The Brothers Quay are among the most world’s most influential stop-motion animators, themselves massively influenced by Eastern European avante-garde animators such as Jan Svankmajer. This piece, “Stille Nacht III: Dramolet” was one of several commissioned by MTV, and was produced in 1988. Their work is often mistaken for that of (respectful and often skilled) imitators, such as Fred Stuhr’s music video for Tool’s “Sober” (1993).

This is an experiment in replacing the original sound with my own. No disrespect is intended to the very evocative and eerie chamber music score of the original, which succeeds in its period “vibe” and emotional ambiguity. I chose it for this exercise, in fact, for having no effects track at all.

While sometimes the work itself lets us know when it is complete or “finished,” sometimes other factors tell us when to stop fiddling. There are a few parts of this piece that I’d like to fix. However, my latest session file become corrupted. So, this is what we’re all left with.

All sounds used in this clip were recorded, edited, and mixed by yours truly. I’m sharing for fun, learning, and personal experience in a non-commercial context through fair use. So there. ;-) Enjoy.

I’m just back from the 26th Annual Nature Sounds Society Field Workshop. I thought that I’d share some video diary entries that I shot with my new iPhone 4. As far as I know, this is the first time that video of this workshop has ever been seen online.

I’ll be sharing more of the learnings, experiences, and recordings in the coming weeks. For now, I hope you enjoy this set of dispatches from the field.

[You can read about the gear I took with me in a previous post.]

Magnet + Hydrophone from Noise Jockey on Vimeo. [Did you miss my first video?]

It is what is says, people! ;-) I ducked out some handling noise, but for the most part the audio is unaltered. Enjoy.

I’m pleased to offer the first video content on Noise Jockey, and outgrowth of an earlier post on recording bicycles. More to come.

Audio nerd bonus quiz: This was recorded double system with two microphones. The visible one was for the sound effect itself, aimed at the bike wheel. Where’s the other mic?