visualization which is included with Winamp and using a screen capture application to record the images and sound. Be sure to go to my YouTube page to see it in high definition.
Here is what I used to generate the sound. Click on the picture to see a high resolution image. I neglected to save the settings, but I can tell you that one of the eight oscillators was set at 528 hertz and the others were roughly on harmonics of 528 hertz above and below. Then with Adobe Audition in multi-track mode I imported the recording and created two additional copies, for a total of three stereo tracks. On tracks two and three, the sound was changed to double speed and half speed. All three tracks were processed with flanging effects. I set the phase shift to 180 degrees and resonance was set as high as possible (just before oscillation and distortion) and the speed as slow as possible. At this point the three tracks were mixed down and exported to a single stereo .wav file.
Here is my favorite line from my favorite episode of “The Prisoner” (Hammer Into Anvil) all messed up courtesy of Corel VideoStudio Pro X3, Adobe Audition and XMedia Recode. Note the picture is fuzzy due to the source file being the 360p mp4 from YouTube and then being trans-coded again in the video editor and again in XMedia Recode to a 400 by 300 pixel Flash file. In spite of all that lot, the picture is still watchable. I did this mainly just to practice with editing. I can assure you, I have a lot to learn! You might as well laugh now.
This is a little thing I made with the help of free internet pornography. There are a lot of X-rated web sites that work just like YouTube and they usually offer videos for free as reduced quality Flash files. Even so, the quality is still reasonable. In addition, video cameras have improved considerably, producing better pictures and sound. I thought about how I could work with all this available content.
It seems that every sexual fantasy is now available for anyone to see (and hear) on the internet. There are some people who are attracted to and like everything about passing gas or farting. I noticed some of the farting sounds are almost musical, so I thought it might be interesting (or not) to capture fart sounds and process them with VST (Virtual Studio Technology). Since it’s Christmas, why not play a midi file (musical instrument Digital Interface) of a Christmas song (Jingle Bells) and make some of the instruments be fart sounds from actual X-rated videos. This is what I came up with, and I apologize if anyone is offended. Otherwise, have a laugh!
I made this one afternoon by “fiddling” around with VST effects and feedback . The same microphone featured in “My Stomach” was placed into several different sized bottles while feeding back to the speakers and recording. In addition, I made noises with my mouth and tapped on the bottles. Sometimes I just like to make things just for hell of it. I’ve done this before here and here. I don’t expect anyone to like this, but here it is anyway. What do you think?
Here is a recording featuring multiple radio receivers. The shortwave sounds were received on my Regency WT-4 multiband tube radio. The Citizens Band (CB) sounds were received on my General Electric 3-5814 CB transceiver. The scanner radio was most likely my Bearcat 300. The AM radio sounds (mostly KGO, San Francisco) were probably from a stereo component tuner, possibly a Marantz Model 23. The ham radio jammers on 146.82 mhz were up to their usual hijinks by playing tape loops “pull your pants down” and “knock that stuff off” etc. and then they start talking about Jesus Christ. The person singing on CB was another highlight. I recorded this onto my Superscope C-104 monaural cassette recorder sometime in the early 1980s at my home in Martinez, California.
I can’t remember how I mixed the audio, but I may have used a passive (potentiometers and resistors) home-brew line level mixer. Capturing the audio was done by playing the cassette on my Sony TC-D5M (Dolby NR off) connected to my Yamaha MG10/2 mixer and then to my PC running Windows 7 Home Edition with a Creative Audigy 4 Pro soundcard. I used VST Host (see bottom picture) to create a .wav file and Adobe Audition to slightly adjust and edit the audio. Then I picked a single (left or right) channel and saved it as a monaural .wav file. Lastly, the monaural .wav file was changed to a monaural mp3 at 128kbps using the LAME encoder and RazorLame.
Regency WT-4 Multiband Tube Receiver
General Electric 3-5814 CB Transceiver
Marantz Model 23 Tuner
Bearcat BC300 Scanner
This is the VST capture setup showing the input on the limiter set to plus 2.8 db, to more closely match the output of the Yamaha mixer and the peak limiter was set to minus .5db. The master levels are all set to plus .1 db only because after moving the level off of zero db they would not set back to zero, using the mouse. As you can see, peak levels of minus .4db were reached, which is exactly .1 db different from the limiter. I doubt if I could have been that precise with any analog setup. I will say that analog sound probably has better fidelity, in the long run. But remember, that is a matter of opinion.
Direct download or play high bit rate accurate .m2t file: 6.66 Hertz
This choice (.m2t) may require downloading only, and use of a compatible media player like VLC.
CAUTION READ FIRST
••••••••
Warning, this is a potentially dangerous media file! It is the actual sound and picture of my subwoofer operating at 6.66 hertz. Because the internet is digital, there will no loss of signal if and when your computer plays this file. If you have even a modest sound card in your computer and a good audio system, and in particular a subwoofer, you risk damage to your speakers or amplifier if care is not taken to keep the sound volume low. Be careful! Remember you won’t be able to hear the sound, although there may be a slight clicking or rushing sound keeping time with the fundamental signal at 6.66 hertz. I think that may be what is known as an artifact or distortion related to the mp3 encoding. Also the audio stops at about 1:46 on the player. I am not responsible for ruined subwoofers.
Just today on October 23, 2011, I put up a slightly different version of this on my YouTube page.
In addition take a look at this website and see what is being said about 6.66 hertz with regard to mind control. Next time you think you hear voices in your head, just remember certain men really do get their way!
Hsu Research model ULS-15 subwoofer
Set up in Adobe Audition for generating 6.66 hertz sine wave at -3
Remember to keep your audio low, as this file can create damaging low frequencies.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, not only was I recording amateur radio operators, I was listening to and recording more radio noises in general. One of the more interesting sounds was radio pagers. Back then, there was no texting or smart phones so when people needed to get in touch quickly, individuals would actually call on the phone to a paging service. I thought that live operators, quite often women, would speak into microphones and deliver messages just like police and fire dispatchers over VHF radio or the individual wanting to place a page would speak into their phone. I honestly don’t know which way it was done, but the professional quality of the female voices suggested to me that they were operators rather than individuals placing voice pages. Before the actual page was spoken, special tones were sent out which would activate the correct pager. I would guess if this was how paging was done, then the person calling the paging service may have pressed touch tone buttons to activate the correct pager receiver. Then it was up to the individuals with the pagers to respond. I f anyone has a thought about this, please comment. Also I had recently been noticing the film “THX-1138” and because of its soundtrack, it rapidly became one of my favorite movies. I noticed a lot of the sounds I was recording were similar to the sounds in the film. I imagined if the paging offices were actually like the environment in “THX-1138.” Then I wondered, “What actually do the letters and numbers t-h-x-1-1-3-8 mean? It must be a phone number, Star Wars director George Lucas’ phone number.” Phone prefix THX or 849 I thought were in Oakland or Berkeley, and probably not belonging to George Lucas. As you can hear, I finally called the number and it turned out to be disconnected. Over the years I made several “communications” ambient mixes. Bits and pieces of these have been on “Over the Edge” radio programs. Another version mixed by “Everyman” can be heard by searching “The Weatherman and Everyman – Analog Paging.” This search brings up several “questionable” mp3 download sites. Be careful! I was able to download the audio from at least one of these sites, however.
The version I’m presenting in this post was made by setting up five media players playing wav files off the hard drive, and internet radio steaming live. If you would like to see exactly what the media players were doing, go to the large picture and if you can blow up or magnify the image you will be able to see everything including my computers CPU usage. CPU usage is important to monitor when using multiple media players because as more players are turned on, the higher the CPU usage. When you get closer to 100 per cent the more likely the computer will crash, which should be avoided. It did happen, possibly on this computer, once when I had twelve media players running simultaneously. It didn’t damage anything, and the computer simply turned off the media players and then restarted. I wouldn’t recommend doing this, mainly because I’m not sure if it actually is hurting the computer.
There are a couple of interesting web sites that relate to the sounds that I recorded in this post. The first one relating to “very low frequency radio” or VLF is about electromagnetic energy in the Earth’s atmosphere and the sounds it produces. The other site, “Phone Trips” goes into great detail about how telephone networks operated, mainly from the 1960s and 70s. In addition there are many sound files that remind me even more of THX-1138 and vintage communication noises in general. Just a few other things I forgot to mention. My favorite voice page starting at about -2:12 is “Jim Call Your Exchange… Holding A Massage For You.” Also the Vallejo mobile or marine operator (-3:30 and-3:11) for car phones or ship-to-shore phone calls is heard saying “Vallejo… Vallejo Off.” Keep in mind, there were no cell phones at this time and it was quite a big deal to have a phone in a vehicle. The phone call was originally recorded onto cassette tape with the red and green phone wires connected to the line input of a cassette recorder, possibly my Norelco 1530. There was a capacitor in series with the input to prevent DC phone voltage from getting into the recorder. I think the phone line (Martinez, Ca. prefix 228) may have still had a party line with a neighbor. All radio noises were received on my inexpensive Radio Shack Patrolman 4 multi-band radio at my home in Martinez, California, between 152 megahertz and 153 megahertz. The poor selectivity of this radio (wide band FM only) made these sounds more like the sounds in THX – 1138.
I’ve had a Van de Graaff generator for some time now and I didn’t think much of it until now. A Van de Graaff generator makes static electricity and more information is available here. In addition, I have two wigs, and the brown one shown here was worn by Richard Lyons as the character of Marsha Turnblatt in the Negativland 2000 tour. It was frustrating because the wigs would repeatedly fall off of the Van de Graaff generator. When the wigs fell, I said “hell” and “aw hell” several times and “damnation” one time. Then Isis the cat pawed her drinking water bowl. Also, I’m trying to start a YouTube channel and you can see this version (better picture and sound) and another version of the video. On YouTube go to “a54dumb” to see the videos.
In the early days of cable television, a lot of channels did not have twenty-four-hour programming. These channels would sign on at or after 5 pm local time, often with much fanfare and fancy graphics. I know this cassette audio recording of The Playboy Channel doesn’t really come through with the dramatic impact they were trying to present, but I think it might give you a sense of how TV was in the early 1980s. I wish I’d had the thousands of dollars it would have cost to buy a really good VCR.
Here is a video that was brought back from the Negativland 2000 tour. I don’t know much about it, but it’s very funny to me to see someone like that beat up on an old household appliance. I laugh every time I see this video. Obviously, the title is something else, but somehow the words “Goth” and “Clothes Dryer” in the same phrase cause me to chuckle. By the way, if that is actually Velcro burning at the beginning and ending, it must have smelled really awful! Or maybe not, due to microgravity.
This could quite possibly be the dumbest thing I’ve made so far. For starters, I’ve been learning how to use free VST (Virtual Studio Technology) software. Just recently, I started to learn how MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) operates. Here I have two recordings of a MIDI song (Tea For Two), which I downloaded free from the internet. The first version is quite simple, and features the MIDI file playing a free VST instrument called “Tapeotronic,” which emulates (kind of) the sound of a Mellotron. I set this instrument to produce flute sounds. In addition I set up a free VST sample player to play my voice saying the single word “dumb.” The sample player attempted to play my voice as musical notes as the data from the MIDI song was fed to it. Then I thought I could do better and made a second recording.
I downloaded another free VST sample player and I decided to try to play the “Tea For Two” MIDI file using two sample players with my “dumb” sample and the “Tapeotronic.” One of the sample players has a feature called “auto tune” and applying that to the sample made my voice sound even more musical. I’m not quite sure if this could be referred to as a “techno masterpiece” or not.
This post was first put up early in August of 2010 and as with several of my recent posts any comments were lost due to a problem with the site. I know this post had comments simply by its sheer dumbness and I would like you to once again tell me what you think.
Don’t forget check out the single word “dumb” below.
Oberheim OB-X
Casio CZ – 101
Roland System 100 Model 101
Eico Model 377 Audio Generator
DeltaLab Super Time Line Model ADM 2048
