Satellite

A satellite can be:

A human-made device launched into space to orbit a celestial body, transmitting or relaying radio signals.

Or

A natural celestial object that orbits another celestial body.

Listen, relax, and become a satellite for a little while ...drifting through the black of space... at a distance but not alone.

The making of Satellite

This piece started as a patch on my modular synthesizer. I patched a simple bass drone with a filter on it and a second, subtle voice with slight variations in pitch. It had a calming, almost hypnotic effect on me. It was the kind of sound I could listen to for a long time. So I recorded it and it became the foundation of this piece.

The other key element is a recording I made of a Tibetan singing bowl (pictured below) by gliding the mallet along the rim of the bowl. In some parts you can recognize the source of the sound. However, in many places I've digitally manipulated it so much that it's less obvious.

Some techniques I used to process the sound of the singing bowl include slowing it down, filtering, and using the Paulstretch algorithm to stretch it out. These alterations magnified many extraordinary details and textures buried within the sound. (Check out my blog post "Microscopic Sound" to read more about this process!) The end result was the airy, spacy, ethereal ambience that accompanies the synth drone.

Download it!

You can download a digital copy on Internet Archive or Bandcamp if you wish!