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Fields Of Gold Part 2

  Tobias

Tocafi: But manipulating recordings at home and treating them to different sound effects does not exlude a piece from being field music. Doesn’t that destroy its documentary character?
Marcus: If it is supposed to have a documentary character – yes, then this aspect gets lost. Actually, I prefer reworking and extending a recording, simply because, to me, this enhances its “musicality”. And that’s what’s important to me. I am neither a collector nor a scientist. I want to create something and then release it.

Tocafi: So, as on your Dronæment releases, field recordings, to you, are mainly a point from where to start your journey into something entirely new?
Marcus: It depends. Sometimes, the (field) recording happens to be there first and then again I’ll use recordings to deepen a certain ambiance and will record specifically for that track. Actually, I don’t always use field recordings

Tocafi: Quiet American has a series of recordings on his homepage, called “1 Minute Vacations”, which consists of 60 seconds of recordings from all over the world. With regard to your statement of you not being a scientist or collector: Do you find this interesting?
Marcus: Yes, I do sometimes listen to these contributions, because Quiet American follows a different approach. There’s the collection for one thing, but I believe he also has a specific vision of what he wants to record and how to record it. So I would even go as far as to claim that he’d make a very different recording as I would at the very same location.

Tocafi: Why would you want to listen to recorded sounds of nature or environmental sounds?
Marcus: As I mentioned, I listen to recordings of nature and concrete sounds as a sort of music. It inspires me to listen to a cattle of sheep in the Pyrenians and of course I try training my hearing to become more sensitive of the noises that sourround me.

Tocafi: Can part of this fascination possibly be explained by the fact that all music is “organised sound” and field recordings take us back to its most fundamental elements – the sounds that “nature organises” so to speak?
Marcus: Yes, absolutely. I’m actually of the opinion that the sounds which surround us are organised in exactly the same way, even though we wouldn’t notice it quite that consciously. Just think of the intervalls of loudness (during daytime) and silence (at night). I have tentatively tried to recreate this rhythm (you might even call it “musicality”) in my project “24 hours in 24 minutes”. I recorded 24 hours from my window and then condensed that into 24 minutes. It would be really interesting to pack an entire week into a short, lisenable section. In my recordings, “naturally organised” sounds and chance play a part, because I regard them as an additional instrument.

Tocafi: In which way can these recordings be characterised as “compositions”?
Marcus: I’d regard pure field recordings as compositions, if I’m at the right place at the right time with my microphone – or if I actively alter the “sound process” and record this manipulation.

Tocafi: Music has for the last few hundred years mainly existed through public performance. How do you feel about this with regard to field music: Could you imagine sitting in a concert hall and listening to me playing with my dog Gonzo?
Marcus: I don’t suppose it would appeal to me that much – even though the context would be interesting nevertheless. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had actually done that already. (using his dog asa live sound-source). Could you imagine going to such a concert? I guess it’s more of a “performance art”-thing than something relating to music.

by tocafi and Marcus Obst

Homepage: Field Muzick