SOUNDBLOG
"listening with intent"
a blog for:
links to soundcloud and songs
some quotes and articles and stuff whatever
&
pictures of me with headphones on
http://soundcloud.com/squidgirl6
cammyrobin.tumblr.com
n-e-way.tumblr.com
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Jad presents a piece by one of his favorite producers: Ben Rubin. Rubin created this audio portrait called ‘Open Outcry’ as a part of a sound installation called Sonic Garden commissioned to celebrate the reopening of the Winter Garden, an atrium space within the World Financial Center, after 9/11.
The trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange may look and sound chaotic to the uninitiated, with circles of hundreds of traders shouting unintelligible phonic abbreviations and numbers back and forth. But it’s a complex and sophisticated human system in flux and since 1872, the mosh pit full of traders has driven the prices of energy, metals, livestock and other commodities through this open outcry trading. The trading floor of the NYMEX was destroyed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 when the building that houses it, the World Financial Center, was seriously damaged.
Want to learn more about this piece? Ben did an interesting interview for the Third Coast International Audio Festival and you can learn more about this piece and his approach here.
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Folding clothes, catching up on Radiolab. Currently listening to the Good Show.
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Beyond that, I want there to be surprise far below the level of the story. The sounds should create a sense subterranean movement. You know, like you’re hearing this surface narrative, but there’s some kind of turbulence in the depths deep below. That’s something that music can create, so I work really hard to create a bed of music that feels bottomless, but at the same time isn’t intrusive and manipulative.Jad Abumrad
(Source: blogs.howstuffworks.com)
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Date of entry: Tuesday March 8th, 2010
Title of Program/piece: Radiolab/The Luckiest Lobster
Length: 13:28
Producers: Jad and Robert? Ellen Horne?
URL: http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2010/jul/12/the-luckiest-lobster /
Description:
This short starts in a way that is an unusual as the story. Jad and Robert are going through their usual banter, but the way the sounds of waves rise up in volume gradually is so dreamy, the listener is instantly seduced by the sound editing. Throughout this story of lobster salvation, the use of sound-songs, sound effects, fade ins and outs, creates a cohesive unit from hundreds of little snippets. The whole piece rolls like a single smooth line, though it is composed of so many little parts. There are over 10 people that become narrators in this story. For some reason -perhaps it’s the lightheartedness of the story, perhaps it’s the editing- the interviewees seem less like subjects of interrogation and more like storytellers participating in the crafting of one gigantic anecdote. In classic radiolab style, Bonnie’s voice is played “off the phone” for the entirety of her role. Jad and Robert engage in a bit of post-story reflection, giving the listener a bit more food for thought. The piece fades out with some slightly eerie but gentle jazzy grooves. (“Isn’t that nice?” said Bonnie)
Response:
The Luckiest Lobster is an adorable, heartwarming story. It really does feel out of character for Radiolab, but only because it seems to have very little to do with science. I would have easily pegged this for TAL. Of course, scientifically, the part about how long lobsters can live was really surprising. I watched a fantastic video called Shelly recently, based on this idea of lobster age, with a saddening note of over-fishing and human impact in the end. The animation was lovely too. But unlike Shelly, The Luckiest Lobster describes a much sweeter side to humanity, the kind that wants to make atonement, however small, for the damage we’ve done. The community interest in the event really surprised me and touched me almost more than the story itself.
