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On Ice

by Fine Form

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about

This piece is made up entirely of manipulated field recordings captured over the December-January holiday break in 2020/21. Field audio was recorded in Ottawa and includes sounds from skating and playing pond hockey with friends at Mud Lake, the river rapids at the Lebreton Flats white water course, and ice floes cracking at Richmond Landing on the Ottawa River.

The goal, or rather, challenge, of the work was to use ONLY unpitched field recorded audio to create a cohesive short piece of music. Given the open nature of field recordings, the composition process felt more generative (not quite random, but unplanned, at least) than intentional, and the resulting arrangement reflects this process. I used multiple techniques to turn the source audio into a cohesive arrangement. These include, among other things, tight EQing to boost fundamental frequencies and nudge the audio towards revealing individual pitched notes, processing audio through a granular sampler, and processing the entire track through an analog tape machine. The resulting piece both allows some of the original sounds to peek through (for instance, the sound of a skater stopping makes up the central theme) while also obliterating some sounds to be totally unrecognizable.

One quick note for listeners – this recording sounds best through headphones or speakers that can reproduce low range sub bass. Turning unpitched field recordings into mid-range bass is HARD, and I very much failed at it. But isn’t that sub bass cool?

A companion vlog + short visual for the piece was created by Hull-based artist and friend Christina Bell, featuring a bit of background on the piece + footage of myself and good friend Yolande Laroche out for a skate together. The audio piece is best enjoyed alongside Christina’s wonderful visual guide + interpretation. <3

View the video here: youtu.be/PbDIIyREiQg

Thanks to all the friends whose slapshots, skate blade noises and continued friendship have made this pandemic lockdown far easier to endure.

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released February 24, 2021

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Fine Form Ottawa, Ontario

Fine Form is the musical project of Ottawa-based artist Brodie Conley.

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