Two Rumfords

by Steve Norton & N.B.Aldrich

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E. Jason Gibbs
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parkellipsen
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Howard Martin
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Michael Rosenstein
Michael Rosenstein thumbnail
Christopher Pirsos
Christopher Pirsos thumbnail
steve norton
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/
1.
Two Rumfords 09:04
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Two Rumfords was commissioned as part of the Architectural League of New York's American Roundtable series.

Two Rumfords is a soundscape composition juxtaposing two distinct yet important sonic environments available in the region known as River Valley along the Androscoggin River in Maine. The material for both locations was recorded on the same day in the summer of 2020. The audio recordings themselves consist of single, continuous takes of local audio ambience as well as multiple simultaneous tracks from various sensors such as hydrophones and contact microphones. Each location in the composition is represented by stereo ambient mics and three different sensors designed to add information that would not necessarily be available to the ear of a listener standing in the space.

The two environments captured are the stream from the Mt. Zircon spring and sounds from the bank of the Swift River under the Main St. bridge connecting Mexico and Rumford, Maine, just upstream from the Nine Dragons paper mill. Each of these places exhibit the distinct, conflicting characteristics that the River Valley is home to: the remote and undeveloped areas of mountains, lakes and streams (Mt. Zircon) and the singular industrial presence of the mill which dominates the valley and river (the bridge).

The composition takes representative slices of each simultaneous session and fades one into the other over time. The goal is to define and contrast these soundscapes as a way to apprehend the differences they provide the local community. This composition is not intended as a metaphor. It is not a statement about the local history, about economic conditions, or about a particular political or philosophical outlook. It is, however, evocative of all these things as they are embedded in the difference between these two nearby locations.

credits

released November 12, 2021

recorded and mixed by Steve Norton and N.B.Aldrich
mastered by Duane Shimmel and N.B.Aldrich

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SPU Sedgwick, Maine

SPU is a collection of various music and sound projects.
It was originally founded by Duane Ingalls and N.B.Aldrich in the early 1970s as an exploratory collaboration.

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