SD36 Iceland: Ice Marimba

DESCRIPTION: 

• In Iceland: Ice Marimba, get a collection of naturally melodic ice. Hear low musical tones as giant, thin ice flakes resonant. Hear rich harmonics and captivating icy textures. Hear booming bass and delicate high pings. 
• This library offers you the sounds of a natural wonder only heard in rare conditions on a glacial lagoon. Glaciers create ice that can be played like a musical instrument and I find it amazing. I hope you enjoy them too. Thanks for listening. 

KEY FEATURES:

• Resonating melodic tones
  
• Hard and soft mallets
• Multiple pitches
• Single hits
• Rhythmic hits
• Rolls
• Slides

RECORDING STORIES:

• I found a fascinating phenomenon on a glacier lagoon in Iceland: ice flakes that sound like a marimba!
• Massive (and extremely thin) ice flakes were created around a boulder at the edge of the lagoon. These flakes were around 3 meters by 3 meters, so they had a very deep fundamental pitch. The thickness of the ice was only 1-3 cm as well, so it was able to resonant beautifully...if I didn't tap too hard and break it. 
• The boulder at the edge of the lagoon was a darker color than the ice, so it heated up more in the sun. This caused the surround ice to melt out and create huge hanging flakes. 
• I have a habit of hitting things to see if they resonant in interesting ways. I happened to tap on of these flakes when I walked by and I was astonished at the low tone!
• However, it was quite tricky to record the ice marimba because of the insane winds. Imagine no wind...then the next moment you are slammed by a 75 mph gust that blows glacial grit into all your gear.
• I almost lost my whole recording rig as the wind caught it and slid it out onto an unstable part of the lagoon!
• What ended up working to capture these sounds was placing my mics under the ice flakes (which worked quite well as a wind block) and then playing the ice flakes from above. 
• I love finding musical things in the natural world. I hope you enjoy listening too. 
• Here's a YouTube short where you can see a little more of the location and recording process – Icelandic Ice Marimba. 

FILE LIST:

• Click "View larger version" in the bottom right corner of the File List below to open in a new tab for easier viewing. This works best on a desktop computer. 
• View spectrograms for each track, search, and filter in the Airtable spreadsheet. 

LIBRARY INFO:

GEAR USED:

• LOM Usi
  
• Zoom F3
• Cinela LEO20 Blimps
• Bubblebee Wind Bubbles