Here Be Monsters
HBM029: Do Crickets Sing Hymns?
In this episode, audio engineer Toby Reif takes us down the rabbit hole of audio theory to help us understand how sound-stretching works, and the reasons why the long loop of cricket noises have touched so many.
By Jeff Emtman • • 22m ListenA bit of stunningly beautiful audio has surfaced online recently and it's riling up two different kinds of people--churchgoers and audio engineers. Some are saying that this music proves God's intention, others say it's a load of crap. The funny thing is that it's just recordings of bugs, crickets chirping, but with the speed turned waaaaaayyyy ddoooowwwnnn. Whatever it is, it's...undeniably "church-y".
But some have argued that it's not just bugs in the recording, that there's voices or guitars accompanying the insects...it's just too good to be true.
So, in this episode, audio engineer Toby Reif takes us down the rabbit hole of audio theory to help us understand how sound-stretching works, and the reasons why this long loop of cricket noises has touched so many.
Jeff also buys 50 crickets in this episode to see if they'll chirp. Tune in to see what happens.
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This is the link to the audio that spawned this episode: Acornavi – Robert-wilson-crickets-audio (note: the poster of this track originally mis-attributed this a Robert Wilson. The poster has since corrected this to attribute it to Jim Wilson [no relation]).
Music by:
The Palisades (ThePalisades.bandcamp.com)
Phantom Fauna (phantomfauna.bandcamp.com/)
Toby and I love Paul's Extreme Sound Stetcher. It's free and you can get it here: sourceforge.net/projects/hypermam…iles/paulstretch/ (Windows/Linux only. sorry Apple folk)
Check out Lina Misitzis of HBM fame singing Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen on It Might Get Personal: www.muleradio.net/imgp/24/