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Machine Symphony (edit) [disquiet0041​-​dirtyminimalism]

from Mark Rushton - Disquiet Junto - 2012 by Mark Rushton

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I must have a thing about fans.

In the 37th Junto (As Real As It Gets 1), I made a field recording largely focusing on a weird piston-driven fan at an Amish salvage grocery store in rural Iowa.

In this, the 41st Junto (Dirty Minimalism), I'm once again using a fan as the original source material.

This contribution is based on a recording I made about 2003 or 2004 and done on minidisc. It was a recording I made in a bathroom where I work. There was an exhaust fan that was clearly bogged down by dust and dirt, and it was making an interesting sound. Nobody ever opens those things up and cleans them. Weeks went by and I finally brought the old minidisc recorder into work and captured maybe 45 or 50 seconds of it without anybody wandering in and doing their business.

I recorded it close up and then backed off. That's why the first half is louder than the second half.

At home, I processed the sound by dropping it down a number of octaves. I can't remember how many, but it was a lot. Then, for some reason lost to time, I rendered the MP3 at 96kb. That was it.

The original recording of Machine Symphony is about 9 minutes and since then I've done other versions with things added in, but this is the original, albeit an edit.

Machines can have an automatic minimalism to them. Fans, especially. Right now I'm knocking the desktop computer I have on the floor as the case is slightly rattling because of fans inside. It comes and goes over time.

As far as the dirt is concerned, I'd like to think you can hear the activity of it in this recording. It is the sound of dirt causing a fan to groan and whine in such an odd and (to me) pleasing way.

What's really weird in this piece is the higher pitched sound. I don't know where that came from but it's from the original recording. I wonder how high that was pitched to begin with? Maybe I couldn't even hear it originally! It's almost like the fan gods are sending a bizarre Morse code message in my direction.

More on this 41st Disquiet Junto project at:

disquiet.com/2012/10/11/disquie…1-dirtyminimalism/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/info/

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from Mark Rushton - Disquiet Junto - 2012, released April 7, 2014

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Mark Rushton Iowa

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

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