Audio: Sand on Skin by Joan Brassil

Joan Brassil plays with sand and ash on a drum skin.

Joan wanted some sounds for one of her art installations, we needed some fairly abstract sound effects for a radio production. So Roz Cheney, producer with ABC Classic FM's Listening Room program organised this session.
Joan arrived at the studio with her chosen sound sources, fine sand, coarse sand and some ashes as well as a large hoop drum, presumably skinned with animal hide. Ros set her up in the anechoic chamber and I set up a pair of directional microphones, one fixed and one hand held by Roz, as well as a headphone feed for them both.
After a short sound check, setting sound levels and compression, we rolled tape. Joan simply announced her intention and then began performing. Roz used the hand held mic to zoom in and out of the sandy, ashy drum head and I rode the EQ.
Joan was very focussed on the gritty, shifting sonic field and as she gently manipulated the grains on the drum skin we followed her into a sonic trance.
The result is a wonderful sandy journey into sound that I have often dipped into over the years. Like when The Night Air made a sand themed episode it made a welcome reappearance.
I hope you may find it useful in your future sonic creativity. Joan has since sadly passed away but her powerful poetic contribution to us is still warmly appreciated.
The image is a version of http://www.flickr.com/photos/faulknerfamily/861922841/