Transformed wind chimes: Nature-Symphony 1

Nature-Symphony 1 (The Inner Fire Wistfully Seeks to Define Itself) —
Cathedral acoustic (distance+3) version of half-speed version of part of https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/700528/ . Haunting 'suspended in mid-air' sounds from two bamboo and three metal wind chimes, quite exposed on the narrow Hunter's Tor ridge at the west end of the Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK. The cathedral acoustic is distance+3; at this level of distance the effect is really striking, even freaky, and light-years away from Hunter's Tor in the Teign Gorge!

Chimes used:

Music of the Spheres Gypsy Mezzo (eastern European Gypsy scale, lower)

Music of the Spheres Gypsy Soprano (eastern European Gypsy scale, higher)

Woodstock Chimes of Pluto (pentatonic, middling-high)

Bamboo, large and small set (purchased cheaply from local store)

I made this recording on 18 February 2013 following a recording of bamboo chimes only (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/700526/ ).

A 'crazy' experiment!

When I came to produce this half-speed version (i.e., the original version without any added reverb) I noticed that the background sounds (primarily the River Teign down below and indeed the wind) were hardly noticeable. I soon got the notion to see if I could get usefully interesting results from producing versions of this half-speed version given a cathedral acoustic — producing versions that placed the chimes ensemble at a range of distances within the cathedral perspective.

That I've now done, and this is the final of four 'cathedral' versions of that, ranging from 'close' to 'distance+3'. — This final vesion sounds quite freaky, though to my no doubt warped senses, still compellingly beautiful in its own way. At this distance the metal chimes sound like a spooky distant organ, and some of the bamboo chimes are reminiscent of the disembodied reverberant man's voice calling out in the final main section of Stockhausen's 'Hymnen' — though here with an intensely musical quality that the likes of Stockhausen never succeeded in matching.

This recording taking place. The two nearest and apparently higher chimes are the bamboo ones, the rightmost one is the Pluto chimes, and the other two (more distant, with black tubes) are the Gypsy chimes.

Techie stuff

The recorder was Sony PCM-M10, with Røde DeadKitten furry windshield (original, more effective, version), placed on a Velbon Mini tripod.

Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshield, and more recent processing with the A1 Stereo Control VST plugin (160% widening). I used the 'Change speed' effect in Audacity to produce this half-speed version. The cathedral effect was produced by the VST plugin Oril River, which is the best free reverb I've so far found, at least for anything that I myself would be doing; I used custom variants of the 'Cathedral 2' factory preset.

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