Category Archives: Audio

ccMixter Adds Dynamic Audio Playlists

Posted by David Holmes on

The state of online music remixing and Open Music distribution took a significant step forward recently with the release of ccMixter’s new audio Playlist feature at ccMixter.org. A community-driven playlist tool for sharing Creative Commons sound samples and music.

About

The application combines several key areas for creators that make it easy to find, share and promote legal audio and music works:

Collaboration – It’s about connectivity, creativity, distribution and interaction. Social media at the heart of Web 2.0 – Web4

Creative Commons Licenses – Open, flexible, copyright options designed to foster freedom of ideas. Ranging from some rights reserved to public domain.

RSS Feeds and Social Syndication – Preview and create dynamic audio playlists – grab RSS feeds for your web-mashups, podcasts and social networking websites.

Killer Features

There are currently four tabbed views for managing Playlists:

Hot Playlists – Create – Popular Remixes – New

Multiple playlists can be opened simultaneously in the ‘Hot’ and ‘New’ browse modes.

Create Dynamic Playlists

In the ‘Create’ view you can quickly make customized, automatically updating playlists using the simple online interface. There’s a choice of parameters to choose from that allow you to locate and filter media files for fine-tuning the list.

These include: Playlist Types, Artists (users), Tags, License Type, Ratings, Time Period and more.

Free Registration

Registered users can save and share their playlists including individual list items such as songs and samples. Full integration between community lists make it a breeze to add media items from one list to another with a single mouse click.

New playlists can be created on the fly instantaneously, for example when browsing and listening to audio, in a seamless listening environment. Each list you create is automatically added to your community profile area.

RSS feeds are generated for all your playlists. You can also edit important elements in your list such as dynamic parameters, the order of list items, tags, playlist title and description.

Simple html formatting is allowed in the description so you can include links to websites, contact information or the location of a web page widget that uses the playlist feed.

The ability to dynamically create playlists/podcast feeds by licence type, combined tags and other key factors makes it easy to create hybrid audio channels including sound sample based feeds as well as music playlists.

For example here’s a dynamic RSS feed for a capella melodies based on user ratings:

http://ccmixter.org/media/api/query?tags=melody&reqtags=acappella&type=all&limit=50&f=rss

Click on this icon to view and listen to the feed in a Grazr widget Open Grazr

There are also filtering options for Popular Remixes, which shows the audio media most frequently included in playlists.

Further details and upcoming features can be found at How to use PLAYLISTS

CC Music 2.0 Fueling Web 2.0

Make no mistake, ccMixter is the complete package. No other remix site commands the same level of respect amongst musicians, producers and content creators.

The tight social networking fabric combined with a philosophy of open media creation provides a truly creative environment for users of all levels and musical styles. In this community everyone works together; sharing, rating, reviewing, mixing, promoting, distributing, learning – Forums

ccMixter playlists utilize the power of citizen DJ distribution, contributing to the growing culture of shared media networks and social tribes.

Artists, bloggers, filmmakers, listeners, and podcasters can all interact to create collaborative resources and original compositions. Anyone can use these compositions to build new, derivative works, be they music, video or other media forms like web-mashups, in accordance with the licensing terms.

Widgets, Pipes and Tubes are the plumbing through which these rich media creations can flow using URLs and RSS feeds.

These intelligent crowdsourcing activities are becoming increasingly prevalent as the need for media filtering and recommendation prevails. Musically and culturally speaking, DJs have always provided the editorial factor so important to informing the wider music community. Todays web DJs are restricted only by the technologies they use and their knowledge of Social Media. To learn more about this topic read the online ebook What is Social Media?

Given the emergence of social mediaspheres and widgetized connective tools, now anyone can be part Data Jockey – Data Carrier.

Widget Action: Take a look at some of the ways ccMixter and CC music are connecting in the Web 2.0 world.

http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/412641/royalty_free_music_downloads_attention_all_metacafe_producers.swf
ROYALTY FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS: ATTENTION ALL METACAFE PRODUCERS – video powered by Metacafe

How to create personalized ringtones using ccMixter

http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf

Web 2.0 in Five Minutes

Related Sites

Audio 2.0 – List of music, p2p, podcast, sound, and radio sites.

Opensonics – Open Music Community News and Resources.

Swik Playlists – Open source projects wiki.

Miditzer Virtual Theatre Organ

Posted by David Holmes on
The Miditzer is a virtual instrument for Windows PCs that recreates a Wurlitzer Style 216 theatre organ. The latest version features the FluidSynth software sampler and comes preloaded with the Cinema SoundFont. You can download it free for personal non-commercial use.
 
This is a standalone virtual instrument that can be controlled by a computer/ MIDI keyboard. The Miditzer Settings allow you to set MIDI input/output devices and control FluidSynth parameters including SoundFont loading. Full documentation and support are provided at the Miditzer website.
 
 
Robert Hope-Jones and the Mighty Wurlitzer
 
The "Mighty Wurlitzer" was a phrase used to describe theatre organs manufactured by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company between 1914 -1940. These large pipe organs were based on the original designs of Robert Hope-Jones who developed the idea of a one-man-orchestra in an instrument he called the "unit orchestra".
 
The elaborate instruments were conceived to replace or compliment expensive live orchestras that supplied the soundtracks to movies during the silent era. Organ designs incorporated a combination of sonic devices including pipes, pianos, percussion instruments and sound effects such as bird whistles to produce a wide range of timbres.
 
Robert Hope-Jones developed a system known as electro-pneumatic action that allowed the organ console to be detached from the pipe chambers. The distinctive horseshoe shaped consoles used multiple keyboards and foot pedals to control the sound sources. An array of switches in the form of tabs and drawbars allowed the organist to select a mix of instrument combinations.
 
The musicians that played these types of machines represent the original pioneers of live electronic audio/visual performance. In many respects they were the DJs of their time and the quality of their instruments and musical abilities would be greatly appreciated by the communities they served. 
 
Listen to a sample of theatre organ virtuoso George Wright playing Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
 
For more information on theatre organs see Wikipedia: Theatre Organ
 

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The Miditzer Interface 

Portable Playlist Beta – Web-Based Audio Player

Posted by David Holmes on
Portable Playlist is a free web-based application for streaming mp3 audio files via the browser on any computer with internet access. The website interface incorporates a selection of tools that help you to manage files found in various locations across the web.You can store URLs to offsite mp3 files, subscribe to podcasts, create and edit playlists or find media files using the inbuilt Blogdigger search. No audio files are hosted at the website.
 
Features: 
  • Easy to use, uncomplicated interface.
  • Add and save links to audio files already available online.
  • Quickly dump mp3 links found using Blogdigger search into playlists.
  • Subscribe to podcast feeds.
  • Create combined playlists from RSS feeds and mp3 files found elsewhere.
  • No software to install.
  • Generates RSS feeds for user playlists (See Below).
  • Cross platform access via popular internet browsers.

Your account also generates three ‘regular’ RSS feeds (minus audio enclosures) for your playlists:

  1. My Portable Playlist
    This feed is a complete list of all your playlists and tracks, including podcasts.
  2. Selected Playlist
    This feed contains all the tracks in the currently selected playlist.
  3. Now Playing
    This feed contains the track that you are currently playing.

Development of Portable Playlist beta is currently being documented via the blog, where you can catch up with the latest info, thoughts and feature requests.

Text-to-Speech Tools & Resources

Posted by David Holmes on
A quick guide to some free Text-to-Speech solutions for the Microsoft Windows platform, Apple Mac and various podcasting applications.
 
New TTS and speech recognition technologies are constantly being developed to enhance the latest operating systems, search engines and audio services. Quite often the end user is unaware of the existence of these technologies seemingly buried deep within the operating system. There are however many programs and services that utilize these systems, several of which are mentioned here. All of these resources are free to download or use online, supported by links to free eBooks and speech technology resources including related Microsoft blogs, spoken audio search engines and a brief history of speech synthesis.
 
 
Desktop Applications & Podcast Tools
 
A free, open source Windows program that creates MP3 audio files from RSS feeds. It can be used to create audio versions of text-only blogs. Simply drag an RSS feed link onto the inteface to convert RSS to MP3. It can also be run from the command line for faster processing in the background. AutoCast uses LAME and relies on the Microsoft Speech SDK. See Wikipedia Autocast for a definition of autocasting.
 
A free desktop application for Microsoft Windows using Microsoft Agent animated characters. You can select any text in any application and press Ctrl+C to have it read by a talking character. You can also have regular time announcements and additional characters can be downloaded as they become available.
 
An online application that instantly turns your blog’s RSS feed into a Podcast. Here’s the spoken feed for DISS: http://www.feed2podcast.com/podcast/42180750.xml
 
Click on the following link below to hear it played using the Big Contact Audio Feed Player
 
A small Windows program that translates text RSS Feeds into spoken MP3 files.
 
Another small Windows application that will load a plain text (TXT) or HTML file and read it out loud using human speech.
 
 
Free eBooks
Complete text works you can download for free including books and dictionaries.
 
Pprovides full text of public domain books.
 
The open-access text archive where all collections are free to use.
 
Has a library of 17000 free ebooks whose copyright has expired in the USA.
 
Also has a selection of free ebooks to download. 
 
 
Speech Technology Resources
 
The following sites provide further information about TTS and speech recognition systems. The selection of demos below show the variety of products available including their level of sophistication and realism. 
 
 
Demonstrations
 
Acapela HQ TTS Interactive Demo choose male or female voices in a selection of languages.
 
AT&T Labs Text-To-Speech online demo speaks your text.
 
AT&T Natural Voices Demo another online text input interface.
 
Cepstral Voices Demo cross platform TTS software.
 
KAE Labs VocalWriter MP3 Demos Page of software that can sing lyrics.
 
Loquendo TTS Demo very realistic with emotional/physical effects.
 
MBROLA Project provides a collection of voice synthesis audio samples.
 
Nuance RealSpeak™ Demo select from Telecom or Solo modes, also very realistic.
 
Oddcast TTS Demo an example of animated character driven communications. An earlier version circa 2003
can be found here. Other uses for Oddcast technology can be found via their Homepage and on the Persuadatron.
 
Yamaha Vocaloid Audio Demos a vocal-synthesizing software that enables song writers to generate authentic-sounding singing on their PCs by simply typing in the lyrics and music notes of their compositions.
 
 
MAC
 
Books2Burn translates text files into a series of audio files (Apple AIFF format) which can then be converted to mp3’s or other formats using programs like LAME or iTunes. Open source software that works on Panther and later only.
 
Explains several creative (and free) ways to use speech synthesizers. Also provides links to music related speech synthesis resources.
 
 
Microsoft Blogs
 
Focuses on TTS developments, language and technology.
 
Provides a quick overview of people who blog on speech and natural language technology at Microsoft.
 
 
Software Development
 
FreeTTS 1.2 – A speech synthesizer written entirely in the JavaTM programming language.
 
 
Related Posts
 
A search engine that lets you search inside the audio of podcasts by using speech recognition technology to convert speech into text.
 
Uses speech synthesis technology to read the results of your search. You can choose between a female voice and either of two male voices. A drop down box allows you to select from just the title information to a more information dense summery including the URL, title and description. The search results are provided by Google.
 
Explores the history and development of speech synthesis including original audio demonstrations, early voice synthesis techniques used in music and film productions, BBC’s Doctor Who and the Daleks, recent software developments.
 
Thanks to Blake Handler for the tips and Windows Vista samples of "Anna" in his post: FREE Microsoft Text-to-Speech Software & "How to". His Space The Road to Know Where provides lots of useful information about Microsoft products and services.
 

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LiteralSystems Free Creative Commons MP3 Audiobooks

Posted by David Holmes on
LiteralSystems have an archive of Creative Commons licensed audiobooks that are free to download and share for non-commercial purposes.
 
These are human-voiced readings and performances of classic literary works in mp3 format. The files can be downloaded and played using media players like iTunes or windows media player and distributed in podcasts under the terms of the license.
 
The collection encompasses a range of works including short sonnets to full length novels, suitable for both mature and young audiences. All materials are supported by background information and links to related resources.
 
Info:
 
Creative Commons Choice Awards a public forum for nominating the best works and artists releasing under Creative Commons.
 
 
Literary Audio Resources
 
LibreVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain in mp3 and ogg file formats. Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/podcast.xml (books only)
 
Loudlit.org is committed to delivering public domain literature paired with high quality audio performances. Listen and read using Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers (streaming audio).
 
Podiobooks provides serialized audio books which are made available in podcast format under Creative Commons licenses.
 
Project Gutenburg preserves literary and other intellectual works, and makes copies of or products based on those works available free of charge.
 
 
 
Related Post
 
Google’s Creative Commons and Public Domain Search has further links to digitized public domain material. 
 

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The Sound of Music Compositions in Time Stretched Space

Posted by David Holmes on
 
Close to where I live in the East End of London, there’s a lighthouse where a computer plays the longest piece of music ever written. Built in 1863, the experimental lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf on the Isle of Dogs was originally the site of Michael Faraday’s optical research. Trinity Buoy Wharf is now a growing center for the arts and cultural enterprises in East London and currently home to around 100 artists and creative businesses. One of those artists is Jem Finer, a founder member of the Pogues and the developer of Longplayer, a 1000 year long piece of music. The composition started to play on 1 January 2000 and will continue to play, without repetition, until the 31st December 2999. (Artangel Project Overview).
 
Using an iMac computer to emulate a mechanical system, a piece of source music comprising Tibetan singing bowls and small gongs is played back in a series of loops similar to several turntables running at different speeds. The differing pitches are harmonically related although the generative audio never repeats itself until after exactly 1000 years when it starts from the beginning again. As the composition is based on a mechanical system it is transferable to any type of technology including a group of people playing it from a score. This is an important part of the survival strategy.
 
For details of the underlying principles and more on the turntable analogy see What is Longplayer?
 
Audio
Longplayer exists as a computer program written in the SuperCollider real time audio synthesis programming language.
Appropriately enough the Longplayer installation is situated directly opposite the Millennium Dome, just across the River Thames. The Royal Observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), sits upon a hill overlooking the river which curls around the Isle of Dogs like a huge sinewave.
 
Via DJ Alchemy – David Jennings has a nice Flickr photoset of the Longplayer lighthouse installation (see pictures below).
 
 
Time Manipulated Music Compositions
 
9 BeetStretch is a project using current digital audio technology to explore Beethoven’s work. This is Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th symphony stretched to 24 hours, with no pitch distortions. Executed in various versions with either the Snd or the Common Lisp Music software, both made by Bill Schottstaedt. Made at Notam, Oslo. Section 5.2 is "Ode to Joy". Formats: RealAudio Streams and MP3 downloads. Kyle Gann provides a review at the village voice.
 
dj sniff – slow (2005 mixcd) is a collection of 45 rpm techno records played at 33 rpm, break beats and hip-hop tracks. Visit the site for the mp3 file (compressed sound/144 kbsVBR, one continous track, 59.1 mb), playlist and downloadable cover art (1.6mb)..
 
Steady Rollin’ Man is a revolutionary critique of Robert Johnson the famous Delta Blues singer and guitarist. The article focuses on the transformation in Robert Johnson’s performance by slowing the recordings to 80 per cent of the speed at which they normally play. Could this new speed represent the real sound of the man? MP3 comparisons are provided.There’s a good discussion about the article in this Acoustic Guitar Forum. The discussion also provides insight into the way early recordings were made and cut to disc.
 
 
Ambient Music Resources
 
 
 
Global Time Map
 
What time is it? is a neat Web 2.0 application that lets you see the time in any location by clicking on a map.
 
 
fUSION Anomaly Synchronicity Scale
 
0  A  B  C  D  E  F G
 
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Experimental lighthouse Photos by Davd Jennings.
It is the only lighthouse in London. 

Free Sound Samples and Loops

Posted by David Holmes on
DISS is one year old today and it seems appropriate to celebrate with a post focusing on sound samples and loops. Over the past year we’ve seen rapid growth in DIY music production, much of which has been made possible by "open source" developers and people willing to embrace the "open content" ethos. These pioneers have been the inspiration for most of the material on this blog. Thanks for your support and words of encouragement.
 
For digital music-makers, sound samples are the building blocks of larger compositions, the DNA if you like. These chunks of information are so intrinsic to how music is made and heard that the use of sampled audio is frequently associated with a fight for the Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age. 
 
In that light, this collection serves as a guide to royalty-free audio resources that anyone can use to share and discover sounds for music making. Several resources are included for people involved with sound design and application. The emphasis is on sharing rather than selling. 
 
An extended version of this post with legal audio samples, loops, software, music and video downloads is available at the Free Sounds Lens on Squidoo.
 
 
Free Sound Sample Collections
 
Audioshots.com has a Sample Section for SoundFonts, Sample Sets and One Shots. This is a new archive that will continue to grow throughout 2006. Sister site The Auditorium is a forum for sharing audio and music information. Free registration provides access to member shared samples and loops, royalty-free.
 
Beasty Boys Acapella Download Page currently has downloadable audio of vocal performances in a range of BPMs. The acapellas are for your own personal use for creating remixes which can be shared in the Beastie Boys Remix Forum. New tracks are added every Friday.
 
ccMixter is a community music site using CC licenses to help people share samples and remix tunes. The site uses ccHost open source software, freely available to developers (CC WIKI).
"The goal of this project is to spread media content that is licensed under Creative Commons throughout the web in much the same way that weblogs spread CC licensed text. The more installations of ccHost and its variations, the more content there will be available for enjoyment and artistic re-use in a sane and legal setting." 
 
Here’s the Sample Page which also has an RSS feed: http://ccmixter.org/media/feed/rss/sample
ccMixter South Africa launched on September 1, 2005 as a local version of ccMixter.org,  is an example of community building produced using the ccTools project. 
DJSamples Free Samples and Loops has a growing collection of user submitted samples in WAV and MP3 formats. The site requires free registration which is simple and quick, no need to confirm account via email before logging on. Some samples may not be safe for commercial use.
 
efiddler gives you online access to real violin tracks and fiddle tracks for your recording projects. There are over 100 violin loops grouped into style categories including; Electric, Classical, Celtic, Country, and Gypsy.
 
Free-Loops.com provides free loops and audio clip downloads to the music production community. There are thousands of free loops to explore, preview and download.
 
Flashkit Loops is a vibrant community for Flash developers with royalty free loops for download. The shared loops are particularly suitable for use in multimedia projects. All sounds can be previewed and usually have a brief description. 
 
Freeloops provides a free download section for samples in a variety of musical styles and instrument types. All loops are original and full sample packs are available for purchase. Read the License to ensure you understand the terms of agreement.
 
Freesound is a collaborative database of sound samples and effects. Users can up and download sounds to and from the database under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. It provides a way for sound designers and artists to legally share and track the evolution of their creations. The database is for sound samples and loops only – the building blocks of compositions, field recordings and generated sounds – not full songs. Membership to the Freesound community is free.
 
g essence sounds offers samples from minimalist electronic music tracks for remixing. The sounds are released under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus license. Related electronic music projects include -N netlabel and podcast, plus the excellent ACOWO blog and podcast for showcasing netlabel releases.
 
G-Town Church Sampling Project via Legal Torrents. Recorded in his local church in Grebbestad, Sweden by music producer Tobias Marberger, this set of CC-licensed music samples (available in two separate torrents, with either the original .WAV files with separate EXS24 soft sampler patches, or as .GIG Gigastudio-formatted versions) should be invaluable to amateur and professional musicians alike – includes anvil, snare, wood stick, hihat, brushplate, bongos, piano, organ, mandolin, glockenspiel, flute, many other instruments.
 
HammerSound is a web-site focusing on computer music and sound creation using SoundFont compatible soundcards like the SoundBlaster Live!, the AWE-range of soundcards, and several others. The SoundFont Library is a database containing free SoundFonts submitted by people from all over the world.
 
Looperman offers free loops of various instruments including acoustic, electronic and vocals. All loops are saved as zip files and sounds can be previewed before downloading. Check the FAQ page for clarification of how you may use them. There are also sections for tutorials and related links.
 
naturalstudio – Douglas Whates has created drum and piano samples in WAV, SoundFont, Gigastudio and Battery versions. The zipped sample packs have MP3 demos so you can preview the sounds before downloading. There’s also a jazz guitar SoundFont and some bank presets you can use with the sample packs including Akai S5/6K multi, EXS-24, Halion, Hydrogen, Kontakt, Muzys etc.
 
Ontology SampleSwap is a free community for electronic musicians to share their original sounds and music. Samples and loops are archived in categories for easy retrieval and members can exchange ideas and tips in the forums.
 
SampleNet is a searchable database of copyright free sound samples and loops in mp3 format. Part of the SonicState.com musician’s resource.
 
University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios a collection of orchestral instrument samples created by Lawrence Fritts. All samples are in mono, 16 bit, 44.1 kHz, AIFF format apart from the Steinway piano which is a stereo recording. The samples may be used freely without any restriction.
 
Waveform.dk has over 2000 samples being shared by users. Samples are sorted into categories for easy browsing. File formats allowed: WAV ( samplename extension .wav ) IFF AIFF ( samplename extension .aiff or .aif ) IFF 8SVX ( samplename extension .svx ). All sample packs use RAR compression for better bandwidth performance.
 
YourBeats.com is an online music production resource that offers free MP3 hosting, samples and loops in MP3 and WAV formats, VST’s, software, and tips.
 
Ziggus Guitar Loops offers a small collection of royalty-free guitar loops. Categories include Clean, Effected, Metal, Rock and Loops.zip. Contains chord arpeggios, riffs, phrases etc .wav, .mp3, and .ogg formats. 
 
 
Sampling Resources
 
  • The History of Sampling – an interactive time-line showing albums with sampled artists on the lower half and sampling artists on the upper half. The sampling data is from the-breaks.com, a sample tracking database. You can use it to explore the sampling history of artists, albums, individual songs and breaks.(Java Applet)
     
  • Wikipedia: Sampling (music) – an informative guide covering the history, early precedents, modern sampling, and legal issues affecting remix culture. The work provides many links to important examples and sampling resources.
     

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    • Streaming Audio Added to Delicious Social Bookmarking of Media Files

    Posted by David Holmes on
    Del.icio.us has added a streaming audio feature to bookmarked media files. A play/stop button now appears beside mp3 media files that allows one-click instant streaming of the audio track. Nice slick audio playback without the problems of several applications fighting over the file.
     
    Here are some good tag URLs for listening to streaming media bookmarks: 
     
    Popular Audio Content
     
    Groupcast Open Content Audio Sharing: a feed for people to share their podcasts and music.
     
    And for podcasts/radio: 
    Try your own tag combinations, categories, genres etc to find loads of good music recommendations. You can download audio content to your favorite podcast receiver or iTunes by subscribing to the RSS feed of each page. 
     
     
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    Sonic Solutions and Sound Effects for Ending Phone Conversations

    Posted by David Holmes on
    SorryGottaGo.com provides a collection of sound clips that you can use when you’re on the phone and need a way to end the conversation. Handy for those annoying telesales people and phone surveys you just don’t want to participate in (keep a couple on the desktop). The sound effects are grouped into sections for specific situations:
    • Office Use 
    • Telemarketers
    • Phone Company
    • Home Use
    • Odd Ball  
    You can choose from a growing repertoire of ingenious excuses such as "There is a fire drill", "There’s static on the line" or "The office party is starting" and other terminal audio cues. Thinking ahead, if you wanted to be really devious you could also pretend to be somewhere else by using iSerenity or SoundTransit to generate deceptive environments. The more frivolous amongst you may like to try The Canned Laughter Box.
     
    I’ll have to go now there are cows going by and the dog’s barking!
     
    Spotted on Clicked, a blog by Will Femia tracking interesting blog discussions and news.
     
     
    Sound Effects Resources
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    Tools for Sonic Journeys and Finding Sounds by Geographical Location

    Posted by David Holmes on

    SoundTransit is a collaborative, online community dedicated to field recording and phonography. It is home to a growing database of sound recordings made in various locations worldwide. Each recording is a sonic document of sounds found in a particular environment. SoundTransit lets you discover the sounds of various cultures by ‘booking‘ a sonic journey between two locations including stopovers. The site then creates a composite MP3 file for you to play or download made from audio found in the SoundTransit database.

    Upon booking a sonic trip from Australia to Brazil via Belgium, my embarkation involved an anxious binaural tooth extraction in Sydney. The aural/oral torment eventually faded, carried by the support of chanting Planktone spectators in Antwerp. Eventually I reached my final destination riding at dusk in a small boat on the lago, where I could contemplate these experiences accompanied by the slightly less abrasive sounds of South American birds, frogs and insects.  

    Exerpt from documentation:

    "The drilling phase of my own wisdom tooth extraction is recorded with binuaral microphones and another set of microphones taped to my jawbone to capture sound via bone conduction. This is an extract of a 14 minute recording of the entire extraction operation which occurred in 2003. I still find the recording quite painful and nasty to listen to – especially the moment when the tooth is cracked! The sound seems to me to originate from the site of the tooth – a haunting ghost of the process of its extraction."

    The Search section, lets you search the database for specific sounds by member artists from many different places. Phonographers are encouraged to contribute recordings using the Creative Commons Attribution license which allows others to share and reuse the work. SoundTransit rss-feeds will be available soon.

     

    Geotagging Audio Files 

    • Freesound Geotags shows sound samples tagged by geographical location on a map of the world by using Google Maps technology. The Freesound community also shares audio files under Creative Commons licenses.

    Above links via Opsound the Open Sound Resource for copyleft music.

     

    Field Recordings and Soundscapes

    • Phonography.org – The phonographers section aims at creating a directory of artists who use phonographies (field recordings) as a primary instrument in their compositions.
    • RadiantSlab – repository of shared field recordings.  

     

    Podcasting: Location Recordings and Sound Seeing Tours

    Podcatcher Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoundseeingToursPodcast  – you can also view this link in your browser and play individual podcasts shows from the page.

    Creator Jim Blodget also experiments with making binaural field recordings using his invention – the stereo hat microphone.

    Podcatcher Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Zipboingwow

     

    Sound Search Engines

    • Findsounds is an audio files search engine that provides categories for location sound effects both man made and natural.

     

    SoundScape Software 

    • Tweakbench Field VST Intrument is a multisample based ambience generator. Using original field recordings by twerk, field  allows you to generate suitable backing ambience for any track.

     

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    Freesound Geotags