Tokyo Soundscape by Noise Reduction Society

Intended for listening at a low volume as if the sounds are part of your natural environment.

In July 2009 I traveled to meet my daughter in Tokyo. She was studying art there and we planned to meet for a week in Tokyo. I arrived one week early and explored the city at first on my own, recording sounds and shooting images. A remarkably low airfare made possible the fulfillment of a dream I had held since childhood. Tokyo was one of those places I only dreamed of visiting.

You will have to excuse the cultural appropriation. These tracks were created only about two weeks after I returned from Tokyo. In that sense they are an audio snapshot of my impressions, fresh and without the filters of time and reason.

Being in Tokyo, hearing, seeing, and feeling life there in every dimension was a life changing experience! I find looking back that my music and my visual art were immensely influenced by the new and old culture, the super-futurism as well as the elegance and order of centuries of traditions. This influence has continued in more subtile ways ever since.

An algorithmic audio looper that I built in MSP generated the musical components. I "played" the loops in realtime and the output was recorded direct to audio file. Using Digital Performer, I combined these music files with ambiences of the Tokyo streets and subway recorded with an original Zoom H2 recorder.

Tracklist

1.	Tokyo Soundscape One	15:17

2.	Tokyo Soundscape Two	14:25

3.	Tokyo Soundscape Three	16:09

4.	Tokyo Soundscape Four	11:40

Credits

released August 18, 2009

License