3418: Botanic drone - a podcast by Cities and Memory

Penang Botanic Gardens reimagined by Studier. 

"This piece is an experimental augmentation of the recorder’s experience while listening to this event.  The slowing of pitch and tempo– time– of the recording was chosen to highlight qualities such as omnipresence that the recorder noted in a description of listening to the ‘hypnotic drone’ of the cicadas and orioles, as well as to highlight the stasis in this omnipresence– resilient in an otherwise dynamic urban environment.  

"This slowing also expands the senses, as sounds high out of the human range of hearing become audible.  Nine versions of the recording, with one introduced every two minutes, are added in ascending semitonal relation ranging from -55 to -1 semitones below the original recording.  

"The slowing of tempo and lowering of pitch follows the fibonacci sequence - a mysterious catalyst of biological creation and growth; the recordings themselves are otherwise minimally processed to preserve the qualia of the original recording."

Part of the Future Cities project.