When creating this symphonic cycle I did not use any music instrument. I used different things, that are usually not used to produce music: scizzors, paper, saw, drills and more. In all the pieces of the cycle I use these things as percussion instruments to play improvisatory rhythms and noises. The music idea behind the cycle is to use unusual sounds and dynamically changing rhythms while limiting instruments used.
Symphony for a shed is a totally nostalgic track, created in the shed, where I used to play when I was a kid. I recorded this in november, when everything was silent around. This added a cold, abandoned touch to the recording and photos. When recording this symphony I was randomly taking different things that were left in the shed, some of them untouched for decades. You can see photos of them in the video.
In the Symphonies for a saw, office chair and drills I specifically use one or several objects of the same type, exploring different ways to make them sound until I have no more ideas. When recording Symphony for scizzors and paper I started with the same concept. Later my wife Lidia Naumidis suggested to add some paper to recording. She took part in several recorded episodes of paper tearing and crumpling.
I used some ideas and inspiration of Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) techniques in this cycle, especially in the Symphony for Quiet. I used high amplification, long pauses, slow emerging of sound, slow changes of dynamics, uniform sounds, quiet sounds and more. In ths Symphony for Quiet I selected 15 objects, which are all shown in the video, and sequentially used each one separately to create quiet sounds.
Photos for the videos were taken by me using Canon EOS 650D immediately before (Symphony for a shed) or after the recording of the track (all other tracks). All the recordings were made using AKG C-214 and Zoom H-5.
Symphony for a shed.mp3