First Track: Something I Made in the Margins
I had four hours to kill at FRA between a connecting flight and a gate change that kept getting pushed. I had my laptop, a pair of headphones, and a folder of half-finished audio sketches that had been sitting there since January.
By the time boarding was called, I had a track.
What You’re Hearing
The piece is built around a single guitar loop I recorded one Sunday afternoon in my apartment — two chords, picked not strummed, run through a spring reverb until it stopped sounding like a guitar and started sounding like something underwater.
On top of that: a low drone from a software synth I’ve been using for years, a field recording of rain I captured somewhere in the Faroe Islands, and a very simple, very slow kick pattern that I almost removed three times before deciding it earned its keep.
The title came from the feeling of that airport: enormous, efficient, and oddly peaceful if you find a corner and sit still. The margins of transit. Nowhere in particular.
Tools
- DAW: Reaper
- Guitar: Fender Telecaster into a cheap audio interface
- Reverb: Valhalla Shimmer (the usual suspect)
- Field recording: Zoom H5, recorded during a hike outside Tórshavn
No plugins I feel the need to apologize for. Sometimes the boring tools make the best sounds.
The player above will let you listen while you read. If you have thoughts, I’m reachable — links in the footer.