Environments Disc 7

 

Syntonic Research Inc - Environments Disc 7

released on LP in 1976

Posted here by request.

From the liner notes:

Sound plays a very important role in our everyday existence. Unlike our eyes, our ears are always exposed to our surroundings. Recent research in psychoacoustics has proven that certain sounds can have an incredible influence on our mental and emotional processes.

This particular ENVIRONMENTS release has been designed to aid the meditative process through the use of highly refined, carefully researched recorded sounds which improve the results of meditation with no additional effort or training on the part of the meditator.

INTONATION

Carefully chosen male and female voices blend over an extraordinary range to create harmonics and undertones which have been compared to sustained chords on the middle register of an enormous pipe organ, although the recording utilizes nothing but the rich and varied sounds of the human voice.

INTONATION is the sound of hundreds of voices, combined in such a complex, subtle structure that it defies anticipation and, indeed, sounds different each time you play it. Since the sound is experienced on many levels, the basic flow carries you along with the voices, and it is often both easy and pleasant to join in with your own voice if it aids your contemplation. On the other hand, many people simply leave the recording on continuously whenever they have a need for a relaxing, mind-filling sound.

...

INTONATION has gone through many incarnations in over four years of testing. The final recording actually utilizes only ten voices. The effect heard has been created by the use of complex multi-track tape techniques, requiring 24 channels of information and dedicated mixing skill.

The voices belong to members of The Natural Sound Workshop, a group devoted to exploring the myriad sounds of the human voice and body, without the aid of external instruments or amplification.

Organized by Kirk Nurock, a young Julliard graduate thoroughly gifted with imagination, energy, charisma, and musical talent, the group has given many performances in the New York City area since it was founded in 1971. Mr. Nurock occasionally composes specific structures wherein he invites the audience to participate. Invariably, they do so with great enthusiasm and pleasure.

This recording, a substantial departure for the group, originated as an experimental session done for SR, incorporating much of the theoretical and pragmatic research which had accumulated as the meditation project grew. The basic idea had been to carefully sustain intervals of a perfect fifth on an extended one-syllable sound, gradually introducing other pitches and freely choosing from the overtones created by the accumulated intensity of the original fundamental.

SUMMER CORNFIELD

Think back to the last time you sat on the edge of a summer cornfield, listening to the incredible tapestry of natural sounds. A simple sound to recall yet one of the most complex in nature's repertoire and perfect to fill the mind with pleasant detail.

A sea of summer insects, whirring with extraordinary intricacy and subtle beauty, which instantly transforms a sterile room into a friendly sun-drenched vista. Then there is the single Bluebottle fly that occasionally comes to visit, with friendly, astonishingly realistic acrobatics. There are sounds at all distances, from the complex hiss of nearby katydids to the chirp of meadow grasshoppers and the drone of cicadas.

Such a recording is difficult to make and even more difficult to reproduce properly. SR engineers used special microphones and recording equipment to capture the full fidelity of the sounds and an examination of the grooves of this pressing with a microscope will reveal just how minute this complex sound actually is. For this reason, we do not recommend playback of this particular side with a badly worn stylus or an excessive arm weight of much over four grams, as proper reproduction will only be obtained with quality equipment operating at specified tolerances. No cactus needles please!

Since the sounds are virtually continuous, it becomes easy to sit down, close your eyes, and imagine that they are real. Of all the sounds SR has experimented with in the last decade, none has proven so adaptable to sustained contemplative purposes. In addition to use as a private meditational sound, summer cornfield is also quite useful as a quiet background for most activities, as well as a pleasant "fool-the-mind" sound for social functions.

...

The cornfield recording presented many technical problems which were solved with unique editing techniques and unusual cutting procedures. The basic tracks were recorded in 1971, in a cornfield in Northern Vermont, utilizing a four-channel Stellavox SP-7 and Schoeps condenser microphones. Due to the special nature of the sounds, normal editing techniques could not be used; a splice would easily be audible. As a result, an EML synthesizer was used to recreate certain insect sounds where flaws existed and the fly, added four years later, completes the illusion.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1.  Intonation  {29:51}

Side Two

1.  Summer Cornfield  {37:16}

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