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Clockticktickclock (disquiet0056​-​matteroftime)

from Mark Rushton - Disquiet Junto - 2013 by Mark Rushton

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This week's project requires you to make a field recording to serve as the source audio. These are the steps:

Step 1: Locate a clock that has an audible, even if very quiet, tick to its second hand. A watch or other timepiece is also appropriate to the task.

Step 2: Record the sound of the clock for at least 30 seconds, and do so in a manner captures the sound in the greatest detail. A contact mic is highly recommended.

Step 3: Adjust and otherwise filter the recording to reveal the various noises that make up its tick. The goal is to get at the nuance of its internal mechanism.

Step 4: Create an original piece of music employing only layered loops of that sound. These layered loops can individually be transformed in any manner you choose, but at least one unaltered version of the original recording should be included in your piece.

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For this project, I had to rely on a recording by J. Siemasko (@Schemawound) since we don't have any mechanical clocks.

I edited out a 20 second piece of the recording, loaded it into the Samplr app on my iPad, and eventually crafted the arrangement you're hearing from 6 versions of the same loop.

What I ended up with was kind of like another "fake field recording". This piece sounds like I stuck a microphone in the middle of a clock shop, but it's also picking up the sound of a motor or fan in the distance, and that recurring low whirring.

I think the low whirring is essential in breaking up the strict tempos of "other clocks" and causing the listener to refocus every few seconds on the variety of rhythms produced, as each segment is completely different.

For years I've worked on many pieces that are largely defining that line between an ostinato and the point in which it becomes generative with the addition of layers, edits, processing, or delays. A good early example of this from my work was the track "Flow", which I created in 2007 and released in 2008: markrushton.bandcamp.com/track/flow

And in a way, Clockticktickclock is reminiscent of other Junto projects I've done, like Central Discount (disquiet0037-asrealasitgets) Markrushtoncom – Central-discount-120915 and In Our Dream Department Store (disquiet0038-asrealasitgets2) Markrushtoncom – In-our-dream-department-store - although the technology used to create those pieces and this piece were entirely different. I like how certain ideas can transcend technology.

More on this 56th Disquiet Junto project at:

disquiet.com/2013/01/24/disquiet0056-matteroftime/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

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from Mark Rushton - Disquiet Junto - 2013, released April 27, 2014

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Mark Rushton Iowa

I make way too much electronic music. Mostly ambient, some beat-driven.

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