Heating Oil - The Chirpy Competitor
Comments: 6
The somewhat plaintive heating oil truck I recorded last week has some decidedly chirpy competition. My theory is that the the first one appeals to those who dwell in the introspection of winter, the quiet interiority of it, while this one appeals to those who view heat as a means of fending off the cold beast of the season, who need help making it through.
They seem to do about the same amount of business.
Heating Oil — The Chirpy Competitor
(930K mp3, 00:01:56)
In this recording you can hear my neighbour making his purchase. At 00:00:21 the oil man tells him the price — ¥3,520. A motorcycle passes at 00:0043 and then 3 seconds later the oil man drops a coin making change. While business is being done, the instrumental version of the jingle plays.
He hops back in his truck, but then my other neighbour rounds the corner, blocking off access to the main road. At 00:01:08 the truck reverses (this other neighbour has to get out of his car, open the garage door, and then go through usually several automotive pirouettes to get his car into his inconveniently-angled garage) and you can hear the reverse-alert beeping. This stops as he knocks it out of gear whiled deciding whether to wait for this other neighbour or try to round the notoriously tight corner on the other side of my house and leave the block that way.
Then, at 00:01:24, the vocals begin.
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Posted to Audio • 2003.02.22 (Sat) • 17:28
Comments
Posted by Matthew Aaron 2003.02.23, 02:20
That’s so creepy, so interesting.
Posted by lago 2003.02.23, 05:45
The archaeologists of the future won’t find our libraries or our galleries. They’ll find someone’s iBook, and when they accidentally drop it, it will drain its last remaining energy by playing this recording. They will cock their heads and listen to the strange music of history. They will look at each other in bewilderment, shake their heads, and keep digging.
Posted by Mary Beth 2003.02.23, 07:33
It might be creepy but what a sound-image. And stranger still — if you WANTED to create such a rich, orchestrated sound event you would have had to work for weeks to coordinate and overlay etc etc. Magical things happen if you only keep your eyes and ears open. Thanks Jeremy!
Posted by resonance 2003.02.23, 12:00
I agree with all three of the previous comments.
I very much like the way you incorporate sound into your blog. Here’s an idea (just an idea, I wouldn’t even call it a request or a suggestion)…putting the explanation of the sound in the extended entry might make the first pass through the sound more interesting for some people. I think the explanation is often, in the end, necessary for people—particularly people who haven’t been to Japan—but I like the way Mary Beth put it. It’s a wonderful sound-image by itself, apart from the narrative.
But yeah, great sound. With a portable DAT and a stereo condenser microphone, you’d be utterly devastating (in a very good way).
Posted by Greg 2003.03.22, 10:21
This is great stuff. You have a nice ear for capturing audio images. I didn’t hear any of these trucks when I visited Japan, but I was fascinated by the feather duster in the spotless trunk of every cab.
Posted by jh 2003.03.22, 14:30
They use those feather dusters, too —- they’re not just for decoration, you know. ;-) I often see cabbies giving their cars a quick once over by the side of the road.
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