kh1958 Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 The term field recording refers to an audio recording produced outside a studio. What makes a field recording special? Removing barriers to record, such as proximity to a studio and studio expense, and replacing them with an environment that is a normal setting for the performer in which he/she feels comfortable is essential for many artists. If not for taking recording devices to the performers, so much music we cherish would not exist. In addition to the musician, a key element to field recording is the person who engineers the recording. Dust-to-Digital has been fortunate to work with some of the very best: David Evans, Bruce Jackson, Alan Lomax, John Lomax, and Art Rosenbaum to name a few. This June we will present works made by two more legendary recordists: William Ferris and Hugh Tracey. Both men had similar paths to field recording — they just happened to be working 8,600 miles apart from each other. William Ferris was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1942. He was raised on a working farm where he struck up relationships with many of the workers and began listening to their stories and songs. His desire to document the lives of the people around him was an organic evolution. He would use the audio recordings, photographs, and films he made as a young man throughout his career as a professor at Jackson State University, University of Mississippi, University of North Carolina, and Yale. We are excited to present these materials for the first time commercially in the 3CD + 1DVD box set Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris. The set includes a 120-page hardcover book. Hugh Tracey was born in Willand, United Kingdom in 1903. In the early 1920s, Tracey left Devonshire for southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to become a tobacco farmer with his brother, who qualified for a land grant as a serviceman wounded in WWI. While working on the farm alongside Karanga fieldhands, he learned the Shona language and was exposed to Karanga work songs. This sparked his lifelong obsession with traditional African music which led to his beginning to make field recordings in the 1920s — a practice he continued through the 1970s. In 1954, Tracey founded the International Library of African Music, with whom we are excited to co-present Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music — two discs of recordings that Tracey made between 1950-1958. The discs are packaged in an 84-page hardcover book. We are currently accepting pre-orders for these two titles. Use the code 2018PREORDER before June 1st to receive a 10% discount: http://www.dust-digital.com/store/ Digital versions of these releases are also available for pre-order via our Bandcamp page. Thanks for your support! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 The Hugh Tracey set looks like a great introduction to the roots of African popular music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted April 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 1 hour ago, paul secor said: The Hugh Tracey set looks like a great introduction to the roots of African popular music. That's the one I will likely order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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