If you have ever edited sound which was badly recorded, you have probably used a denoiser of some sort. And if there was a lot of noise to be removed (I recently received an interview recorded during heavy rain, with the request to remove the sound of the rain and no, I am not joking), you know the side effects such a treatment can have.
Looking at them from another perspective, these side effects we try to avoid most of the time can sound pretty interesting themselves. Richard Eigner from Austria created his project Denoising Field Recordings based on this idea. He made recordings of particularly noisy environments and used denoising techniques to create the material for his compositions.
Under the title Denoising Field Recordings Richard released six of these denoised field recordings in a limited edition of 12” see-through vinyl. He was so kind to send me one of these wonderful records, and it really looks great. A minimalist white sleeve completes the package, almost a piece of art in itself. The white of the vinyl suits the concept of the noiseless sounds very well.
As these are sounds I normally try to avoid, I was a bit afraid I would be annoyed by them, but luckily this is not the case. Due to the lack of noise the sounds are gentle and round most of the time, with some high, glassy frequencies piercing through now and then. Another effect of the denoising process is the silence in between events, resulting in a very dynamic piece of music. The fourth track, Snowy Blumeau Denoised is a very quiet one.
I particularly like the last piece People Denoised. It brings the listener to a dreamy, surrealistic space. You recognize the sound of people’s voices in the background, but they do not sound very human. You can visit Richard Eigner’s Denoising Field Recordings website, and I encourage you to take a moment and listen to the album in a noise free environment: