Tag: Field Recording

Mark O’Leary, Domenico Sciajno – Seascapes Vol. I

Genre: Field Recording, Ambient Music

Mp3 Album Available on the Best Internet Retailers

Audio Recordings: Domenico Sciajno in Sicily

Sound Design (Assemblage, processing and editing):  Mark O’Leary

Mixing: Donncha Moynihan Hub Studios, Cork

Seascapes Vol. 1

Sicily is pregnant with history and culture, in fact Goethe spent several months in Siciliy in 1787 and pointedly remarked ”To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything”.

Archimedes was a native son as was Allesando Scarlatti to Giorgio De Chirico who has been alluded to as being the father of Surrealist art and his legacy can be encountered to this day in popular culture on Playstation 2, also a poet, Et quid amabo nisi quod aenigma est? (What shall I love if not the enigma).

Castles, archeological sites, vineyards, tapestries, marionettes, ceramics and poignant landscapes not withstanding the majestic Palermo.

In popular culture we encounter La Cosa Nostra, The incredible town Corleone and of course Don Corleone from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.

But we should remember that Sicily is an Island surrounded by an en captivating Seascape and this is the muse and catalyst for Mark O’Leary’s project with Domenico Sciajno.

The abstract seascapes feature on the albums artwork complement the abstractions of marine audio.

Sciajno spent time recording various sounds of the sea in Sicily and these were received by Mark O’Leary who proceeded to assemble them and produce them in Hub studio Cork with engineer Donncha Moynihan.

A succinct definition would be Abstract Ambient Seascapes for it is an apotheosis of the genre.

Sonically the sea does capture ones imagination (the aesthetic will be continued in vol II) , in a retrograde fashion one can conceive of Jules Vernes “20,000 leagues under the sea” or the embryonic groundbreaking achievement of Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh’s trip to the Mariana trench in 1960 in their Batyscaphe ”Trieste” what sounds they must have encountered, in more recent times James Cameron’s recent trip to the Mariana trench which he managed to film also captures the imagination.

The sea has a calming, meditative and contemplative effect, visually and sonically, it stirs the soul.

From the very tiniest of sounds like droplets of water to masses of waves to tidal washes and surges, the sea does contain all of the desired orchestral nuances as well as great visual beauty.

Albeit, here it is abstracted, it is ambient, fermented and distilled, conjuring this music with scenes brimming with history and culture, disparate yes, for the history of Sicily is complicated but influenced by elegance and acme craftsmanship that Sicily and the Sicilians have espoused consistently.

Stanza

When I look o’er the land and out to the sea, ponderous introspection’s manifest with glee

Upon this perch I soothe under sky and look at the seascape dawn coming nigh

Frederick the II, Teutonic Knights, conquering Moors and Ionian lights

Bastions, Ceramics and Marionettes, vibrant with culture, not that one forgets

As I peruse upon an Albatross, I stand firm my Standard a Sicilian Cross.

Mark O’Leary, Erdem Helvacioglu – Istanbul

Genre: Field Recording, Ambient

Mp3 Album Available on the Best Internet Retailers

Mark O’Leary had just finished making 4 Urban Landscapes (Creative Sources cs162) where he made environmental recordings around various areas of Cork City and had gained some experience from this project so when Turkish musician Erdem Helvacioglu suggested a collaboration he decided it would be an interesting endeavor to try to replicate this work in Istanbul.

Mark terms the aesthetic; Atmospheric Environmental Ambience.
Rather than just found sound, Mark operates in an atmospheric ambient direction and Erdem is in concurrence with this aesthetic, he work’s with the material, develops and cultivates it with reverbs and treatments, utilizing its essential ingredients and contours in a respectful manner.
Mark emailed Erdem an outline concept and Erdem immediately embraced the concept and set about recording a whole plethora of different sources that could be used as resource material for the project.
Eventually Mark travelled to Istanbul and arranged to work with Erdem at his studio for two days and thus began the process of putting the materials together into a cohesive structure.
Mark has been influenced by Brian Eno and Jon Hassell in his working methodology, he has even in the past alluded to his music as being Post-Eno, trying respectfully to add to the great body of ambient music created
by Brian Eno and Jon Hassell.
Mark walked around Istanbul making sure that they captured the essential essences and atmospheres of Eastern Istanbul, Western Istanbul, The Bosphorus bridge and took quite a few ferry trips partly out of necessity but also to experience the maritime features of Istanbul which has given it a strategic importance through the ages but also creates a whole other secondary dimension making an interesting juxtaposition with its unique cityscape.
Mark and Erdem kept the material as straightforward as possible initially so as to be able to develop a comprehensive concept and it did culminate in a definite structural outline which they were able to ameliorate further at the next studio recording.

Much water under the bridge and under the Bosphorus since then and what has emanated is within the Ambient paradigm and an intriguing atmospheric interpretation of Istanbul.
Istanbul has the capacity to conjure up many images in ones minds eye.

Its rich cultural, architectural features and its connection with history has been defined through the ages; Byzantium, Ottoman Empire, Turkey.

It has been a centrifugal point between the West and the Orient and indeed one could say it is at the cross roads of the world for there are so many composite ethnic elements that aggregate into the critical mass of what we know as Turkey thus creating an interesting kaleidoscope of diverging tapestries and textures that coalesce seamlessly into a cohesive fulcrum point that manifests itself residing within the charm and elegance of this modern and yet timeless metropolis.