Burning Man soundscape = Audio Magic

Photo by Polaris
Photo by Polaris

The following is a description of “An Audio Journey” through the 2013 Burning Man – which can be listened to and downloaded for free here – by creators Josh and Jex of BMIR.

Almost one year ago to date, Joshua and I were running around the playa with a recorder capturing soundscapes, bikes, art car tires, wind, art project bass tones, fire, the burn, thoughts, moments, tears, anxieties, and messages of love. The goal: to create a piece of audio magic that embodied the soundscape – sampling, creating drum kits, crafting music all with nothing but sounds from the playa and using the words of the burners that inhabited the dust as the lyrics. A job we knew would be full of sweat, time, and technically detailed passion. A job that would be well worth every moment. *EVERY SINGLE SOUND ENCAPSULATED IN THIS PIECE IS FROM THE PLAYA, 2013, NOT ONE OUTSIDE PIECE OF AUDIO WAS USED.* This is a piece of audio magic whose soul intention is to be a gift to you. To you, our fellow burners, to you the ones who’ve never been, to you the ones who aren’t going this year, to you the ones who are already en route, to you the ones who are just a bit curious of what our magic tastes like. After almost one year, Volume 1 of what we hope to be a yearly gift for your auditory pleasure is complete. Please enjoy a journey into the dust…a massive thank you to the art projects and burners we recorded: $tephen Ra$pa, Carmen Mauk, Madeleine Belle, Joe Everyday, Davina the Dragon Crew (Christian Breedon, Kristin Bowdy, Parker Galore, Carter Smith, etc…), Shanna, Ted the Weather Pimp, the Playa Jazz Cafe, Cleu Camp, the Center Camp Cafe Marching Band Competition, Keno Mapp, Matt Fusello, Polaris from Media Mecca, Nick Sunderberg, the Cathedral of Celestial Mathgic, Ilya Pieper, the whole BMIR crew, the fires and drums of conclave, the Man, the Temple, Orson Welles, all of your damn P’s that were popped throughout the recording process… and everyone else who contributed to this anonymously…we love you all! Burn bright…)’(

 

Check it out … and think of home. 

 

About the author: Caveat Magister

Caveat is Burning Man's Philosopher Laureate. A founding member of its Philosophical Center, he is the author of The Scene That Became Cities: what Burning Man philosophy can teach us about building better communities, and Turn Your Life Into Art: lessons in Psychologic from the San Francisco Underground. He has also written several books which have nothing to do with Burning Man. He has finally got his email address caveat (at) burningman (dot) org working again. He tweets, occasionally, as @BenjaminWachs

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