Kellogg Idaho Bunker Hill Sonic Metallurgy

Enter the Mine Shaft Dig the Sounds












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Old abandoned mine shaft along Silver Creek, WA
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http://www.alanbauer.com/photogallery/

These are small dial up friendly files of 1 meg or less FM quality and should play on your default player like Winamp, Real Player, Windows Media Player or Musicmatch (my personal favorite) by "Double Clicking" on the one of your choice.

Or you can "Right Click" on any of the files and do the "Save Target As" thingy and they should download to wherever you choose to for playing time on your PC. I don't have a CD for sale at this time. This project is still in it's conception phase.

Thanks for listening!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I remember the first snowfalls of Winter. It covered up all the huge black slag piles, the treeless mountain sides burned by the smelters pollution and the brown muddy earth with a pure blanket of white. And it brought a calm to the valley. Of course we were told to never eat the snow but, of course we did!
 
This piece is me playing my Martin 6 String Guitar through a Fender Acoustisonic Amp with that tuning I have described on the Home Page. It was the first thing recorded. Starts off slow and meditative and then hits a good groove.

Listen to Shoshone Snowfall.mp3

Shoshone Snowfall
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Smelter Compley in the 1970's
















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Bunker Hill Mine Entrance



















When I first got Sonc Foundry Acid DJ 2.0 mixing program I went nuts! I made some harp tracks with phase shifter pedal, then through a acoustic simulator pedal, added editing effects, loops backwards. It was just like mixing mud!

Mud too was a very common feature of the Valleys landscape and in the ore refining process as well. If you are old enough to remember the first Star Trek Series there was a episode called "I Mudd". The main character was this guy that had a planet with all these women and men robots to follow his every whim. At the end he ended up with many copies of Stella, his shrew of a wife coming after him. Paradise can become hell sometimes.

When playing these short tracks hit the "REPEAT OPTION" on your player and let them loop around your head a few times.

Listen to Sonic Mudd

Elephant Dance is just a fun little thing to listen to that's all! It's 1.4 meg a little better quality

Listen to Elephant Dance

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This next instumental  free form Bass Guitar piece I call "Still Birth".
 
"Still Birth" is a conception of the theme(s) I hope to present as this project grows and developes.
 
Prospectors and settlers moved onto the virgin native landscape. The sound of horses hooves, wagon, paddle wheels and the rumble of railroad trains on the steel rails began to disturb the land, water and air. 
Miners picks and shovels began to dig into the earth.  The creek beds became murky. Drills prodded into the bedrock. Then dynamite summoned the charge to a ceasless labor of plunder. The earth gave no sound back in return. No defense was held. The pounding, blasting, droning mechanical pulses were absorbed. The energy unleashed by the miners was born of greed and personal gain with no thought for return.
These men were not using the earth to provide what it had intended to give us like those who had dwelled on it in years gone past. For life giving things. Food, pure water and shelter.
 
 Instead it was a "Still Birth".

Still Birth Uncut unedited version

Still Birth Remix

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Sonic Metallurgy music composed by Jim Larson former resident of Kellogg, Idaho