Digesting these topics surrounding Theosophy and Subsequently New Age, I was interested in developing a kind of sound equivalent to a thoughtform. I took the literal definition from the spiritual plane in Theosophy. Blavatasky referred to the spiritual plane as ‘almost liquid’. I thought about how Besant asigned colours to certain emotions, seeing all these colours swirling in a liquid cloud made me think about complex clashing chords.
I played with a Bontempi’s autoaccompany buttons, and pressed down multiple chords at once. To get a kind of undefinable cluster of not only notes but of chords. I mixed this with several field recordings of water I got in Lewes in the first term. I recorded the bomtempi with my new Lom microphone which I just dangled above it was really impressed with the sensitivity.
I layered these field recordings with the bontempi and added effects. I decided to play with Iasos’ concept of the Law of Octaves, so I overlayed samples of the bontempi, halving and doublying it’s playrate. To create a deep complex drone. I like the way the chords overlap each other into a dissonant drone, where certain notes come out. I added auto pan to the effects and put effects buses on the water elements and the bontempi elements respectfully.
I am quite happy with how this turned out. Especially the bontempi. I enjoy mic set-ups that are simple and the lom mikro Ucho is really great for this. No big stands needed. I can just dangle it above an object and it’s sensitivity is really great for capturing delicate sounds.
The water sounds are perhaps a little cheesy, I also think there could be other ways you could create an audio version of thoughtforms. The colours are distinct in the pictures, the dischordant nature of the bontempi could be heard as more of a blend of colour. However hopefully with the panning the occasional chord stands out. Perhaps it needs a few other musical elements or sound elements. I am surprised by how much the sound changed but just overlaping lower and high doubling of the rates. I think that is down the rich timbre the bontempi can produce. When I see these pictures and try to think of them as sound I do think I tend to hear reed and wind based instruments.
I tried playing this on top of a field recording I had done, in order to mimic the photographs at the top of churches but found it hard to different the sounds as clearly. The way it is done gave me more scope for sound design.
Ultimately I ended up with my interpretation of a Thoughtform
I think this type of wind-based dischordant Drone could make it into some kind of folk/occult influenced album down the road, maybe without the bubble texture.