TESTCHAMBER

by MODCAF

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Adrian Newton (Evergreen Music) thumbnail

Adrian Newton (Evergreen Music) Appropriately enough, for a set of pieces performed in a wind tunnel, this album blew me away. Terrific creativity on show here, demonstrating a remarkably diverse set of responses to what is a very unusual space. Really well produced, too - congratulations to all concerned. Favorite track: Study 13, ENIGMA - N.

Ian Oakley This is an EXCEPTIONAL collection of music - not just because I happen to be performing one of the tracks - but the conception and execution is incredible from beginning to end - and every track has a story and a wonder to it. It's hard to pick highlights but you should def check out the Adrian Utley track, Secret Human, Crowd of Ghosts, Simon Morton (I defy you to sway away to this track), Etive and Akira Sileas...but like I say, it's an incredible collection.

Blackdown This project has been a labour of love for the best part of 3 years now. Recorded ambisonically (and mastered from the spatial recordings) this album is the culmination of the audio portion of this Art Council of England funded project.

I have chosen Ian:o’s track - it’s haunting and loaded with atmosphere. Spoken word, synths and live vocals coming together to tell a poignant story.

I could not be more proud of this and really hope you enjoy it. Watch out for the upcoming documentary film! Favorite track: Echoes Of My Father.

Robert Rhoades Music I'm so proud of everyone who performed for this album. Its physical versions are some of my favourite objects and I'll treasure the experiences of making TESTCHAMBER forever.

Plane Waves, Chairoscuro and Cockpit Emergency are my top choices, now the full album has settled in my soul! Favorite track: Chiaroscuro.

johnchristian Fantastic concept and I'm so proud to be part of it. Get your headphones on and plunge into that atmosphere.

Couldn't pick a favourite track so picked me as a pointer - shameless self promoter? Moi? Favorite track: His Majesty's Balloon Factory.

Paul Smith (Mercury Delay Line) thumbnail

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Streaming + Download

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£12 GBP or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
A curated set of tracks, selected by Adrian Utley, was chosen to represent the project on this vinyl record, with 12 more tracks available on cassette tape.

Side A

Cyber N Powers - you Fight. You Lose
Volva - Plane Waves
Marolaeth ft. Robert Rhoades - Stranded

Side B

Adrian Utley - Q121 Drone for Dark Days
Etive - Sweeps
Tweak MG - Echoes of my Father

Side C

Blackdown - Chiaroscuro
Akira Sileas - Study 13, ENIGMA - N
Crowd of Ghosts - Tunnel Vision

Side D

John Christian - His Majesty's Balloon Factory
You Are Here - Concrete Bunker
Secret Human - Orpheus

The complete set of recordings has been made digitally available. For more information please visit our website at www.modcaf.org.uk/testchamber

Includes unlimited streaming of TESTCHAMBER via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
... more

ships out within 5 days

edition of 320

Purchasable with gift card

£35 GBP or more
Cassette + Digital Album
A curated set of 12 tracks is available on this cassette tape with 12 more, selected by Adrian Utley, available on vinyl record.

Side E

Simon Morton - Breaking Wind Tunnel Rules
Seeker Systems - Cockpit Emergency
ian:o - Fathers Day
Seven Aphid - Q-121 = 7[a]PH.id (or, 146 Dead Fish.)
Minor Joy - The Tunnel

Side F

Ambit - Chambers
RackAddicts - Deep Minds
Terpsichorea - Propellors
Graham Johnson - High Flight
The Third - Siblings
Tim Higham - First Contact
David James - Broken Swarm

The complete set of recordings has been made digitally available. For more project information please visit our website: www.modcaf.org.uk/testchamber/

Includes unlimited streaming of TESTCHAMBER via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
... more

ships out within 5 days

edition of 50

Purchasable with gift card

£15 GBP or more

1.	Crowd of Ghosts - Tunnel Vision 06:02	info	buy track
2.	RackAddicts - Deep Minds 03:49		buy track
3.	You Are Here - Concrete Bunker 04:36	info	buy track
4.	Terpsichorea - Propellors 03:47	info	buy track
5.	Tweak MG - Echoes Of My Father 06:09	info	buy track
6.	Marolaeth ft. Robert Rhoades - Stranded 06:33	info	buy track
7.	Etive - Sweeps 07:29	info	buy track
8.	Minor Joy - The Tunnel 07:27	info	buy track
9.	Simon Morton - Breaking Wind Tunnel Rules 07:19	info	buy track
10.	ian:o - Fathers Day 08:03	info	buy track
11.	Adrian Utley - Q121 Drone For Dark Days 08:21	info	buy track
12.	Blackdown - Chiaroscuro 07:52	info	buy track
13.	David James - Broken Swarm 06:12	info	buy track
14.	The Third - Siblings 05:59	info	buy track
15.	Seven Aphid - Q-121 = 7[a]PH.id (or, 146 Dead Fish.) 08:32	info	buy track
16.	Ambit - Chambers 08:11	info	buy track
17.	Cyber N Powers - You Fight. You Lose. 04:47	info	buy track
18.	Seeker Systems - Cockpit Emergency 05:59	info	buy track
19.	Tim Higham - First Contact 03:45	info	buy track
20.	Graham Johnson - High Flight 06:09		buy track
21.	Akira Sileas - Study 13, ENIGMA - N 08:09	info	buy track
22.	Volva - Plane Waves 10:15	info	buy track
23.	John Christian - His Majesty's Balloon Factory 08:10	info	buy track
24.	Secret Human - Orpheus 07:15	info	buy track

about

The Modular Café Aldershot is a vibrant community of people who share a common interest in all things to do with electronic and experimental music. With a focus on sharing knowledge and live performance, our monthly meetings have become a highly accessible and friendly environment in which to immerse oneself in creativity, music and technology.

Q121 is a wind tunnel, built in 1935 as part of the old Royal Aircraft Establishment site in Farnborough. The enormous 24' fan at the centre of the tunnel would draw air across its apertures at up to 112mph. It was in use up until 1996. One of the outstanding features of the Q121 building is a large sloping concrete box, some 180ft long and 30ft wide known as the 'return circuit'. This room has extraordinary acoustical characteristics and is the heart, the sound board, for our TESTCHAMBER project.

Twenty-four members of The Modular Café Aldershot community volunteered to compose a piece of music specifically designed to explore the unique space that is Q121. The pieces of music, played live through loud speakers in the return circuit, were recorded ambisonically, that is in 3D sound, so the acoustic effects of the space could be best captured and reproduced in these recordings.

The recording process was broken down into 3 separate stages:

Stage 1 included creating a video introduction to Q121 featuring interviews with museum members offering context and history of the space whilst also including a descriptive walk around and a visual record of initial acoustic testing. This acoustic testing generated 'impulse responses' for the return circuit, providing sound decay 'signatures' that could be shared with artists, enhancing their understanding of the space, enabling them to plan for the next stage. The impulse responses offer a detailed representation of the acoustic qualities of the return circuit and are availble to download for free on our website.

Stage 2 - Each artist was offered an opportunity to explore the space, play with ideas, speaker positioning, and recording positions. The artists came away from this stage with a firm idea of how they wanted to approach their composition and performance.

Stage 3 - The hard work and planning of the first two stages came to fruition as each artist had a one-hour slot to arrange speaker and microphone positions and perform their piece for the recording. The output of the artists' chosen equipment was fed into two loudspeaker arrays via a mixing desk. Speakers were placed within the space at points selected by the artist to capture a unique impression of the room with their music. A 3D (ambisonic) recording was then captured of the live sound using a multichannel 'soundfield' microphone, the position of which could be selected by the artist. Binaural decoding of the microphone output was offered for monitoring purposes and to assist artists in choosing microphone positions. Each artist had one hour to set up speakers and microphone positions and run as many takes as they wished, as long as it fit into the allotted time.

In the final step, only professional mastering was applied to the recordings, with no additional mixing. A curated set of tracks, selected by Adrian Utley, was chosen to represent the project on vinyl record, with 12 more tracks available on cassette tape. The complete set of recordings has been made digitally available for a wider release, and we highly recommend experiencing these in full by visiting our website.

www.modcaf.org.uk/testchamber/

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released October 4, 2024

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MODCAF London, UK

Supporting the performance of live electronic music.

MODCAF has been created to support an existing, growing community of musicians.

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TESTCHAMBER

by MODCAF

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Streaming + Download

£12 GBP or more

Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

£35 GBP or more

Cassette + Digital Album

£15 GBP or more