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:
- View larger version or Download CSV.
- A spectrogram is included for each audio file. Double click on the photo in the file list to enlarge.
LIBRARY INFO:
| Stereo Specs: 1.1 GB – 96 kHz / 24-bit – 103 stereo WAV files – Approx. 30 min total |
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Metadata: Universal Category System, CSV, Soundminer, BWAV |
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Categories: ICETonl, Frozen Glacier Lagoon
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Location: Iceland - March 2023
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| Mastering: read my Field Recording Mastering Rules for more info. |
| Delivery: Instant - blazingly-fast - digital download |
| License type: Single user, royalty-free - for a multi-user license, click here |
| Sound Library Guarantee: If you're unhappy with my field recordings in any way, I'll give you store credit equal to the cost of the sound library. Read the full details – here. |
GEAR USED:
- LOM Usi
- Zoom F3
- Cinela LEO20 Blimps
- Bubblebee Wind Bubbles