Applebox Orchestra Realization for Pauline

On 8 January, a whole crew of folks gathered; in person, telematically, and by correspondence; at the Fridman Gallery in New York City and performed a Tribute to Pauline Oliveros.  All the participants made realizations of Pauline's "Applebox Orchestra" score, each one making a part with an Applebox, or other wooden box used as a resonator for their own choice of sounds.  It was a splendid event, even on streaming web radio, which was how I heard it.

I made a recording for it, and was delighted with it.  It consisted of 3 tracks of a set of Applebox sounds I made, using kitchen utensils, stationery, crockery, and whatever else I could find.  After the performance on 8 Jan., I realized I could do this process again (and again and again) until I got 10 tracks of Applebox instruments happening.  Pauline's score for Applebox Orchestra specifies up to 10 players of Applebox sounds.  I repeated the process - set up the Applebox, attach contact mics to it, place a wide variety of sound-making objects on the box, perform and record them.  After recording, go through it and top and tail each sound, normalise it if necessary and load it into a sampler.  Then sequence the samples (using MusicWonk), such that each one appears only once in the first 29 minutes of the sequence.  Record this sequence.  Repeat this process four times. (Recordings 1 and 3 are 3 tracks each, recordings 2 and 4 are 2 tracks each.)  Then mix the results, with a slightly different panning for each of the four recordings.

I'm delighted with the result.  I think all the sounds have their own sonic identity, and juxtapositions of various sounds make interesting complexes where the identity of each component sound is preserved.  So here it is.  Applebox Orchestra by Pauline Oliveros, realized in loving memory of her by Warren Burt.

You can listen here:

Or, if you can't see that flash player above, you can download the piece HERE (mp3, 68MB). Enjoy!