Sonic Encounters: Soundscapes from the Sounds Around Us

This song debuted as part of the Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meet Drone Day 2022 Celebration. It's the soundtrack to sci-fi short film of the same name which you can see here https://youtu.be/8WNZEwu1mEI?si=iNQ5rbtLxhpTvIGV. This piece was produced entirely on an Apple iPad Pro 11 with Borderlands Granular and Luma Touch LumaFusion. The music was performed in one real-time pass on the amazing Borderlands granular synthesizer which you'll see superimposed on the screen. The source audio was based on field recordings of household objects, and on location in Iceland and Melbourne Australia.

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher. Cover by Mark Mosher. (C)(P) 2022Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast.

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast.

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast.

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast Composer's Notes: Those screens around us sure are handy. Producer's Notes: This musique concrète soundscape was performed live then lightly edited and mastered in Ableton Live 11. Sources were a live recording of an Aurturia MicroFreak synth along with a handfull of samples. This was all manipulated in real-time with a granular synth with FX manipulated on-the fly.

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast Composer's Notes: Beware the rocky shores of the Like Machine. There be danger there. Producer's Notes: The song was performed live on a Synthstrom Deluge. Deluge was fed with various sampled "musical objects" as follows: - Melody line was played live using a Sensel Morph in Live 11 using some very expressive MPE sounds created by the amazing sound designers Huston Singletary and Robert Bruce. - Drones and rhythmic elements were made on an iPad with the granular synth SpaceCraft. The song was lightly edited in Ableton Live 11. Most FX are from deluge with a few reverbs and delay in Live 11 to sweeten the mix a bit.

This Sonic Encounters soundscape was improvised live in one-take using my 4U 62HP Eurorack musique concrète Instrument. It's the follow-on track to the "Droid 164 Gets Distracted by a Wildflower" https://soundcloud.com/markmosher/so4-e02-droid-164-gets-distracted-by-a-wildflower. Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher. Cover by Mark Mosher. (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast.

An ambient improv performed solely on the Deluge. Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Cover: Mark Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundclo…182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soni…us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast

Credits: Composed, Performed, and Produced by Mark Mosher (C)(P) 2021 Mark J. Mosher Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundclo…182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soni…us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast

An experimental piece re-purposing improvised phrases and motifs with more classical instrumentation as "musical objects" which I further manipulate in a 2nd improvisational pass.

Sonic Encounters Season 03 has come to an end which means the album containing the songs from this season is now available on Bandcamp here https://markmosher.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-encounters-volume-03. Bandcamp is waiving artist fees on Friday September 4th so it's a great time to buy songs and albums on Bandcamp to support your favorite artists. Note background song in this announcement is track 6 on the new album "Shimmering Light from the Time Mirror ". Thanks again for listening and tell your friends.

Composer's Notes: Music Concrete improvisation performed on Push 2 using mysterious shortwave radio signals from the cold war era. Producer's Notes: Samples are manipulated and performed as musical objects using Ableton Simpler, and Granulator II. Credits: Music Copyright 2020 Mark Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast More Info: https://SonicEncounters.com/podcast

Story: A dreamy cinematic ambient song to accompany your time mirror viewing sessions. Composer's Notes: This song was inspired by sci-fi movies, tv series, and books that explore peering into the multiverse and time-travel. The title was inspired by the Outer Limits episode "Demon with the Glass Hand". Producer's Notes: This song was produced in three sessions: Session 1: I composed 4 layers off-grid varying  between even and odd bar lengths ranging from 4-9 bars performing on Ableton Push 2. The interplay of these even and odd lengths results in melodies and motifs that round-robin in interesting ways and often result in call and response. I improvised a lead melody line with all these layers in motion performing on keys. You hear this melody in the final piece starting around 1m9s. The notes in the bell sound throughout are triggered using varying levels of probabilities to add variety throughout the piece. Session 2: I did a real-time mix down and arrangement session using Ableton Push 2 to perform with these "musical objects" to turn them into this song. Session 3: I did a mastering session doing some lite editing of all the automation for synth parameters and volumes. I added and additional automation envelope to the bells layer at the end of the piece to introduce increasing pitch randomization to the granular synth engine to cause the bells to drift to become more dissonant. Credits: Music Copyright 2020 Mark Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast More Info: https://SonicEncounters.com/podcast

Composer's Notes: Things have changed and now we're all ghosts of the time and space that we once knew. Here is a song about it it as a new Sonic Encounters episode featuring the track "Ghosts of Time and Space" Producer's Notes: This was improvised on Ableton Live 10 with Push 2. While I mostly do my own sound design I've been enjoying using libraries from others to introduce pleasant surprises ("chance operations") into some of my improvisational pieces. All the source samples are from the Ghosts sound pack which I bought from my friend and independent New Zealand based sound designer Greg Cole (aka Empty Vessel https://store.emptyvessel.co.nz/ ). This was originally released as a samples and presets for the TAL sampler, but I brought these into Ableton (notes on this below). Greg takes such great care in producing and mastering his source samples I'm happy to report he also just provided these samples as a stand-alone WAV editon here https://store.emptyvessel.co.nz/p/cl3h5w/. The cover art for this episode is based on a photo I took at the Cafe Campana at Musee d'Orsay Museum in Paris in 2018. Video: A video of this recording session is available on on YouTube https://youtu.be/gu8xJfs4J64. Credits: Music, Photo, and Cover Copyright 2020 Mark Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundclo…182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soni…us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast More Info: SonicEncounters.com/podcast

Composer's Notes: Inspired by a photo of a gossamer web taken with a macro lens in my front yard, I wrote a song about a spider. Be the spider. Producer's Notes; I used FM, analog modeled, and granular synthesis. I incorporated a field recording from of a drunk crowd singing in an underground tunnel on the way to the next train out in the London Tube at 1 AM on New Years 2018. Credits: Music and Cover Copyright 2020 Mark Subscribe to Podcast: Any Podcatcher: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672 Follow and listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/markmosher/sets/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-podcast More Info: https://SonicEncounters.com/podcast

A chill psychedelic meandering trip to an ancient savanna sandwiched with a bossa nova. Some lush synths throughout. Subscribe: To get notified of upcoming tracks follow me on Soundcloud, subscribe in itunes here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sonic-encounters-soundscapes-from-the-sounds-around-us/id1005123672, or use this RSS feed in your fav podcatcher https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:17182/sounds.rss Credits: Music by Mark Mosher Copyright Mark Mosher 2019 My artist site is here MarkMosherMusic.com

Story: Quite some time ago an alien child instantiated our reality using some silly game they found on their parent's hand-me-down computer. As time went on they noticed the rainforests were being destroyed for a variety of reasons which would soon end the simulation. The child was quite attached to some of the people in the simulation and of course didn't want to have restart the simulation all over again from beginning. So, without their parent's permission, the child opted to buy the in-app purchase to heal the rainforests by turning back the rainforest clocks. Play now continues. Subscribe: Links to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or your fav podcatcher here SonicEncounters.com Composer Notes: Improvised using original field recordings as sources from Australia including the city of Melbourne, and The Healesville Sanctuary (https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/). Cover Art Notes: I manipulated a photo I took while walking to through the rainforest of Great Otway National Park on the way to Henderson Falls. Some of the trees are estimated to be over 200 years old. Credits: Story, Music, Cover Art by Mark Mosher Copyright Mark Mosher 2019 My artist site is here MarkMosherMusic.com

Story: It appears the menu has changed. Please Press 3. Subscribe: Links to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or your fav podcatcher here http://SonicEncounters.com Composer Notes: I thought I'd kick off this season with something more experimental with lots of extreme tempo changes ranging from 80 BPM - 764 BPM. Enjoy. Music, voice, lyrics, cover art by Mark Mosher Copyright Mark Mosher 2019 My artist site is here http://MarkMosherMusic.com

"Of Snow and Light" is episode 8 of the Sonic Encounters podcast season 2. It's an original soundscape featuring some warm classic synth sounds and pads. Photo is from a very unique skiing experience I had at Copper Mountain Colorado where I got to ski at night in a snow storm with only a headlamp and ambient light. Music and cover art by Mark Mosher Copyright Mark Mosher 2019 http://SonicEncounters.com http://MarkMosherMusic.com

Music and cover art by Mark Mosher Copyright 2019

Story: This is the Krell again. We are beaming a 3rd tonality to your station. Are you receiving? Video of performance: https://youtu.be/9XzcPMncBWo. Instruments & Instrumentalities: The piece is a live improvisation on the Nord Lead 4 using only expressive real-time synthesis around a single original program. It was recorded in one real-time pass without edits. Credits Music, Sounds, Story, Video by Mark Mosher © 2018 Mark J. Mosher

Story: A secret mission in the Arctic to recover the ancient artifact begins. Composer Notes: A real-time performance with single synthesizer. Improvised and recorded in a single take with no edits. Credits: Music, Story and Cover Art Painting by Mark Mosher © 2018 Mark J. Mosher SonicEncounters.com NewEcho.com

Story: This is last known transmission the expedition to explore the undersea cave of the giant. Composer Notes: I sketched the cover image and used it as a graphical score. Credits: Music, Story and Cover Art by Mark Mosher © 2018 Mark J. Mosher SonicEncounters.com NewEcho.com

In celebration of Halloween, this episode of Sonic Encounters features the song “Primeval” from my horror soundscapes album NO GHOSTS. JUST FEAR. It’s a very short and creepy piece where I use hand crafted synthetic sounds (subtractive and additive synthesis) to create strange tones, textures. and rhythms to build tension. Fast note-runs, and radical tempo changes will creep you out. This piece was performed using Percussa AudioCubes infrared controllers. You can buy the song and album on Bandcamp (Name Your Price), CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify, and most other digital delivery services. Credits: Music, Story and Cover Art by Mark Mosher © 2012, 2018 Mark J. Mosher SonicEncounters.com NewEcho.com

Come experience Jump Gate 42, the only 2-stage nested faster-than-light stable wormhole in the galaxy! Using our proprietary time-released stasis injection and next-generation hibernation pod you can - for the first time - perceive sound and light for 6 minutes and 42 seconds as you slip into stasis. Act now as the gate will collapse and 437 days. Operators standing by to your book reservation for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Don’t take our word for it, check out what our customers are saying. “My ‘trip’ through Jump Gate 42 was a life-changing experience man! I felt like the universe and I merged into one. Dude!!! It’s right up there with The Tannhauser Gate and shouldn’t be missed.” - Bill, Mars Colony 422 “It looked like something right out of the film 2001. Stanley Kubrick was either a visionary or time traveler from the future. Mind blowing!” Credits: Music, Story and Cover Art by Mark Mosher © 2018 Mark J. Mosher SonicEncounters.com NewEcho.com

https://SonicEncounters.com Podcast S01:EP01. In a deep dark corner of universe, ancient bureaucrats monitor and nudge the machinery that controls the decay of the all things. Sometimes they dance. Welcome to the Department of Entropy. Credits: Music, Story and Cover Art by Mark Mosher © 2018 Mark J. Mosher SonicEncounters.com NewEcho.com

Story: Composed and performed in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. Artist Notes: Inspired by the movies "Blade Runner" and "Soldier". In one session, I improvised and composed a set of musical motifs. I then mixed and arranged these motifs into the finished piece. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: I used the gorgeous sounding U-HE virtual synthesizers for this piece. Hive (3 instances) Zebra 2.5 (1 instance) DIVA (1 instance) Bazille (2 instances) All the tracks use custom presets from INIT except one. Instrumentalities Improvised and composed with keys, grid, and mouse. Novation Remote SL 25 MK2 Keyboard Ableton Live 9.6.1 Windows 10 Credits: Music, Sounds, Story and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2016 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: This is the Krell again. We are beaming a 2nd tonality to your station. Are you receiving? Artist Notes: This is another piece inspired by the ground-breaking work of Louis and Bebe Barron on the film Forbidden Planet. I use oscillators as the primary source for the piece. Instruments & Instrumentalities: Blofeld + Launchpad Pro + Octatrack The soundtrack is live improvisation using the Waldorf Blofled synthesizer with custom programs from INIT. The Novation Launchpad Pro grid performance instrument was used to perform notes with pressure on the Blofeld. In addition to live manipulation of the Blofeld through it’s hardware interface, I live sampled and live looped the audio coming out of the Blofeld into an Electron Octatrack. From there I used the Octatrack’s chromatic mode, morphing with crossfader, and did live sequencing with trig automation. The Octatrack also provided additional effects. I recorded a video of me performing this piece in the studio http://youtu.be/atDFO0YnnrI' Credits: Music, Sounds, Story and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2016 Mark J. Mosher

Story: This is the Krell. We are beaming a tonality from orbit to your station. Are you receiving? Artist Notes: This is another piece inspired by the ground-breaking work of Louis and Bebe Barron on the film Forbidden Planet. I use oscillators as the primary source for the piece. Instruments & Instrumentalities: The piece is a live improvisation on the Nord Lead 4 using only expressive real-time synthesis around a single original program from INIT. I recorded a video of me performing this piece in real-time www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvPO_N__LB8. Music, Sounds, Story and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2016 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: The swarm of the Nanobots is approaching. Artist Notes: This microtonal mayhem is an exploration of swarming notes and joyous distortion that was inspired by the Dewanatron Swarmatron instrument. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: I performed and recorded this in one real-time pass with no edits on an Elektron Octatrack. From a sound design perspective - I was working to emulate an instrument called the Swarmatron http://www.dewanatron.com/instruments.php?page=swarmatron. "The Swarmatron was created to produce eight tones tuned approximately to one note, each tone slightly different in pitch to produce a complex and natural choral effect. These eight oscillators can be played with a single ribbon controller (variable resistor) to move the pitch center up or down. The span control expands the sound of a swarm of eight notes spread just a few cents apart into a wide chord of equidistant pitches spread over the entire spectrum. The player can "taffy pull" the resulting chord by using the span control and pitch ribbon in tandem. Swarms of sine waves evoke swarms of angels congregating. Swarms of sawtooth waves evoke the swarming of bees. The sound of a host of voices, earthly or unearthly, has a unique character recognized by the ear even when they are folded together in unison." To pull this off with an Octatrack, I sampled sawtooth wave from the Nord into track 1 of the Octatrack using a Flex machine. I used the on-board audio editor to normalize the audio; set start, end an loop points to zero crossings; and then cropped the sample. I duplicated this idea on to tracks 2-7 in pointed Flex machines for those tracks to the same source sample. I went through each track and panned and slight detuned each one. I configured each track to have slightly different effects. So some had chorus delay. Others had filter and phaser etc… all in the box. Track 8 is a master track with filter and reverb in Part 1 and in Part 2, comb filter and reverb - so my Swarmatron is 7 voice :^) I made some scene B variations so the crossfader would either detune or change the playback speed emulating the swarm. Like a real Swarmatron, I use the track mutes to bring oscillators in and out. I performed using mostly chromatic trig mode and manually modulated parameters with the crossfader and manually manipulated parameters. I used a little sequencing of some notes with "slide trigs" to emulate playing notes on a ribbon (in addition to manipulating pitch and swarm with crossfader). All the distortions are intentional (as in I'm not over-driving the inputs). I'm super happy with the non-linearities in this and I think this shows once again that digital can be unstable and organic when you use feedback in effects circuit models in the proper way. Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2016 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: The sound of what is going on inside the HAL 9000’s mind as he’s speaking “I’m Completely Operational, and All My Circuits Are Functioning Perfectly” to the crew. Artist Notes: This piece was improvised and performed on the Nord Lead 4 and the Elektron Octatrack. It was recorded in one real-time pass with no edits. Instruments and Instrumentalities: All the synthesized source sounds are from my original Lead 4 presets. I live sampled and looped the Nord Lead 4 into the Octatrack and performed most sonic movement in real-time on the Octatrack. Music, Sounds, Stories, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2016 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: Ready to take a “trip” on The Georgetown Loop Railroad? Your journey starts at Devil’s Gate Depot as you stand between the cars and hear the sounds of this historic narrow gauge train as it rounds a tight bend. Things morph from there… enjoy the psychedelic ride. Artist Notes: The piece begins with the raw field recording of the train as it goes around a tight turn. It’s just such an amazing set of sounds I wanted to offer the listener context and a taste of the harmonic content of the original source material before I took things to another place. I then manually play and improvise from there performing the notes in chromatic mode and heavily manipulating the field recordings as the piece progresses. Near the end of the piece I’m using effects like comb filters to create what sound almost like long tremolo strings. Another fun thing for me was manipulating rail noise through a comb filter and delay and then changing the delay time (which changes pitch) to create what almost sounds like an arpeggio of pizzicato strings notes. While I was not allowed to travel between cars (because it’s a narrow gauge and runs along mountain drop offs and on high bridges), they allowed me to stand outside the closed door of the car between cars. This being the case I got some AWESOME recordings isolated from other passengers for the most parts. Lots of great wheels squeaking, flexing of the old cars, coupler noise, and sometimes engine noise. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: I used only the Elektron Octatrack. I configured the machine to use 4 tracks made up of 3 field recordings from the session mentioned above each with their own insert effects. One track was used twice with a different set of effects. I also had the Octatrack configured to use track 8 for two master effects. After setting up the patch for the Octatrack, I rehearsed the piece a few times experimenting with different effects, expressive morphs, and notes. I then recorded the piece in one real-time pass without edits. Field Recording Notes I recorded these field recordings on The Georgetown Loop Railroad which is about 45 miles West of Denver... “one of Colorado’s first visitor attractions. Completed in 1884, this spectacular stretch of three-foot narrow gauge railroad was considered an engineering marvel for its time. In 1973, the Colorado Historical Society began restoring the railroad as part of its 978-acre Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park.” More here… http://georgetownlooprr.com/.” I’ve lived in Colorado since I was 7 and had never been on this train! They have all sorts of themed runs (Oktoberfest, Dinner trains, Big Horn Sheep Festival…) and I highly recommend you try it you come out Colorado way. We took the “Santa’s North Pole” adventure. Date & Time: December 7th, 2014 Location: Georgetown Loop Railroad, Georgetown, CO | Departing from Georgetown Devil’s Gate Depot Recorder: Zoom H2N Format: 44.1kHz/24bit 120 degree stereo Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2016 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: This is the soundtrack of an expedition to an ancient ice cave. As you descend deep into the cavern hear surreal sound of the wind blended with your own scanning equipment reverberating through massive cave system. At around the 7:00 minute mark, your systems start picking up some movement in the cave. You've got a bad feeling about this - so you initiate emergency ascent at 8:20. Artist Notes: This is not a sample. This is all synthesis. Instrumentation and Instrumentalities: The entire piece is made from a single original patch I made on the digital modular synthesizer U-HE Bazille. The piece was recorded in a single pass with no edits. I performed this on a Novation Remote SL 25 MK2 keyboard by playing notes and manipulating the mod wheel, key pressures and the knobs of the synth in real-time during recording. Credits: Music, Sounds, and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2015 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: “Welcome to transfer station 11203. Your consciousness transfer is about to begin and soon you will enjoy immortality in your new custom body. The process is 100% foolproof thanks to your personal technician who will be actively monitoring the process for transcription errors. In the unlikely event of a transcription error, your technician will be manually executing corrective rewrites well before the 6 minute margin where these anomalies would become part of your permanent consciousness in the target vessel. This “human touch” is just another way Transfer-Con goes the extra mile for our clients. You should now be feeling a warm sensation as the intravenous sedation takes effect. This sedation will render you blind and paralyzed pending transfer – for your comfort and safety. To help you maintain a calm and meditative state during transfer, you will now hear the reassuring and ever steady rhythms of the audio feed from your transfer monitor. Thanks for choosing Transfer-Con. We Can’t Wait to See You on the Other Side℠.” A remote technician sitting in a cubical farm 8,000 miles away initiates your transfer while multi-tasking to monitor 49 other transfers in-flight. He took on an extra shift today to make more money to save for his own transfer – although it will take him years to save enough for his own procedure. He squints – straining through fatigue to read the virtual dials on his aging computer screen. As your transfer begins, he nods off – dreaming of his own immortality. Artists Notes: This is a modern take on Edgar Allen Poe’s “Premature Burial”. In this fictional – and some say inevitable scenario – there are new fears to be considered. This piece focuses on the fear of being cataleptic and aware that you are on a one way trip to an immortal state with irreversible transcription errors in your consciousness. The soundscape represents the audio feed from the patient’s transfer monitor. Instrumentation and Instrumentalities: Elektron Octatrack Credits: Music, Sounds, Stories, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher © 2015 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: As humans and their technology have evolved, they have encroached more and more on the domain of the whale and other sea life. Of course the whales have been evolving as well - and - unbeknownst to us, they have been patiently plotting and waiting for the right time put things back in balance. Listen as a group of humpback whales execute phase 1 of their plan to take back the ocean. Science: From "Seismic Surveys Negatively Affect Humpback Whale Singing Activity off Northern Angola" (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0086464) "Discussion...The presence of oil and gas exploration activities in this region and globally, and the potential acoustic impact that anthropogenic noise sources may have on sensitive species are increasing areas of study and concern for industry, governments, biologists and conservationists [23], [25]. The intense pulses produced by seismic surveys clearly have the potential to cause direct or behaviourally mediated physiological harm at close distances [34], but more subtly at longer distances there exists the potential of disturbing animals and altering important behaviours, as well as masking acoustic signals and negatively affecting communication. ... It appears that whales are ceasing to sing, or moving to other areas to sing when seismic surveys are being conducted in relatively close proximity. We emphasize that this is documentation of disturbance of a breeding display for a baleen whale on a breeding ground, and thus has implied potential for affecting mating behaviour and success." Artist Notes: The entire piece was improvised and recorded in one real-time pass using only the Octatrack's unique an expressive capabilities, built-in-effects and ability to morph. The piece was recorded with a Zoom H2N with no edits (after much rehearsal). The fun and challenge of this piece was to see how far I could take a handful of similar recordings to tell a story and to go well beyond the sonic character of the source material. So I start off quite organic, and end quite "horror show". Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: The ONLY source audio for this piece is from public domain recordings of humpback whale song and vocalizations. The samples were loaded into multiple tracks on an Elektron Octatrack Dynamic Performance Sampler. Credits: Music, Sounds, Stories, Notes by Cover* Mark Mosher © 2015 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com *Cover was designed by Mark Mosher based on this image in the public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humpback_Whale_underwater_shot.jpg

Story: Over 2,000 centuries ago – the Krell technicians went about their day in the 8,000-cubic-miles of the fabric of the great machine on Altair IV. This is the day in the life of one technician. Artist Notes: Inspired by the ground-breaking work of Louis and Bebe Barron on the film Forbidden Planet I use oscillators rather than samples as sound sources for this piece. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: The sources are from original sounds I created on the Waldorf Blofeld manipulated via MIDI from an Elektron Octatrack. Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2015 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: What happens when the children of the gods get a hold of the weather machine? Listen to find out. Artist Notes: I recorded the piece in one real-time pass with no edits. The song is primarily based on the field recording of a thunderstorm. Most of the low bass sounds is a manipulated thunder clap. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities: I recorded this in a park in Louisville, CO on my Octatrack running on battery. I performed the piece by playing the OT in chromatic mode and by manipulating parameters in real-time – so no sequencing. Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2012 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: This soundscape is the soundtrack to an imaginary experience where, using a special morphing environment suit, the wearer can instantly transition from a land to sea simply by walking into the surf. The piece begins with you observing a figure walking down the steps on to Chatham Lighthouse Beach late at night. The figure is silhouetted by the beam of the Chatham Light. As the figure walks past you and on to the beach you switch to the figure’s point of view. You then walk towards the ocean with the beam of the Chatham Light swinging out over your head and enter the surf. As you enter the surf, your environment suit extends and wraps you like a second skin. You hear the mechanics of the metamorphosis as the suit jacks in to your mind and adjusts your buoyancy allowing you to keep walking down on to the sea floor. Under the ocean the sensors isolate and amplify sounds from the environment. You close your eyes and listen – and return once again to the land. Artist Notes: Based on a field recording I made at night on Chatham Lighthouse Beach, MA. I recorded myself walking down the metal stairs to the beach and right up to the surf and back. I used digital effects such as comb filters and synths to make the more synthetic sounds. Date & Time of field recording: January 13th, 2012, 10pm Location: Chatham Lighthouse Beach, Cape Cod, MA Recorder: Zoom H2 Format: 44.1kHz/24bit 120 degree stereo Instruments and Instrumentalities: Ableton Live Ableton Sampler U-HE Zebra 2, Zebra HZ Izotope Iris Rob Papen Predator Keyboard Automation envelopes Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2012 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Story: This song is an ambient sonic journey starting with natural sounds which morph into the hidden inner world of trees and back again. Artist Notes: The piece starts off with a 120 degree stereo field recording of wind blowing through aspen trees and surrounding trees in Louisville, Colorado just outside of Boulder. Credits: Music, Sounds, Story, Notes and Cover art by Mark Mosher ©2012 Mark J. Mosher http://SonicEncounters.com http://ModulateThis.com

Get those headphones out - it's time for some creepy original experimental music to celebrate Halloween! This is a live hi-def stereo recording from my set for the Halloween 2011 Online Streaming Concert for Radio.Electro-Music.com broadcast at 19:00 GMT on October 30th. Note that the intro was re-recorded later that day as I forgot to turn on the stream recorder till I was 45 seconds in. The rest of the audio is from the actual stream with one edit to remove 30 seconds of dead air when I experienced a minor issue. Set List: 1) "Welcome to the Inferno" Sound Design Cue from Inferno Haunted House (recording) 2) "Mad Carnival" Sound Design Cue from Inferno Haunted House (recording) 3) "Icy Caves" Sound Design Cue from Inferno Haunted House (recording) 4) "They Walk Among Us" from REBOOT (recording) 5) "I Can See Them" from the album I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS (performed live on Percussa AudioCubes) 6) "Before We Wake" from Fear Cannot Save Us album (performed live on Theremin pitch-to-midi with AudioCube ) 7) "Dark Signals" from I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS (performed live AudioCubes, keys, Theremin, Tenori-On) 8) "Celebration and Voices" from I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS (performed live on Launchpad grid) 9) "Infected" from REBOOT (recording) 10) "Intercept Transmission" structured improvisation (performed live on Launchpad grid)