Mid-December 07 - SOUND ON SOUND magazine for January 08 has just come out on sale, containing my feature on the new mp3 surround format. The article consists of a very dense 6 pages that took a long time to write back in the summer. It was good to do though, as it involved a trip to the Acoustics Dept. of SALFORD UNIVERSITY where I went inside an amazing anechoic chamber.

Mid-December 07 - Another trip to Stonehenge - this time with a bunch of walking friends & pets - 11 people, with 10 dogs! Even colder than the last trip (which is saying something) but the sun eventually came out. Walked all around the Avenue and the Cursus, exploring some of the many groups of round barrows scattered around. Never done this before. It's very interesting seeing Stonehenge from a distance, in its landscape (which is thoroughly ruined by some very busy roads). The Government have just announced that the tunnel plan is to be scrapped, after all the years wasted on developing it.

Early December 07 - Got to know LIONEL SIMS - anthropologist from University of East London who has some very interesting (and convincing) theories about the purpose of AVEBURY, Stonehenge and Silbury. Spent a very enjoyable 2 days tagging along with his Wiltshire field trip of a dozen students. We spent one very cold day walking around Avebury, then the next morning went on a 'special visit' to Stonehenge. I've done of few of these - an out-of-hours visit where a group of people can walk around inside the stones for an hour. We went in at 8am just as the sun was rising - the first time I've ever seen it at Stonehenge. Bitterly cold, but very lovely.

November 07 - Fortean TImes issue 230 is now on sale, containing my 6-page feature on Alternative 3. I'm working on a feature for Sound on Sound magazine, all about binaural recording. Archaeological stuff is keeping me busy too - got very interested in the AVEBURY avenues, particularly the 'missing' Beckhampton avenue. Also exploring acoustic effects within the Avebury henge.

October 07 - Just finished writing a feature for FORTEAN TIMES about 1977 Sci-fi TV hoax ALTERNATIVE 3 based on an interview with the film's director Christopher Miles. It will go on sale in mid-November.

October 07 - Researching and writing a commissioned book on acoustics for WOODEN BOOKS. The series is quite Platonist and was originally intended to be based on the Greek Quadrivium (Mathematics, Geometry, Music & Astronomy) so the acoustics volume is a bit overdue. It's an awful lot of work though: all the books in the series are physically small and don't seem at first to have much in them; they're actually extremely condensed, Haiku-like, and there's LOTS in them! I'm also doing the artwork, so it's a very interesting and challenging project. I hope to finish in the New Year, for publication in 2008.

September 07 - Making the most of the decent weather to record outdoors. I'm still collecting sounds for a new BILOCATION album that I plan to assemble in the New Year. I've been doing lots of binaural recording with mics inside my ears, but also made a miniature Dummy Head. I'll post pics when I get a chance - the head is only a few inches across and made of foam, with tea-strainers over the mics. I mounted it on a 10 ft fishing pole and stuck it in the entrance to a wasp nest! Amazing recording, but quite scary...

August 07 - Written a very lengthy feature for SOUND ON SOUND magazine, about the new MP3 SURROUND format. Mp3 surround has been largely ignored since it appeared in 2006, but has fantastic potential. At last it is practical to download 5.1 files, as they are only 10% bigger than stereo files! The software is available as free downloads from Fraunhofer's site and free surround music files can also be found. You just need a 5.1 soundcard to play them. I understand the SOS feature will probably appear in the December issue but I'll announce it when it's confirmed.

July 07 - The most interesting thing that happened to me in this wet and horrible month, was to be involved in the ACOUSTIC SILBURY project. Read all about it - hear the sounds!

 

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