Drone Ensemble record Friction Drums

Over the past couple of months I have been working with the Drone Ensemble on some audio for my forthcoming exhibition at The Word, South Shields. We have recorded some vocal experiments and have been using a limited selection of instruments. I have chosen to focus on the friction drums to produce a constant background hum sound that I think relates to the notion of hearing a relentless voices or voices. 

With practice, Ben has mastered the technique of playing the friction drums in a way that eliminates any slapping or wavering as the players hands move from the end of the dowel, off the dowel and to the other end of the dowel nearest the drum. This week we focused on achieving some high quality recordings of a range of the friction drums played in different combinations. I will then layer these and edit them with my other recordings to form the audio part of my installation.