Transformed wind chimes: Nature-Symphony 55 (improved version)

(improved version — see note further below)
Nature-Symphony 55 (Ancient harmonies — Laments of another Age) — As the title suggests, the melancholy or 'laments' you hear here are really something universal, being viewed seemingly back through historical times, and indeed not necessarily in our own planetary system. The distinctive effect with these particular two metal chimes, with the larger apparently singing in bare fourths because the pitch reductions have made the harmonic at the fourth above the nominal pitch to be heard as if it were the latter, and thus what was the nominal pitch is now heard as an undertone. This gave a rather Medieval character to the sound, complete with the seemingly universal sort of melancholy that one often hears in Medieval secular music.

I built upon the abundance of bare fourths by adding a bamboo chime, which I processed so that every sound in that layer is duplicated a fourth lower, so, yes, that chime is sounding 100% in bare fourths. — And, quite late in the work I add brief clips of a Dartmoor spring evening bird chorus (half-speed and thus an octave lower than original), another bit of which reappears near the end, then joined by another section of the same recording without any processing at all — except of course that I made all the birds sing in bare fourths. Whatever's the matter with this crazy monkey here, doing such a thing??! — Get him 'sectioned' under the UK Mental Health Act, quick!

Why an improved version?
Apologies! — During preparation of this mix for its YouTube video I noticed that the bird layers had a distractingly strong hiss, which had evidently slipped through my net — and no, the birds were blackbirds, not farmyard geese, so it was plain recording hiss! :-) I've managed to reduce that by about 9dB without too much impact in the wanted sound, so the work sounds more acceptable now.

Sound sources used:

layers 1–3:

1. Woodstock Gregorian Chimes, tenor (6 tubes, tuned to a rather 'grand'-sounding Gregorian chant scale)

2. Woodstock Chimes of Pluto (6 tubes, tuned to a pentatonic scale, which isn't recognisable with the reduced pitch)

Layer 4:

3. Indonesian bamboo chime, small (longest c. 30cm) (its 6 tubes giving intervals and chords of second-inversion minor, diminished seventh, tritone, fourth, minor sixth, with a lot of emphasis on the minor third, and the differently pitched layers of it bringing in an emphasized minor seventh)

Layers 5+6: Dartmoor spring evening birdsong (short clips late in work and at end)

I made the original metal chimes recording on 14 November 2012 (not online), on isolated tree beside Hunter's Path near Sharp Tor, Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK, the bamboo chime on 13 December 2023 on Piddledown, just above the Hunter's Path, and the birds recording near the forestry perimeter on the western flank of Bellever Tor, near Postbridge, Dartmoor, Devon, UK. Geolocation is for the metal chimes.

Advisory
To get the best out of this, with its mass of detail, listen with high-grade headphones.

A recording during the previous session using the same tree, using Pluto chime (my very first chimes recording, on 6 November 2012). It was a wonder that I got acceptable ensemble recordings at all with all chimes and recorder on this spindly little tree this time. As it is, the Pluto chime came out with less than ideal strength in the ensembles, including in the main recording used in this work. We can see the black furry windshield of the recorder, with its tiny tripod precariously astride the branch leading off away from us. I had no GorillaPod back then.

Techie stuff:

Recorder for the chime was a Sony PCM-M10, with Rycote Mini Windjammer furry windshield, and it was placed on a Hama Mini tripod (not just 'mini' but tiny!) placed astride the base of a branch on the same tree that the chimes were hanging from.

Recorder for the birds was Sony PCM-D100, with two nested custom Windcut furry windshields, placed on a Hama normal-size tripod.

Recorder for the bamboo chime was Sony PCM-D100, with two nested custom Windcut furry windshields, with mics set at narrow angle (90°) and then widened to the standard 120° angle in software afterwards, to produce a zoomed-in effect; it was on an Aoka carbon-fibre mini tripod on the ground.

Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshields.

Layer 1: Half-speed, giving pitch reduction of an octave below original. Acoustic: back-of-cathedral

Layer 2: Speed for pitch reduction of an octave plus a fifth below original, . Acoustic: moderate foreground in cathedral

Layer 3: Speed for pitch reduction of an octave plus a fifth below original, and further pitch reduction to give 2 octaves plus a fourth below original. Acoustic: moderate back-of-cathedral

Layer 4 (bamboo): Half-speed, with further pitch reduction to give total of an octave plus a fourth below original; doubled at a fourth below. Acoustic: back-of-cathedral

Layer 5 (birds): Half-speed, so an octave below original; doubled at a fourth below. Acoustic: foreground in cathedral

Layer 6 (birds, short clip at end)): No speed or pitch change, but doubled at a fourth below. Acoustic: no change from original

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