Strange chimes! — Gypsy chimes plus four small Woodstock ones in Teign Gorge

Mysteriously exotic: a beautiful and powerfully evocative combination of musical scales, hanging over the Teign Gorge on a mild afternoon in early winter…

Chimes used are:

1. Music of the Spheres Gypsy chimes, Soprano and Mezzo versions (On an Eastern European Gypsy scale; relatively loud and penetrating, especially the Mezzo)

2. Woodstock Chimes of Pluto (moderately high-pitched, pentatonic)

3. Woodstock Chimes of Polaris (higher-pitched, pentatonic)

4. Woodstock Chimes of Mercury (very high-pitched, pentatonic)

5. Woodstock Chimes of Mars (very high-pitched and penetrating; not sure what scale!)

I recorded this on 10 December 2013, on the rough slope just below Hunting Gate, which latter marks the highest point of the Hunter's Path, high up on the north side of the Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK.

For this session the two sets of Gypsy chimes were put together with all four of my smaller chimes sets (Pluto, Polaris, Mercury, Mars), and then again with different combinations of the smaller chimes over the following four recordings. So, this was the first, with the wind reasonably frisky; it considerably reduced later in the session.

For more details about the different chimes used, please go to https://www.philipgoddard.com/shop/store-windchimes.htm.

A different recording (the second one) taking place in the same session. The recorder (light grey furry windshield, left) is perched on a small branch rather than on a tripod. We're looking down a quite steep slope from just by Hunting Gate.

Zoomed-in view from same position. The chimes with black tubes are the Gypsy ones — the Mezzo being the largest and loudest and so placed furthest from the recorder; the Woodstock chimes are Polaris (left) and Mars (centre). This recording also contains the Pluto and Mercury chimes.

Techie stuff

The recorder was Sony PCM-M10, with Røde DeadKitten furry windshield. It was perched on a tree branch by means of a GorillaPod.

Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshield — and then more recently stereo widening / sharpening-up using the VST plugin A1 Stereo Control (160% widening).

Please remember to give this recording a rating — Thank you!