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Posts Tagged ‘Christmas song’

IMG_2200

It was very nice weather this evening. The downtown was almost overcrowded with people which was shopping or just walking around to feel and smell the atmosphere of Christmas.
It was calm so the town smelled strongly of cloves, toasted knead, spirit, red vine, beer, all kinds of perfume, tobacco and even weed…and what is never missing in Reykjavik, a smell of exhaust from traffic.This was perfect weather to catch the sound of the Christmas rush hour.
Just 30 second after I start the recording, I heard beautiful singing voices. There were six singers of female song group „Jólabjöllurnar“.
I placed my self around 4 meters from the singers. Behind me was the audience on their walk who stopped for a moment to listen. The heavy background noise is mostly from car traffic, as usual.
This recording is captured with DIY binaural microphone rig which I just finished to prepare several hours before the recording. It contains two matched pair of parallel Primo EM172 capsules, connected to LOM phantom power adapter (see pictures).
I spent two hours walking around recording this evening. I noticed some audible time error between left and right channel in 30-40° around the rig which means the rig needs some changes in the future. But the funny thing is this time error sounds like a perfect „sound effect“ in combination with this well trained singers.
This was recorded on Lækjatorg square in Reykjavik town center between 9 – 10 pm.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at mid level.

Lækjartorg á Þorláksmessu 2017

Það var ótrúlega gott veður þessa Þorláksmessu. Miðbærinn var líka troðfullur af fólki, sem liklega skiptist jafn milli Íslendinga og útlendinga sem voru að versla, sýna sig og sjá aðra.
Þar sem ég gekk austur Austurstræti og var var nýbúinn að ræsa upptökutækið þá mátti heyra fagran söng frá Lækjartorgi. Ég gekk á hljóðið og þar var þá sextett fagurra kvenna að syngja jölalög.
Ég mátti til með að ná þessum söng á upptökutækið og gerði það þar til yfir lauk.

(mp3 256kbps / 44Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Primo EM172
Pix: Samsung Galaxy6

Location: 64.147388, -21.936692
Weather: Calm. Cloudy, 1°C

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jol1964

I was born in Germany while my father was studying and working there between 1954 to 1966.  My older sister was also born in Germany.
Probably in December 1964 my father recorded me and my sister singing the traditional song “O Tannenbaum”.
My mother’s voice is there also while she helps us through the text.
Later one I sing a short solo in my “southern German” I have completely lost today.
The text was composed by Ernst Anschütz, 1824

Jólin 1964

Hér er á ferðinni upptaka sem fannst eftir að faðir minn dó. Er þetta upptaka frá Þýskalandi þar sem fjölskyldan bjó meira og minna árin 1954-1966. Um tíma fékk faðir minn að láni upptökutæki sem hann notaði til að senda fréttir heim til Íslands. Það má því segja að hér sé Skype fortíðar á ferðinni en þá var óskaplega dýrt að hringja á milli landa. Það var því oftar en ekki gripið til þess ráðs að senda hljóðupptökur í pósti á milli landa. Mikið af þessum upptökum hafa glatast en hér er smá bútur líklega frá því í desember 1964 fremur en 1965.
Textinn við þetta lag var saminn af Ernst Anschütz, 1824. Lagið er gamalt þjóðlag.

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur
zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Dein Kleid will mich
was lehren:
Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit
Gibt Trost und Kraft
zu jeder Zeit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Das soll dein Kleid
mich lehren.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 2,2Mb)

Recorder: unknown open reel deck.
Transferred from Revox B77 MkII to Sound devices 744
Mic. Unkown
Pics: Syster and brother (Bergþóra & Magnús, picture taken at Christmas 1964)

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Hallgrímskirkja

At 23rd of December I went downtown with my recorder to test a new mic setup in Rycote windshield. It was perfect weather for such things, calm, dry and not too cold.
I have mentioned it before, but binaural recording is almost useless for me in street recording. It is the law of nature that I will be disturbed by someone I know within every ten minutes. So my usual tools to let people know I am busy are fur windshield, boom pole and recorder bag.
This outfit really works. In one evening I recorded undisturbed few hours of street music.
This time I was using my newest MKH8040 ORTF microphone setup, instead of MS as usual.
I totally fell in love with this setup. It will be my “action setup” in the future.
Listening to the ORTF recordings in headphones gives a nice “natural soundspace”. In fact it sounds almost as Binaural. MS recordings can sometimes sounds out of phase, especially when it contains a traffic noise.
Following recording is a “mix collection” of eight music occurrence this evening. It is not all I recorded but just a small taste of what was going on downtown Reykjavik just before Christmas especially when the weather is nice as this day.
Quality headphones are recommended.

Jólatónlist á Þorláksmessu

Þann 23. desember 2012 var fádæma gott veður í Reykjavík. Það var því kjörið að hljóðrita jólastemningu í miðbæ Reykjavíkur.
Fyrr um daginn… í raun allan daginn, fór litið fyrir þessari stemningu. Sérhagsmunaklíka í miðbænum lét bíla vaða um allar götur með fyrirferð, reyk, háfaða og eimyrju langt fram á kvöld. Það var því fátt annað að gera en fara heim og bíða fram á kvöld þegar búast mátti við að líf færðist yfir bæinn og fólk fengi óhindrað að ganga um götur.
Gekk ég þá nokkrar ferðir um Laugaveg, Skólavörðustíg, Bankastræti, Austurstræti og vestur á Hallærisplan og hljóðritaði ýmiskonar “götutónlist” sem víða mátti heyra.
Meðfylgjandi hljóðrit er stutt samantekt af nokkurra klukkustunda efni sem ég náði þetta kvöld.
Ég er ekki viss um hvaða listamenn eru þarna á ferð, en sumir kynna sig. Það væri því vel þegið ef einhver gæti gefið upp nöfn þessa listafólks, annaðhvort í athugasemd hér fyrir neðan eða á myndasíðunni.
Best er að hlusta á hljóðritið í góðum heyrnartólum.

Download mp3 file (192Kbps/38Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices 744
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8040, ORTF setup / Rycote Windsheild (see pictures)
Pix: GoPro3 black / Nokia N82. (See more pictures)

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