Jens Ewald – Positive Interactions

01: Saw An Old Friend Today

Listen out for these sounds in Saw An Old Friend Today:

… for some variation I’ve included a stem of backwards electric guitar that never quite made the Fugitive Light and Themes of Consolation cut.
Andrew Wasylyk

A garden gate opening

Nathalie advised me to record our door to the garden as well. She always seems to pick up that sound when I am coming home…
Roel Knappstein (sound nominated by Nathalie Brans)

A studio door being unlocked

It is ‘opening my studio door’ after I haven’t been able to be there for two months.
Roel Knappstein

A Tom Waits song playing while hail falls on a studio roof

When I was working in my studio one day, a heavy rain and hail storm poured down on the roof and made quite a nice mix with some Tom Waits music I was playing
Roel Knappstein

Baby Rohan playing with his mum Mhairi

I’ve recorded Ro and Mhairi having a laugh together 😊 hopefully it fits!
Malath Abbas

Midnight the cat playing piano

Fave is midnight the cat, our wee guy who we recently lost to a car during covid:(
He was quite the pianist. We’d love it if that was used somehow! That makes us so happy every time we watch it.
Sandy Carson and Karen Skloss

Owls hooting along to church bells

I was out walking in the dusk the other night, and heard something that I thought I’d send on for your Positive Interactions. I made a little film on my phone, so the sound quality isn’t superb. But standing under a tree in the dark, listening the the owls chat and hoot at the bells, made me very happy indeed.
Rose Ferraby

The gate to an organic farm squeaking

a recording of the gate which forms the entrance to the domain of the biological farmer that we are supporting. The gate looks like this (photo of gate)
The green shield with the thump up is saying ‘green hero’…
It is always good to go there and harvest your ‘own’ vegetables.
If you have been picking beans or digging carrots or potatoes for a while, you return home with quite a different feeling. Those activities are quite stress diminishers…
Roel Knappstein

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.
Jens Ewald

Woodpigeons in Balgay Cemetery, Dundee

I caught some wood pigeons in the spring blossoms of Balgay Cemetary overlooking Invergowrie Bay.
Andrew Wasylyk

Track named by Jasmine Skloss Harrison.
Written and produced by Tommy Perman.

Email your happy message to: happy@positiveinteractions.space – you will then receive an auto-respond email with a link to download. If it doesn’t arrive please check your junk / spam folder. I will try to respond to your happy messages personally if I can. Thank you!

02: Walking In Water

Listen out for these sounds in Walking In Water:

A backwards guitar

… for some variation I’ve included a stem of backwards electric guitar that never quite made the Fugitive Light and Themes of Consolation cut.

Andrew Wasylyk

A studio door being unlocked

It is ‘opening my studio door’ after I haven’t been able to be there for two months.

Roel Knappstein

Frogs in a pond in France

One is of a spring day in France in early June. Nathalie and I went for a walk and had a rest beside a pond with frogs.

Roel Knappstein with Nathalie Brans

Midnight the cat playing piano

Fave is midnight the cat, our wee guy who we recently lost to a car during covid:(
He was quite the pianist. We’d love it if that was used somehow! That makes us so happy every time we watch it.

Sandy Carson and Karen Skloss

Some chimes

Here’s a wee thing I made today in my head bubble. Hope it suits, can’t remember if you needed a certain length.
That was fun! So nice to have a play and make something with no parameters, must do that more often, I’d probably get quite a lot done that way.

Emily Scott

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.

Jens Ewald

Uma the kitten purring and squeaking

Here are a bunch of Uma sounds for you. Some great purring and chirping, (my fav is on Uma 2.wav 1:04 – sounds like an Ewok).

Bobby Perman (and Becki Crossley)

Woodpigeons in Balgay Cemetery, Dundee

I caught some wood pigeons in the spring blossoms of Balgay Cemetary overlooking Invergowrie Bay.

Andrew Wasylyk

Track named by Nina Perman. Written and produced by Tommy Perman.

Get the album

03: Spider Music

Listen out for these sounds in Spider Music:

A kalimba

I recently received an unexpected and rather lovely gift of a kalimba. The little thing sits on my desk where I work and occasionally throughout the day, while I’m thinking, or taking a break, or procrastinating, I’ll have a little play on it. It has such a sweet sound that even my mistakes (of which there are many) are pretty and it’s really reminded me how joyful and immersive and meditative playing music can be. If everyone had a kalimba on their desk I think the world would be a happier place.

Rachel Simpson

A studio door being unlocked

It is ‘opening my studio door’ after I haven’t been able to be there for two months.

Roel Knappstein

Some chimes

Here’s a wee thing I made today in my head bubble. Hope it suits, can’t remember if you needed a certain length.
That was fun! So nice to have a play and make something with no parameters, must do that more often, I’d probably get quite a lot done that way.

Emily Scott

The song of the Jilguero bird

Greetings from the shire where I have just returned after spending a few days with the folks. I managed to catch the Jilguero a few times in different locations. Hard to catch him by himself and you can hear the noise of the city and very annoying dogs. I have not deleted any files since I know you might want to hear them all and choose for yourself. There are other birds there too, including humming birds. They are the ones with a rhythmical and repetitive high pitch chirp.

Morgan Szymanski

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.

Jens Ewald

Track named by Charlie Simpson.
Written by Tommy Perman, Emily Scott and Rachel Simpson. Produced by Tommy Perman.

Get the album

08: Maybe Underwater / Soccer, Snowman, Snowman, Snowman

Listen out for these sounds in Maybe Underwater / Soccer, Snowman, Snowman, Snowman:

A backwards guitar

… for some variation I’ve included a stem of backwards electric guitar that never quite made the Fugitive Light and Themes of Consolation cut.

Andrew Wasylyk

A guitar through a looping pedal

This is an idea I’ve been messing around with since you first asked, just noodling when I’m playing with the girls. So I recorded as a live session, one take with a mic in the room. I added a recording of the girls under it just to emulate how I’ve been working at it and to reflect how my days are spent playing with them. It was really fun to do, thanks.

Michael Lewis

A guitar through a synth effects pedal

I hope your Wednesday has been going well.

I have just been working on some music for your project.

Firstly a slightly boring computer related story

A few weeks my 2014 MacBook Pro stopped working / I took it over to Apple and they helped the poor old thing out.
They installed a new operating system but with no garage band which I normally use for music.

I think if I had installed a new version it would have melted it.

I was going to send over some music I had made in the summertime.

Anyway today I was feeling the vibes of some kind and decided to make some improvised music.

So this afternoon recording on my iPad using Voice Memo / I made 4 pieces of music/sound for you.

These pieces were made with:

Acoustic Guitar
Microphone
Casio SK-1 Keyboard
Thunder Tube
Toy Saxophone
Loop Station
Synthesizer Bass Pedal

Recorded live in downtown Dunfermline on Wednesday afternoon.

I hope you can access the sound files / and that you can use them in someway for the project?

Marcus Oakley

A kick drum from a Casio MT-46

Sampled from recordings sent to me by Gavin Sutherland (Other Lands)

A studio door being unlocked

It is ‘opening my studio door’ after I haven’t been able to be there for two months.

Roel Knappstein

Door squeaks

I like door squeaks very much, I find them hilarious and poignant and lovely.

Yann Seznec

Fish wire strung along a pier resonating in the wind

Also, this is a set of recordings I made in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago that I love – it’s an accidental aeolian harp that was made out of some fishing line that was strung up on a dock. It was super windy and it was making a completely amazing noise! I was so excited by it, and I still love listening to it.

Yann Seznec (with Kristina Seznec)

Samuel – the noise of the trees

This is a recording that Samuel Cheong Bee made. His mum Clarissa explains…

As for recording those happy sounds, I finally sorted out my wee Zoom mic and whilst clearing the micro SD to make way for some really profound ambient nature/cooking noises, I found these recordings of the boys when they were wee. Utter joy to my heart. I might still send you some other stuff just for fun but these recordings of kids exploring what it means to record sound, to listen to themselves discussing nonsense, playing with song and word and foley, brings such a smile to my face and of course, being their parent, a wee tear to ma een.

Ruben’s song was recorded up at Dunsapie Loch at Arthur’s Seat and we’d cycled up there to play with sound recordings. He was laying on his belly next to the water and the reeds, brushing the mic against the grass and running around for effect. I’d forgotten all about that day until I listened to the recording. Sound, music and memory.

Thanks for inviting me to send something. Will be taking the Zoom out for a spin again soon!

Clarissa Cheong

Synth sounds from Chris Labrooy

I don’t really try to make music any more even though I do play about from time to time to escape from all of the visual stuff. Happiness isn’t necessarily in the sound but in the process of pressing keys and pushing buttons.

Chris Labrooy

Synths sounds by Johnny Lynch

Just searched through some old stems from the Pictish Trail album, and found some sounds I really enjoyed making with Rob Jones, mostly on his swanky OP-1 and MS10 synths.

Johnny Lynch (aka Pictish Trail)

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.

Jens Ewald

The track was named by Arthur Seznec, Lainie Lewis and Theia Lewis.
Written by Tommy Perman, Marcus Oakley and Michael Lewis.
Produced by Tommy Perman.

Get the album

18: Weathered Passageway / Black Water

Listen out for these sounds in Weathered Passageway / Black Water:

AxiDraw robot drawing

I’m really taken with the idea of giving you the robot drawing sound … That’s probably been the most positive addition to my sound world this year 🙂

Simon Kirby

Cider fermenting

Making cider has been one of the defining elements of living here in Bridge of Earn. Our orchard consists of one small but enthusiastic tree on the drive. We did it every year for the first 5 or 6 years, bringing old friends up from Edinburgh and Glasgow, each time supplementing with more apples from other sources, refining our procedures, building better presses, and increasing our efficiency and yield. But we have been on a hiatus since Emily was 1 or 2, as it became harder to dedicate the time to it. We started up again this year – this time a bunch of neighbours, carefully distancing ourselves at the end of our driveways…!

We made 10 gallons – it’s currently bubbling away happily to itself in the live room here at Pumpkinfield.

Pete Harvey

Coffee on a stove

The morning sound which I am always looking forward too…

Roel Knappstein

Lapping water and pebbles Loch Fyne

I’m not sure how much you need to know about the reasons for the happiness but for me, there’s something about the musicality of how the water meets pebbles or the twists and turns of a stream like this one that never fails to unpick whatever angst or feeling of fragmentation I’m feeling. I know I can rely on it to make me happy; like there’s a code in the different notes that untangles and rearranges until everything feels clear and light. I love that the longer you listen to sounds like this the more music you can pick out. And I love that just by listening to them you can tell that the water is clear and clean and that as I listen it will unlock lots of other memories; of the smell of the woods or the movement of the seawater and seaweed.

Tamsin Ghislaine Cunningham

Monmouth beach Lyme Regis, England

Monmouth beach Lyme Regis : During my PhD I spent a lot of time on this beach recording landslides and fossils. I walked it with a lot of different people, photographed it, drew it. The sound of waves and stones set up a rhythm that accompanied it all.

Rose Ferraby

Needle being placed on a vinyl record

Putting on an old Thelonious Monk record…

Roel Knappstein

Panagia beach, Antiparos, Greece

Tempting though it is to get you some Laurie chat 🙂 I’m going to send you over a couple of short vids just now that were taken on the island of Antiparos in September 2017. Panagia beach is one of my favourites that we’ve visited in Greece and these were from our last day there before we left for Athens and then home. It was our last holiday just the two of us too actually though Laurie was already with us, Gemma was about a month and a half pregnant at the time 🙂 lots of feelings associated with these clips 🙂

Christophe Docherty

Piano improvisation

I’ve been learning the piano and I reckon I’ve probably been at my happiest this past year any time I’ve had a chance to do so. I didn’t want to contrive it too much so I just messed around with some chords I’ve been trying out.

Ziggy Campbell

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.

Jens Ewald

Worthing beach, England

I’ve just sent you a clip of the sea pulling in the pebbles, I love it – really powerful.

Alan Stockdale

Track named by Albie Kirby and Io Kirby. Written by Ziggy Campbell and Tommy Perman. Arranged and produced by Tommy Perman.

Get the album

19: Unsurfacing #2

Listen out for these sounds in Unsurfacing #2:

A gong

Andrew Wasylyk sent me the sound of a “dull gong” he recorded on his phone at Hospitalfield House, Arbroath, Scotland

Queen Street Station, Glasgow

Queen Street station is the first and last space I encounter on most of my visits to Glasgow. Taken at the end of November 2016, my recording of Queen Street reminds me of the years I’ve frequented the city, going to gigs, buying records, visiting friends, and waiting on the train home.

Gav Brown

The white noise of the North Atlantic Ocean

here we go, two original recordings of noise (at day and at night) in the middle of the Norwegian Sea / North Atlantic 🙂
It was one the happiest moments and places I have been; I would sit there for hours and tune in—in a way.
Hope you like them and they provide fun for VC, chopping up, filters, or just leaving them as they are.

Jens Ewald

Track named by Andrew Wasylyk. Written and produced by Tommy Perman.