212 – Tim Whitt samples Adelaide

 We discuss “that lamb ad” with all the gods in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9UnNq9srog

Tim Whitt is known to the “hip set” due to his performances at events like Big Day Out, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and Parklife and through supporting artists like Regurgitator. However, Tim is set to release his latest album Geisel on Oct 13. What caught our attention about this album is that Tim has created it by using sound samples from Adelaide. Tim, a producer and sound designer, is going to help us explore just how you can take sound samples and turn them into tunes that are appealing and musical.

We are going to sift through the layers of your music but can you start with an overview of the process in a few sentences? How does a recording of a tram become something you can dance to?

What is a sound designer? What have you designed in the past (events, computer games)

Tim, why? Why sounds of the city?

What sounds interest you the most?

I wanted to record the creek near my kid’s school this morning but imagined it would be ruined by voices. How do you keep people away?

How do you record? And why are you always carrying a recorder?

Now, Geisen isn’t just you. Tell us about this collaboration.

Tim has been carrying his portable microphone with him for many years trying to record unusual sound samples as he comes across them. As a sound engineer, he has a library full of samples from his travels around the world.

Most interesting parts of Adelaide and times of day to record?

For your release on October 14, what is this tour of Adelaide you are planning?

Michael Shanahan challenges the panel to pick the fake story from three stories from South Australia’s past.

Northern Argus, Friday 3 January 1902
EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENA.
The earthquake is a terrible thing to encounter. The ‘quaking,’ the bending of the earth’s surface, and the other accidental accompaniments usually described, are only a tithe of the real terrors of a seismic shock. To some the noise which precedes the real shock is more terror-inspiring than the ‘quake’ itself. An authority describes these subterranean rumblings as a horrid sound resembling that of an infinite number of chariots driven fiercely forward, mingled with the noise of cracking whips, ‘neighing of horses, and the cries of victory and despair on the part of the charioteers.’

Advertiser Tuesday 13 August 1929
SOUND TRUCK FOR AUSTRALIA
FOX MOVIETONE EQUIPMENT LANDED IN ADELAIDE
The Fox Movietone sound truck was landed from the Sierra in Adelaide on August 8. The truck, which is mounted on a Reo chassis, is the first to reach Australia, and is in Adelaide for the purpose of filming the Fox Movietone newsreel. The first speech to be recorded was that made by Mr. M. H. McNeill, assistant general manager of the Vacuum OH company.

Advertiser, Saturday 18 December 1954
Sound Shell Handed Over
Elder Park, splashed with sunshine, was like a scene from an English summer garden for the official handing over of “The Advertiser” Sound Shell yesterday afternoon. From 3 p.m., 500 official guests and hundreds of members of the public enjoyed a 45 minute concert by the SA Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Singers conducted by Henry Krips. Then, at 3.45 p.m., the chairman of directors of Advertiser Newspapers Ltd (Sir Lloyd Dumas ) formally handed over the Shell to the Lord Mayor (Mr. Philps), who accepted it on behalf of the council. Explaining that the Sound Shell was designed as a memorial of the visit earlier this year of Her Majesty the Queen.