A Whale skeleton from the Húsavík Whale Museum Photo: Húsavík Whale Museum
It took almost a week to find it, but should fate necessitate a move from Inderøy to Iceland, I think I have found a location that would meet my needs, Húsavík. It is a village on the north coast, with a population of 2 307 people, its own airport, the oldest flock of free ranging sheep (from 874) and one of the best museums I have encountered in the world, the Whale Museum.
Of course, such a statement is based on first impressions. That is all one has on a road trip. There is no time to encounter places a second time. This encounter with the town almost didn’t happen. Driving from the outskirts of Akureyri, we visited the waterfall at Goðafoss. We then took the most direct route towards Húsavík, only to find the road blocked by highway crews, who couldn’t be bothered to move their truck from a bridge to allow other traffic to pass. This added an additional 30 km to the trip, which meant that we discussed missing Húsavík altogether.
Wikipedia reminds people that Húsavík served as the setting of the 2020 Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, a comedic story of two Húsavík natives representing Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest, with one of the film’s songs named after the town. The song itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 93rd Academy Awards. Both of my children have commented positively about this film.
More on climate. There is no advantage to living at Húsavík during any other season. While we have grown used to winters in Norway, I could appreciate less cold weather and less snow. On a theoretical level, Madeira has appeal. However, unless other family members wanted to move there, it would not be an interesting place. As long as our daughter Shelagh and her husband Derek are living in California, it is more appealing to visit there. Canadian citizens are generally allowed to live up to six months each year in the United States. The most appealing months are November to February.
After eating dinner at a Macadonian run B & S Restaurant, we needed to walk off our meals, walking along the banks of the Blanda River in Blönduós, Iceland. We stopped to admire a modern building with a sod roof, and unusual siding.
We stopped to admire this wall and roof.
At the mouth of the river, we walked away from the river for a block. Then we walked along a street, one block from the river, on the way back. Here we encountered the Icelandic Textile Centre, a research institution, and the Icelandic Textile Museum. It was in the same building that we had appreciated previously.
Kitchen, at the Icelandic Textile Museum
The museum was officially opened at the centennial of Blönduós in 1976, and has been a private foundation since 1993. In 1976 the museum was in a small and narrow building, a former stable of the Women’s School (Kvennaskólinn) in Blönduós. Construction of a new building was started in 2001-10. It was designed by the architect Guðrún Jónsdóttir. It occupies about 250 m2, integrated with the old building. This new building was opened 2003-05-09.
I liked the modernist design of the Textile Museum, and felt that the architecture contrasted with the textiles. The underlying theme of all exhibitions at the museum is the Þráður = thread. The thread is the basis for all textile crafts and connects the past with the present, and the future.
Halldóra Bjarnadóttir (1873-1981), made significant contributions to the museum. She was employed by the National Farmers Union in Iceland and published the „Hlín” magazine for 44 years. Moreover, she founded and operated the Wool- and Textile College at Svalbarði in South-Þingeyjarsýsla. Halldóra dedicated herself to the social and educational affairs of women and was an eager representative of their culture. She collected varieties of weaving and knit patterns as well as many types of small objects related to wool- and textile processing. Many sources point out that she never married, and did not have children.
I had an interesting conversation with a young woman employee at the museum. She explained that Icelandic national costumes are not owned by any individual, but by a family. One person, usually an older woman, is usually responsible for the garment(s). It is considered an honour to have this position. People may ask to wear one or more parts or all of a national costume for various events.
I asked her about male costumes. She could show me photographs, but not the garments. They were not well enough kept to put on display, she said.
Wall hangingClothing
A life in Blönduós would offer people an opportunity to pursue the study of (Icelandic) textiles in depth, and an opportunity to meet others with the same interest.
2023-07-18 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth in 1933 of Raymond Murray Schafer, in Sarnia, Ontario. He died 2021-08-14 from complications of Alzheimer’s at his house near Peterborough, Ontario. Since 2010, that date celebrates World Listening Day.
Schafer is especially noted for his World Soundscape Project, developed at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, British Columbia, which laid the fundamental ideas and practices of acoustic ecology in the 1970s. He started in the Centre for Communication in the Arts, originally part of the Faculty of Education, at the university when it opened in 1965-09 and remained there until 1975, although the Centre had become part of the Faculty of Arts.
One of the reasons for Schafer developing the field of acoustic ecology was that the university was still a gigantic construction project, producing extreme quantities of noise, in addition to some buildings. At one point, Schafer joined a noise abatement society. In his memoirs, he describes the 1960s as the noisiest decade on record.
Schafer coined the term schizophonia in 1969, defined as the splitting of a sound from its source or the condition caused by this split: “We have split the sound from the maker of the sound. Sounds have been torn from their natural sockets and given an amplified and independent existence. Vocal sound, for instance, is no longer tied to a hole in the head but is free to issue from anywhere in the landscape.”
World Listening Day was established in 2010 to promote active listening, not only to natural sounds but also to the sounds of cities, communities and personal experiences. Most years, the day has a specific theme tied to it. Reader’s of this weblog, may recall a post about American composer Pauline Oliveros. The 2017 theme was dedicated to her, titled Listening to the Ground: “Sometimes we walk on the ground, sometimes on sidewalks or asphalt, or other surfaces. Can we find ground to walk on and can we listen for the sound or sounds of ground? Are we losing ground? Can we find new ground by listening for it?”
In 2023, instead of a theme, World Listening Day is about engaging with important questions related to listening, ecology, and the future. The questions for 2023 World Listening Day are:
What can we learn from the listening practices of all living beings?
How can we deterritorialize listening practices?
When should we listen more?
Listening is an art that requires attention and patience. The relationship between hearing and listening is complex. Often, hearing is not used effectively. Rather, many sounds are blocked, and people fail to listen to voices, and their messages. On the other hand, many people have hearing impairments that limit their ability to listen.
Two important works written by Schafer are: 1) The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (1994) Here, Schafer contends that people suffer from an overabundance of acoustic information. He explores ways to restore the ability to hear nuances of sounds. This book examines the acoustic environment, past and present, and attempts to imagine what it might become; 2) My Life on Earth and Elsewhere (2012) This book traces the author’s life from his earliest memories to the book’s publication. These include scenes from his youth as an aspiring painter, a music student, and a sailor on a Great Lakes freighter. Later, he remembers several years of work and wandering in Europe, where he gained a deeper understanding of sound, and found, especially in Greece, the inspiration for much of the music he would create after his return to Canada.
This artwork decorates the common room of Baron’s Hostel. This represents the Beatniks of the late 1950s. The undated artwork is signed by Hugo Forte.
Do I enjoy travelling? The answer has to be no, especially when it involves class Y (economy) travel in cramped seats on airliners. Once I actually get to a destination things are fine, as long as everything is identical to the way it is in Inderøy. This sentence is being written at precisely the minute I eat breakfast in Norway 09:00. Except, I am in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the time is 07:00. Two hours difference. It must be summer. One hour difference, in winter, because Iceland is smart enough to avoid time changes twice a year.
Travel used to be fun, opening my mind to new experiences and ways of doing things. As I approach another milestone in my life (3/4 of a century in four months) I note how closed I am to appreciating new experiences.
Landscape
On the bus trip from KEF airport to downtown Reykjavik, I wondered how my mental health would survive the trip. The landscape could be described in one word, desolate. I am used to forests and hills and a fjord. I do not think that I would ever choose to move away from those elements. Iceland is largely treeless. I need trees to thrive. Because Iceland is more appreciated for its natural beauty, most people write, photograph, draw and paint the natural landscape. This weblog post is going to be the exception. It is going to concentrate on the low culture of Reykjavik.
Baron’s Hostel
Alasdair and I are stayed for four nights at Baron’s hostel, for the price of staying at a well equipped large, twin bed room with bath at a hotel in Norway, we were offered bunk beds without any opportunity to sit in the room, with a shared bath.
The building itself gives off severe vibrations. It was an orphanage, as well as a medical centre, in a previous incarnation. Today, there are two hostels vying for attention. B47 attracting upmarket hostel users occupies the first to third floors, while Baron’s, occupies the fourth and fifth floors. It attracts other, lesser souls. Asking a 50ish woman from Oregon what she was doing at Baron’s, she quickly answered: slumming. Her answer resonated. We met many others in the same age group, some older: A man with parents in North Vancouver, currently living in Chicago, working on his PhD in creative writing, and heading off to a writing retreat; an American musician; an entire theatre troop from Perth, Australia, with a parody of Dizney; a Polish marketing specialist who explained that the economy was booming in Poland, with the lowest unemployment rates ever.
The artwork at the top of this post, signed by Hugo Forte, dominates the common room of the Baron’s Hostel. This obviously represents the Beatniks of the late 1950s. By the mid 1960s, bell-bottom trousers had replaced the slender ankle trousers.
The Lebowski Bar
The Lebowski Bar is a typical low culture place to eat. The Lebowski (cheeseburger) and the Walker (bacon burger) tasted good. At first I found the music obnoxious, but decided to put that petty concern aside, and to listen to it as if I had chosen it myself. One track, especially, attracted my attention positively. Alasdair, using Shazam, the music discovery app, was able to tell me it was Going Nowhere, by Toma. At the hostel, I was able to listen to it again on YouTube. It was part of an album, Aroma, self-released using the name Tangible Animal Records on 2017-03-31. The day before, 2017-03-30, it had been uploaded onto YouTube by Distrokid. In the 6.25 years/ 75 months/ 2282 days since then, it had been listened to 1 042 times. I became the second subscriber of Toma’s music, and am sure I will listen to their other eight tracks made available. Toma is a four-piece band from Austin, Texas. Band members are: Waldo Wittenmeyer (keyboards/vocals), Jake Hiebert (drums), Neil Byers (bass), and Willy Jay (guitar/vocals).
Museums
Alasdair McLellan at the Reykjavik Maritime Museum
The first major museum that we visited was the Reykjavik Maritime Museum. It explained the role of people with ships, especially in modern Iceland, especially with respect to fishing.
There are so many museums in the Reykjavik area, that we could not afford the time to visit all of them. One of the first not visited, was the Museum of Icelandic Punk/ Pünk/ Punx. Asked what distinguishes this type of music from Rock, I was forced to invent a suitable answer: There is no difference musically, for both encompass a wide range. It is an ethos rather than an aesthetic. Despite this, a notable feature of Punk musicians is their clothing/ fashion/ uniforms that in some way show a disregard for social conventions. It was exemplified by the Sex Pistols lead singer, Johnny Rotten (born John Lydon, 1956 – ), who wore safety pins as earrings. Yet, the safety pins were not merely decorative, they codified punk, but were also practical, holding together clothing including Elizabeth Hurley’s (1965 – ) THAT dress in 1994, and to affix patches to the backs of jackets since the mid 1970s.
Religion
One may wonder why Hallgrim’s Church, a landmark in Reykjavik, is included in low culture. The petty reason is that its height of 74.5 m was not chosen for design purposes, or even the glorification of God, but to ensure that this parish church was taller than Landakot’s Church, the Catholic Cathedral in Iceland. Construction of the church was a slow process. It took 41 years from 1945 to 1986 for it to be constructed. The crypt beneath the choir was consecrated in 1948, the steeple and wings were completed in 1974, and the nave – used by ordinary parishioners – was consecrated in 1986.
The Grand Mosque of Iceland. Photo: Alasdair McLellan.
The same day we visited Hallgrim’s Church, we also visited The Grand Mosque of Iceland, a more modest building, open to the public, but not attempting to profit from visitors. The visit was a much more rewarding and spiritual experience.
An inexpensive Behringer XM8500 microphone. Goodenuf for most purposes. Photo: Behringer.
Clan MacDonald’s Detroit Representative, fashionista, melophile, nephew Brad (1981 – ) sent me a message, “Whenever I need a laugh or a trip back to 2001, I listen to Rock and Roll McDonald’s. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this gent. Unorthodox lyrical style.” The gent was Wesley Willis (1963 – 2003).
I replied, “Thank you, Brad. That was a refreshing change, even if I did consider commenting about Wesley’s need for Autotune. I will come back to him when I start writing about musical content, rather than its outer form.”
Listen to Wesley’s music, and you will understand why most singers do not need to spend money on an expensive microphone, such as a Shure SM7B. Indeed, Julian Krause, my go-to specialist on audio equipment has compared this Shure microphone with a cheap Behringer XM8500.
At my favourite Norwegian online music store, the prices for the two microphones on 2023-06-19 were NOK 4 597 (Shure) and NOK 279 (Behringer). This makes the Shure more than 16 times more expensive.
The Behringer can deliver almost the same results as a Shure, provided that the microphone is suitably placed to compensate for a lack of a built-in pop filter, and a graphic equalizer (or equivalent) compensates frequency deviations, as shown in the following table. These adjustments could take about one minute.
10.4 kHz
-6 dB
5.0 Q
6.4 kHz
-5 dB
5.0 Q
2.7 kHz
-3 dB
1.3 Q
220 Hz
-3.5 dB
0.7 Q
80 Hz
+3.5 dB
2.0 Q
Frequency compensation table for a Behringer XM8500 microphone. Data provided by Julian Krause.
Of course, the cheapest microphone is one that has already been purchased. I have a Røde NT-1, that is more than adequate for my purposes. However, I may acquire a second microphone for backup. It is cheap insurance. It could be a Behringer. Another theoretical, but unlikely, approach is to allow myself to appear impressed by the equipment of some random acquaintance who has upgraded to a better microphone than s/ he can actually use. I will then offer to buy their old mic for NOK 100. Garage sales are another opportunity.
There are exceptions to buying cheap. Sometimes, weirdness is a good reason to buy something different, even if it is a bit more expensive. This is acceptable, if the reason one is buying it, is to have fun and not to impress others. People who have been economically deprived develop frugal habits, and are seldom tempted by wasteful consumption.
Conclusion: In most situations, people do not need to invest in the best or even good audio equipment. Impress family and friends with frugality. Make do with equipment that is good enough, but still fun.
A mki x es.edu DIY analogue synthesizer system. Ten kits are needed to make this, including two envelope generators, in addition to a Eurorack case. The main drawback of this system is its cost. Photo: mki x es.edu.
This post was inspired by a close reading of Ray Wilson, Make: Analog Synthesizers (2013). A close reading is not the same as a great appreciation. The initial problem with the book is that it is a vehicle to promote Ray’s day job, the production and sale of Music From Outer Space (MFOS) analogue synthesizer kits. Another problem is that the author/ editors confuse slang and humour with an ability to make a text easy to understand. They do not. For people who have English as a second language, these two components add confusion. The book is described as a hands-on dive into the tools, techniques, and information needed for making an analogue synthesizer. Hopefully, this information will be unnecessary for anyone with experience in building synthesizers, so it is only suitable for people lacking this experience.
Some of the negative vibes about Wilson’s project come from his reuse of the company/ product name. Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space, the debut album of Leonard Nimoy (1931 – 2015), was recorded in character as Mr. Spock from Star Trek, and released 1967-06.
Much of the book assumes that the interested reader is building an analogue synthesizer from a MFOS Noise Toaster kit. No other kit or project will do. It is that specific. Earlier parts of the book are useful in explaining the differences between analogue and digital synthesizers (and then forgetting about digital synthesizers), the building blocks incorporated into an analogue synthesizer, including voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), filters (VCFs) and amplifiers (VCAs) as well as low frequency oscillators (LFOs). There are suggestions about making a workshop suitable for synthesizer production. Some of these suggestions are useful, especially those about modifying equipment to make it more suited in a low cost workspace. Some of the foundation circuits for amplification, biasing, and signal mixing are also useful, as is much of the information about setting up and using a budget electronic music studio.
MFOS’s description of the Noise Toaster even lists the following features (orthography in the original): WILL attract alien visitations – CAUTION ADVISED; WILL DEFINITELY cut into TV viewing time – CAUTION ADVISED; Stimulates plant growth and calms goldfish. While the kit is described as lo-fi, it has a price tag that is excessive for that category: US$ 209 = € 187 = NOK 1793, at the time of writing. Periodic checks indicate that this kit is permanently out of stock.
In the weblog post Tech Ed some helpful, electronic textbooks are discussed. One book that was not mentioned was Forrest M. Mims III, Getting started in electronics. It began life in 1983, but the edition I have, from Master Publishing, is dated 2003. This is a good introductory book, if somewhat dated, that many people will prefer to, say, Harry Kybett and Earl Boysen, All New Electronics Self-Teaching Guide, 3rd edition (2008), or later books based on this.
My advice to a prospective 16-year old synthesizer builder is to begin by reading, and working with the Mims textbook, then go on to Kybett and Boysen. With sufficient theoretical knowledge in place, a Eurorack synth component can be made.
Rather than MFOS, my preference for a starter kit involves open-source Erica EDU DIY Eurorack projects. Erica Synths was founded in Latvia in 2014 by Girts Ozolinš. Originally, these Synths used Soviet parts. That time has passed, mostly. Erica Synths discontinues its legacy DIY eurorack projects, but decided to make them open-source. They made slight changes to module design to eliminate custom/ rare components. However, this was an imperfect process, as some modules still require relatively uncommon ICs. It is claimed that these can be sourced from Erica Synths. Then they created a folder for each project, with Gerber files for printed circuit boards (PCB) and front panels, and complete information/ files to build a module: schematics, including bills of materials (BOM), component placement with values and designators, and assembly manuals. Note: some manuals are designed for older module versions. Open source allows them to be available for personal, educational and/or commercial purposes.
Gerber is an open ASCII vector format, and de facto standard, for PCB designs, including copper layers, solder masks, drilled holes and printed data.
An almost unpronounceable brand name, mki x es.edu, is a joint effort between Erica Synths and YouTube presenter Moritz Klein. It claims that its goal is to teach people with little-to-no prior experience how to design analog synthesizer circuits from scratch. Design is the key word in that statement that they want to emphasize. The components in the kit box are not simply meant to be soldered together and then disappear inside a rack. Instead, they claim that they want to take the constructor through the circuit design process step by step, explaining every decision and how it impacts the finished module. A related, but cheaper, approach is to download the manuals, study them, and then decide if one wants to purchase kits.
Starting at 2021-12-28, they are in the process of offering new kits at the rate of one every four to six weeks. A total of 9 kits are planned. When completed this results in a fully-featured modular monosynth: 1) a sequencer, 2) a VCO at €60, 3) a wavefolder (used to shape soundwaves), 4) a noise/ sample and hold (S&H) module, 5) a mixer, 6) a VCF, 7) an envelope generator (EG) at €55, 8) a dual VCA unit at €55, and 9) an output stereo mixer with a headphone amplifier. In addition, a eurorack case with a DIY power supply unit (PSU) is available at €110. Even if a complete kit costs about €700, it should offer greater value for money than a MFOS Noise Toaster!
Kits have a 40+ page user manual that can be downloaded separately, and in advance of any purchase. These provide information about the electronics behind each circuit, also the fundamental principles of sound synthesis. We hope that the project will inspire future engineers and will contribute to the ever-growing diversity of electronic music technology.
The advantage of a Eurorack component, is that it allows one to start with a very simple project that is only part of a functional synth. One can build up construction experience gradually. One can also mix and match components from several manufacturers, or make them.
If one is determined to follow the Wilson trajectory, arrange a conditional sale of a finished MFOS kit-build of a Noise Toaster at cost, at the same time one is reading the Wilson book, and building the kit. The reason for this approach is that once the Noise Toaster is built and sold, the builder is free to decide if s/he wants to build another synthesizer and, if so, the type – without being constrained by the ownership of an existing kit.
My suspicion is that kit builder are seldom content with the simple, but want to construct more complex design. However, a word of caution may be needed. I remember hearing from someone that only the third (or later) iteration of a project actually results in a usable product. The first iteration is overly simple, because one is in the process of developing one’s skills. The second one is overly complex, because with the success of the first project, the constructor is open to anything and everything. The third iteration, involves moderation.
