Showing posts with label soundcloud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soundcloud. Show all posts
I recently stayed in a disused church in the south west of England - Church Camping or Champing as it's affectionally known. You can find out more at champing.co.uk but in short it's a way of raising money to fund the maintenance of these buildings.
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It was a fairly cordial event really, a camp bed was provided along with a kettle and some hot drinks and candles. The bed was by a large leaded window and hd a row of candles on the sill. I decided before I got there that I might do some recording while I was there, and what better to record than Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven?
I arrived in the mid afternoon and parked up adjacent to the church. I settled in and took the dog for a walk, and by 7.30pm it was getting dark. By 8pm it was pretty much pitch black in the church. I set up my mic and recorder and recited the poem, and shortly after, the heavens opened - that was probably the best bit, the sound of wind, rain and distant thunder while lurking quietly in an ancient church with just my dog Captain for company!
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| I literally slept on someone's grave... |
Below is a the audio recording and below that is a video I also made while there.
The Encore
I'm working on another new book, this one is by Canadian author Lauren Holmes. You can read all about Lauren here, she's a fascinating lady!
Here's a summary of the novel from Lauren's own site:
The Encore is a gripping page-turner about extraterrestrials facing extinction from a terraforming enemy. Desperate, they kidnap the worldbuilders who rescued future Earth for an encore performance. Threats to survival multiply with eco-crises and intrigue from powermongers. However, The Encore is also more. IndieReader describes this award-winning thriller as “a must-read for those who care about our continued existence.” It plumbs deep for those who seek substance beyond suspense. The threats to future Earth are real. Thankfully, so are the solutions. New potential for individuals, humanity, and worlds are revealed. That is why The Encore captured the Inspirational Fiction award from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. This is “hard science fiction” set within an “alternate history” that will inspire all aspiring worldbuilders. Lauren Holmes writes from decades of experience maximizing the careers of global executives. Her education in evolutionary anthropology unexpectedly informed breakthrough techniques for promoting sustainable self-actualization and continuous self-transcendence for all – her current mission. The Encore is an otherworldly tale of catastrophe, courage, calling, creativity, and camaraderie. It is an eco-thriller forewarning of an all-to-possible threat to planet Earth. Yet it is as inspiring and heartwarming as it is alarming and unnerving. Live the mission with this legion of lovable heroes. Dare to remain unchanged by this transformational thriller.
I'm delighted to be narrating this book for Lauren. Here's a sample of the book to get you thinking:
"Please call me Rikard, Connor. You are a most welcome addition to our life-and-death fight. Thank you for agreeing to help us. I look forward to hearing you introduce your process tomorrow at the Council meeting. My wife Ingrid and I would be delighted if you’d join us for dinner in the next few days as your schedule permits.”
“Thank you, Rikard. I’d be delighted,” responded Connor perfunctorily.
“Pardon my intrusion, Axl,” he said finally acknowledging the Minister’s presence with a nod in his direction. “I’ll leave you gentlemen to your important work.” With that, Rikard turned and abruptly exited the office with the same speed at which he had burst into it.
Supreme Commander Riis has the charm, charisma and sociability of successful politicians. However, he has very little of the substance that Axl possesses. It was obvious to Connor that someone had bought this man’s way into his current position. Riis was a front. A puppet. And by the strain he sensed between the two men, Connor suspected that Axl was not the puppet master but the enemy.
Riis also lacked Axl’s benevolence. In fact, there was a foreboding in his manner which made Connor fearful. He realized that he would be even more uneasy if Axl was no longer there to protect him. In an instant, he realized his dependence on the Minister. He accepted that Axl was friend not foe.
Alone again, Connor restarted the discussion, “So have you brought me here to die, Axl? I fear our friendship is going to be short-lived,” he quipped. Axl laughed. “I must have more faith in you than you do, Connor.” Connor continued to jest to break Axl’s tension. He motioned to the large picture on the wall of Vaudeville comedy duo and silent film comedians, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Their famous catch phrase was printed boldly on the top, “Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!” “I relate, Axl. I suspect I’m not the first,” he joked. Axl laughed again succumbing to the distraction. “Would you believe this is the oldest known relic from Earth? I ‘ve often wondered if it suggests the time when Annutia was terraformed. Laurel and Hardy were famous from the late 1920s to the 1940s. Annutians tend not to concentrate on history as much as they do on Earth because our religion has us focusing on the ‘now.’ We’re taught mindfulness and contemplative techniques and practices in school from the first grade to help us to do that.< /br>“Obviously, we need creative solutions now, Connor. We need you to repeat with acceleration your conversion of humanity to a talent- and creativity-worshipping power structure. We need our world’s talents working at the maximum to save our planet and ourselves. There is no one better than you to do that.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Unfortunately, we’re a population devoid of creativity. We have so many rules, and so many castes and so much prejudice and judgement that we’ve all but eliminated the courage to be creative. We’ve become a left-brain society where logic reigns supreme. Our creative right brains have atrophied.
What makes you think there is enough time, Axl?”“I’ve studied your career, Connor. You’ve worked on the liberation of individuals to their full creative expression for 30 years. When you assumed the role of Commander-in-Chief for Global Human Resources Maximization, you had your strategic plan completed and being actioned in your first month. You established most of the structures for global conversion in your first two months. What is it you call yourself? Oh yes. An execution creative.
“This is your encore, Connor. Faster. Smarter. With higher stakes. And with more fulfillment than the first time around. There is no project more meaningful for you to undertake.
“If you went back to your retirement on Earth without at least trying, you’d regret it for the rest of your life. Facing death is not the anathema for you, Commander Kane. Facing a life without meaning, purpose, and mission is far worse for someone of your talents and passions.
“You’ll see, Connor. We’ve already started. We’ve released your speeches and writings into our corporations and upper educational streams to get people thinking about the conversion.
“I’m going to have Annalise arrange for you to access to the Planetary Government Library today. You’ll get an idea of how much we know already so you can formulate what you want to say to the Council tomorrow about your plan.”
Connor refrained from comment while he began to formulate possible strategies. He was indeed an execution creative by passion. He believed he could implement anything even if it had never been done before. He found new implementation challenges irresistible.
“I’ve studied your methods for achieving the restructuring to release the greatest creative solutions to global crises. However, what I haven’t been able to figure out yet is what levers you pushed to cause the break in the money-and-political power grid in the first place. A discussion for another day.”
Connor suspected Axl was referencing the forces behind Rikard Riis. The Minister jumped up without warning for a third time and stepped quickly to his desk to flick on the intercom. “Birgitte, has Annalise returned yet for Commander Kane?”
“Yes, sir. She’s been here for some time.”
Axl moved to the door and opened it.
“So sorry to have kept you, Annalise. Please come in for a moment. Commander Kane needs library access to Earth information to find common ground for his speech to the Council tomorrow. He’s also going to need information about the Council Ministers, so he can shape his speech to his audience.
“I think it’s also advisable that you make him aware of the conflicts among them so that he’s not blindsided. In fact, why don’t you bring him at the beginning of the Council meeting so that he can observe the conflicts and players in action.
“Thank you, Annalise. And thank you Commander Kane for undertaking this critical mission for us,” Axl said while shaking Connor’s hand. “I look forward to hearing you speak. Please use Annalise to let me know how I may help.”
And without even a moment to consider or to ask a question, Connor suddenly found himself outside of the Minister’s inner office next to its closed door. Connor was impressed by how smooth Axl was. He felt out-finessed.
“This way, Commander,” directed Annalise. The tall and muscled Brik again trailed them. Obviously, Axl considered him a VIP needing a bodyguard.
“Were you able to arrange the call with my wife?”
“I was indeed. We have thirty minutes to arrive back at the appointed time.”
As they stepped out of the elevator on his floor of the residential tower, Connor could see at the other end of the hall Jon sitting at the table guarding his suite. Perhaps Axl was right. Maybe he’d underestimated his talents somewhat despite the celebratory gala.
As they arrived at the suite, Annalise walked to the office where an external telephone resided. Connor took the covers off his lunch while he pondered how he was going to tell Lenore that there was a good chance that he would be dead within the year.
Getting Outside.
It's so important to get outdoors, the end of lockdown is coming and being outside and enjoying nature is so very, very important!
Getting outside is so utterly critical in these lockdown times... I always take my camera when I walk my dog, I hope you enjoy this little video I made, I never get tired of sunsets and warm evenings!
For those who are interested, I film using a Canon EOS C100 camcorder, and my trusty Canon & Sigma lenses. I also use something called an Atomos Ninja, which is an external recording device that allows me to capture video in superior broadcast formats like ProRes and DNXHD.
I edit in Davinci Resolve, a fantastic piece of free yet totally professional post-production software. It's a steep learning curve but worth it!
Can you create a recording room at home without permanently changing the space?
I did, and here's how.
My recording room is probably the worst shape it could be - it's a small l-shaped room which bounces the sound around really badly, really unfriendly for recording anything. In fact, when I first started recording audiobooks I constructed what I called "the tent of doom", a 4ft x 4ft x 4ft cube, with cymbal stands (I play drums) providing the shape, and several duvets were the top and sides. I would sit in my tiny, dark, claustrophobic space recording books, and would emerge boiling hot and slightly dizzy. As much as I secretly enjoyed reliving my childhood squatting in my acoustic den, it wasn't a long term solution for my needs.
So I had a loooong think about what I wanted to do with the room. I knew I wanted to use acoustic tiles but the thought of gluing anything to the walls was not something I could entertain, I needed something that I could put up and take down as needed. And budget was important too, I needed to keep it sensible.
At one end I installed a desk for my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, AKA a windows pc) and some chunky wall hooks to hang cables and such. Then I devised a cunning plan to acoustically treat the walls. After much though I settled on a plan. I would use 2ft x 4ft hardboard panels, glue 8 x acoustic foam tiles to each one (30x30cm each) and then hang them on the walls using picture hooks. So off I went. I made 10 panels and carefully glued the foam panels on, using PVa woodglue. I put an absurd amount of effort into ensuring the tiles were all perfectly aligned and symmetrical, and once my OCD was satisfied, I hung them in a very pleasingly symmetrical (there's a theme here) layout on the walls.
The trickiest bit of the whole enterprise was getting them all horizontal and evenly spaced. I truly would not have been been able to tolerate any deviations, my inner Asperger's would not allow this to happen. Quite some time later they were all on the walls. Time to test the room! Initial results were pleasing, there is a significant reduction in reverb, that said, the awkward shape of the room still bounces back some noise, but it is greatly reduced. I made creative use of my cymbal stands, a digeridoo and a blanket, placed them so that the corner with the mic booth was separated from the rest, I call this my acoustic blanket.
The room is now sounding great, and with my RODE Procaster and Podtrack P4 recorder, I am getting some fantastic results.
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| Acoustic foam panels hang on the walls |
And so are more chapters of Moby Dick!
I've just been for a lovely sunny evening walk in darkest Wiltshire, and for the first time in a while I'm feeling energised, there's a light at the end of this bleak and wintery covid-lockdown tunnel!
I've produced 9 chapters of the classic novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville and uploaded them to Soundcloud. It's not the easiest book to narrate, more challenging than some of the HP Lovecraft stuff. I thought The Shadow Over Innsmouth was hard going, but the flowery old-English used by Mr Melville is almost another language in places.
For those of you not familiar with the novel, it's about a one mans pursuit for revenge, an angry salty sea dog captain of a whaling ship in the early 1800's is going hell for leather after a white wale that once bit his leg off and sunk his ship. A better summary is below, borrowed from sparknotes.com. Go to the free audiobooks page to listen to the book or visit soundcloud here.
Ishmael, the narrator, announces his intent to ship aboard a whaling vessel. He has made several voyages as a sailor but none as a whaler. He travels to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he stays in a whalers’ inn. Since the inn is rather full, he has to share a bed with a harpooner from the South Pacific named Queequeg. At first repulsed by Queequeg’s strange habits and shocking appearance (Queequeg is covered with tattoos), Ishmael eventually comes to appreciate the man’s generosity and kind spirit, and the two decide to seek work on a whaling vessel together. They take a ferry to Nantucket, the traditional capital of the whaling industry. There they secure berths on the Pequod, a savage-looking ship adorned with the bones and teeth of sperm whales. Peleg and Bildad, the Pequod’s Quaker owners, drive a hard bargain in terms of salary. They also mention the ship’s mysterious captain, Ahab, who is still recovering from losing his leg in an encounter with a sperm whale on his last voyage.The Pequod leaves Nantucket on a cold Christmas Day with a crew made up of men from many different countries and races. Soon the ship is in warmer waters, and Ahab makes his first appearance on deck, balancing gingerly on his false leg, which is made from a sperm whale’s jaw. He announces his desire to pursue and kill Moby Dick, the legendary great white whale who took his leg, because he sees this whale as the embodiment of evil. Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the mast and declares that it will be the prize for the first man to sight the whale. As the Pequod sails toward the southern tip of Africa, whales are sighted and unsuccessfully hunted. During the hunt, a group of men, none of whom anyone on the ship’s crew has seen before on the voyage, emerges from the hold. The men’s leader is an exotic-looking man named Fedallah. These men constitute Ahab’s private harpoon crew, smuggled aboard in defiance of Bildad and Peleg. Ahab hopes that their skills and Fedallah’s prophetic abilities will help him in his hunt for Moby Dick.The Pequod rounds Africa and enters the Indian Ocean. A few whales are successfully caught and processed for their oil. From time to time, the ship encounters other whaling vessels. Ahab always demands information about Moby Dick from their captains. One of the ships, the Jeroboam, carries Gabriel, a crazed prophet who predicts doom for anyone who threatens Moby Dick. His predictions seem to carry some weight, as those aboard his ship who have hunted the whale have met disaster. While trying to drain the oil from the head of a captured sperm whale, Tashtego, one of the Pequod’s harpooners, falls into the whale’s voluminous head, which then rips free of the ship and begins to sink. Queequeg saves Tashtego by diving into the ocean and cutting into the slowly sinking head.During another whale hunt, Pip, the Pequod’s black cabin boy, jumps from a whaleboat and is left behind in the middle of the ocean. He goes insane as the result of the experience and becomes a crazy but prophetic jester for the ship. Soon after, the Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby, a whaling ship whose skipper, Captain Boomer, has lost an arm in an encounter with Moby Dick. The two captains discuss the whale; Boomer, happy simply to have survived his encounter, cannot understand Ahab’s lust for vengeance. Not long after, Queequeg falls ill and has the ship’s carpenter make him a coffin in anticipation of his death. He recovers, however, and the coffin eventually becomes the Pequod’s replacement life buoy.Ahab orders a harpoon forged in the expectation that he will soon encounter Moby Dick. He baptizes the harpoon with the blood of the Pequod’s three harpooners. The Pequod kills several more whales. Issuing a prophecy about Ahab’s death, Fedallah declares that Ahab will first see two hearses, the second of which will be made only from American wood, and that he will be killed by hemp rope. Ahab interprets these words to mean that he will not die at sea, where there are no hearses and no hangings. A typhoon hits the Pequod, illuminating it with electrical fire. Ahab takes this occurrence as a sign of imminent confrontation and success, but Starbuck, the ship’s first mate, takes it as a bad omen and considers killing Ahab to end the mad quest. After the storm ends, one of the sailors falls from the ship’s masthead and drowns—a grim foreshadowing of what lies ahead.Ahab’s fervent desire to find and destroy Moby Dick continues to intensify, and the mad Pip is now his constant companion. The Pequod approaches the equator, where Ahab expects to find the great whale. The ship encounters two more whaling ships, the Rachel and the Delight, both of which have recently had fatal encounters with the whale. Ahab finally sights Moby Dick. The harpoon boats are launched, and Moby Dick attacks Ahab’s harpoon boat, destroying it. The next day, Moby Dick is sighted again, and the boats are lowered once more. The whale is harpooned, but Moby Dick again attacks Ahab’s boat. Fedallah, trapped in the harpoon line, is dragged overboard to his death. Starbuck must maneuver the Pequod between Ahab and the angry whale.On the third day, the boats are once again sent after Moby Dick, who once again attacks them. The men can see Fedallah’s corpse lashed to the whale by the harpoon line. Moby Dick rams the Pequod and sinks it. Ahab is then caught in a harpoon line and hurled out of his harpoon boat to his death. All of the remaining whaleboats and men are caught in the vortex created by the sinking Pequod and pulled under to their deaths. Ishmael, who was thrown from a boat at the beginning of the chase, was far enough away to escape the whirlpool, and he alone survives. He floats atop Queequeg’s coffin, which popped back up from the wreck, until he is picked up by the Rachel, which is still searching for the crewmen lost in her earlier encounter with Moby Dick.https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mobydick/summary/
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| Olde Whale Picture |
