When I first talked to long-time Cold Ghost collaborator Jake Morton about joining my latest project, he told me about his new sensory percussion toy from SunHouse (Sunhou.se).
Sensory percussion is like the pimped-up contemporary version of a sample pad. With AI powered acoustic mapping and drum sensors that map multiple zones across a single drum, this instrument supercharges the creative triggering of samples, allowing you to build a sonic drum kit, unique to each song.
I knew I wanted to incorporate field recordings, bird song and underwater sounds to my productions, so once Jake showed me the workflows and performance capabilities of the Sunhouse gear, I was sold!!
There is a wonderful expressive quality and malleable nature to how the sensors trigger samples from the kit. The randomness of the layering of samples allows every hit to be different from the last.
Jake and I then went on a sample hunting expedition to the Isle of Capri which is surrounded by The Nerang River and its canals. We explored the few spots that had public access to the water, little spots in between houses where storm pipes enter the water and utilities cross the river (the island is almost completely developed around it’s shores by houses, jetty’s and pontoons).
We dropped the hydrophone in the water and hit stormwater drains to get these big echoing percussive hits. We dropped all sorts of rocks into the water to get big “plop” sounds. Jake hit an assortment of drains, poles and seats and we recorded cars from underneath the bridge. We ended the trip at Franquin Park recording the sticks, seeds and branches of what may be the only population of Casuarina trees that line the shore (I have not seen any others on all my trips to Isle of Capri).
Jake then cut up all the samples (plus an assortment that I had recorded on other trips around the Gold Coast) and now we had our own little sample library.
Getting the sample selection right for each “drum kit” took a bit of work, but this process has allowed us to build a sonic world unique to each song.
The ability to separately record each of the 4x sensors has also given me total editing control of the performances. No mics = no mic bleed (and also the dogs can hang out and not interrupt sessions with all their dogs noises)
Here is a tease of ‘She is a Swan Who Lives in a White House’. Listen to the water drops being played with an underwater shaker.
And here is the drum groove Jake came up with for the song ‘Isle of Capri’….lots of Casaurina seeds and branches in this….
I still have a bit of work getting all the percussion to sit right within the songs, but I am super happy with how it is all sounding. Jake and his new toy have breathed some exciting life into the tracks.
I can’t wait to share it all with you.
Thanks again to HOTA, Home of the Arts for all their support via their ArtKeeper program.