Found and Chosen

Hello there! If you’ve found this page, it's likely that you scanned a QR code on a cassette or CD. This page is a work in progress, and I will continue to add information throughout 2023. Please visit again for future developments and updates. I will add the audio tracks to my Bandcamp account after the exhibit closes and these recordings are no longer available. As with my tape Music to Hear Blindfolded, Vol. 1, once the physical copies are gone, I don't plan to make more.

This recording coincides with an art exhibit of the same name at the Hamilton Gallery in Baltimore City, Maryland. The exhibit features video, animation, found objects, and of course, sound.

CD cover for the album Found and Chosen, showing an abandoned orange pedicure flip-flop on a cemement sidewalk

About this project

As a coping mechanism for the collective anxiety we felt during the pandemic, I took long walks through my neighborhood in Baltimore City, and later, other cities. It was a form of meditation. This developed into a practice of mindfulness. I was able to quiet my thoughts and generally slow down. I noticed and found delight in objects and sounds that I previously might have overlooked. Found and Chosen is a collection of materials gathered during this time, and this CD contains audio recorded with my phone.

I began to assemble compositions with these sounds. This is an extension of musique concrète, a compositional practice developed by French composer Pierre Schaeffer in the early 1940s. Schaeffer approached composition using tape loops of found sounds and heavily modified “musical” sounds. This was a novel approach to music composition, rather than using standard western musical notation for conventional instruments. Other twentieth century composers employed Schaeffer’s methods, including Pierre Boulez, Karl Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, Frank Zappa, and even the Beatles. Today, musicians and composers commonly create loops from sampled music and found sounds. Composing music in this way can open pathways to new listening and I believe it’s worth doing.

These sounds are treasures to me. Like favorite smells or pictures, each one invokes a particular feeling, idea or memory. The act of recording and choosing sound objects is a highly individual and subjective activity, and the resulting compositions are unique. I had to be in a certain place, at the exact time, with the presence of mind to listen to what I was hearing and have my phone ready to capture it. It is autobiographical.

During the pandemic, I started to play drums after a break of almost two decades. I began working heavily with audio loops. I noticed that by repeating sound objects, rhythms and textures become apparent. Mundane ordinary sounds often become entrancing and complex. Applying signal modification like delay, pitch shifting, and other effects adds even more interest.

The sounds on the recordings are mostly unmodified, and are close to what I captured with my phone. In some cases, I adjusted the volume and some of the sounds are products of electronic signal processing. These sound objects and compositions are intentionally low fidelity. I find their do-it-yourself “as is-ness” quality to be charming.

I made recordings in New York City, San Francisco, California, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and many in Baltimore. On two occasions, I happened upon neighbors (that have since moved away) playing music to no one in their yards. My daughter Lily Doran allowed me to record her playing cello. My daughter Chloë Doran took me to see live music at the Baltimore Soundstage, where I was able to capture a few samples.

The Recordings

There are two different physical versions of this recording: a cassette and a compact disc.

Compact Discs can hold 99 tracks. I wanted to share at least twice that amount from the hundreds of sound files I recorded over many hours. As such, the first track on the CD is a compilation of some of my favorite sound objects, with each sound object being separated by a beat of silence. I envision someone importing the audio into another device to further extract/edit the sounds. The tracks after that are examples of compositions made with these sound objects (and others). See below for a track listing.

At the time of this writing, I use Adobe Audition to edit WAVs and other files, and my main Digital Audio Workstation is Ableton Live. There are free versions of Ableton and Audacity. I also do a lot on my iPad, and in addition to Garage Band, there are some really cool apps for working with audio.

The cassette version was designed to facilitate making actual physical tape loops. The audio runs together without pause, and the cassettes are held together with tiny screws, which are relatively easy to dismantle. Here are the instructions from the liner notes:

remove screws from tape and set side. separate two halves of the cassette. remove tape from cassette, and cut a 8 and 5/8th section Overlap to the two ends of the small tape strip and connect with adhesive tape Put the loop in the cassette, with one of the roller wheels. Replace top part and screws.

There are a lot of other methods for making tape loops online. This is just a simple way. Using a 8 and 5/8th section of tape works pretty well, but they can be longer, too. And, one can make many, many loops from a cassette. It's fussy work, but with care, loops can be swapped out and used over and over.

Track Listing

There are too many sound objects included on these recordings for me to have effectively included them in the liner notes, so I'm providing them here. I'm listing the individual files of track one, which were (for the most part) used to compose the subsequent tracks.

Track One The individual sound objects included in track one are listed below. I'm not providing a date for the recordings (and in some cases, a location) in order to provide some anonymity.

  1. And you can experience him. Street proselytization in San Francisco, CA.
  2. Apologize? Grouchy theater patron, Philadelphia, PA.
  3. Applause. Baltimore Sound Stage, Baltimore, MD.
  4. Brittney and her Business Line of Credit. Scam phone call.
  5. Buffy put in a Good Show. Lala Doran, found cassette, Severna Park, MD.
  6. C-POPI. Snoring Passenger on bus, Puerto Rico.
  7. YELLOW!!!! Dusten Wolff, audio message from iPhone.
  8. Car Warranty. Scam phone call.
  9. Do not use elevator. Fire alarm notification, Catonsville, MD.
  10. Good Doggie. Lost Hope, Baltimore, MD.
  11. No one has to be an atheist. Street proselytization in San Francisco, CA.
  12. He loves you guys. Street proselytization in NYC, NY.
  13. He sends you the holy spirit. Street proselytization in San Francisco, CA.
  14. If you could mute, please. Zoom meeting/call.
  15. Is the man of the house there? Maryland Fraternal Order of the Police fundraising phone call.
  16. Jesus Saves. Street proselytization in NYC, NY.
  17. Jesus Saves 2. Street proselytization in NYC, NY.
  18. Jesus Saves 3. Street proselytization in NYC, NY.
  19. Could you kill a mockingbird? Grouchy theater patron, Philadelphia, PA.
  20. Hamilton Resident. Baltimore, MD.
  21. Time Sensitive. Phone scam.
  22. You can come inside. Ponce vendor, Puerto Rico.
  23. -inaudible chant-. Evening protest march, Baltimore, MD.
  24. Plane, in flight. Somewhere in the sky, Planet Earth.
  25. I don't care what you think. Street proselytization in San Francisco, CA.
  26. Jenny and her Business Line of Credit. Scam phone call.
  27. Wandering Woman. Eureka, CA.
  28. Yull go far. Baltimore, MD.
  29. ZOLTAR. Eureka, CA.
  30. Plane sounds. Somewhere in the sky, Planet Earth.
  31. No Man Audio. Manipulated sound file. I don't remember the original source.
  32. Public phone performance. Eureka, CA.
  33. Pulse. Manipulated sound file. I don't remember the original source.
  34. Magic Flute. Baltimore, MD.
  35. Sewing Robot. Baltimore, MD.
  36. Sewing Robot. Baltimore, MD.
  37. Baltimore Metro Subway. Baltimore, MD.
  38. Trader Joe's Chip Can on a car seat. Baltimore, MD.
  39. Incomprehensible Sales Call. Catonsville, MD.
  40. Cicadas in the distance. Baltimore, MD.
  41. Goose. Nottingham, MD.
  42. Rubber Chicken no. 1. Nottingham, MD.
  43. Rubber Chicken no. 2. Nottingham, MD.
  44. Target Shopping Cart. Towson, MD.
  45. Target Shopping Cart no. 2. Towson, MD.
  46. Guitar no. 1. Baltimore, MD.
  47. Guitar no. 2. Baltimore, MD.
  48. Bamboo C. Baltimore, MD.
  49. Bamboo D. Baltimore, MD.
  50. Bamboo E. Baltimore, MD.
  51. Bamboo F. Baltimore, MD.
  52. Bamboo G. Baltimore, MD.
  53. Bamboo A. Baltimore, MD.
  54. Bamboo B. Baltimore, MD.
  55. Bamboo C. Baltimore, MD.
  56. Bamboo clutter. Baltimore, MD.
  57. Basement Groove. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  58. Basement Groove #2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  59. Basement Chimes. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  60. Trader Joe's Chip Can on a car seat #2. Baltimore, MD.
  61. Trader Joe's Chip Can on a car seat #3. Baltimore, MD.
  62. Basement Drum Loop no. 14. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  63. Basement Drum Loop no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  64. Basement Drum Loop no. 3. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  65. Basement Drum Loop no. 4. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  66. Drum Machine Loop no. 12. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  67. SONOR drum kit no. 1. Guitar Center, Towson, MD.
  68. Basement Drum Loop no. 5. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  69. Basement Drum Loop no. 6. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  70. Basement Drum Loop no. 7. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  71. Basement Drum Loop no. 8. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  72. Basement Drum Loop no. 9. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  73. Running in place.
  74. Shaking in place.
  75. Drum Machine Loop no. 18. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  76. Keystep no. 4. Baltimore, MD.
  77. Keystep no. 5. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  78. Piano sample, no. 1. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  79. Keystep no. 16. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  80. Bamboo + parts clutter no. 2. Baltimore, MD.
  81. Bamboo + parts clutter no. 3. Baltimore, MD.
  82. Piano sample, no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  83. Piano sample, no. 4. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  84. Piano sample, no. 5. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  85. Piano sample, no. 6. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  86. Piano sample, no. 7. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  87. Piano sample, no. 8. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  88. Piano sample, no. 9. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  89. Piano sample, no. 10. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  90. Piano sample, no. 11. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  91. Piano sample, no. 12. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  92. Busker. San Francisco, CA.
  93. French horn. Towson, MD.
  94. Airship 50. Baltimore, MD.
  95. Airship 50. Baltimore, MD.
  96. Funeral. Baltimore, MD.
  97. Funeral no. 2. Baltimore, MD.
  98. Busker. NYC, NY.
  99. Ice cream truck. Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
  100. COVID Vaccine at the convention center. Baltimore, MD.
  101. Wind, actual Ghost.
  102. Thunder, introduction. Nottingham, MD.
  103. Thunder and rain. Baltimore, MD.
  104. Rain. Baltimore, MD.
  105. Raining. Baltimore, MD.
  106. Out of doors. Baltimore, MD.
  107. Projector Air. Baltimore, MD.
  108. Public phone performance no. 2. Eureka, CA.
  109. Summer bugs. Baltimore, MD.
  110. 36 Special tape loop. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  111. 37 Special tape loop. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  112. Ooom-pa-clock. NYC, NY.
  113. Johnson loop. Nottingham, MD.
  114. Johnson loop no. 2. Nottingham, MD.
  115. SV Zoom call. Baltimore, MD.
  116. Thrift store tape loop no. 1. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  117. Thrift store tape loop no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  118. Thrift store tape loop no. 3. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  119. Thrift store tape loop no. 4. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  120. Thrift store tape loop no. 5. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  121. Thrift store tape loop no. 6. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  122. Thrift store tape loop no. 7. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  123. Thrift store tape loop no. 8. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  124. Thrift store tape loop no. 9. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  125. Thrift store tape loop no. 10. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  126. Rubber? I hardly know her!. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  127. Platina Guitar. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  128. At the Herman House. Englewood, NJ.
  129. Poolside. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  130. Winter Secret. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  131. Winter Secret no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  132. And other alligators. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  133. Bass-ment loop. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  134. Bass-ment loop, no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  135. Part of parts (no. 1). Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  136. June stock ingredients, no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  137. June stock ingredients, no. 1. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  138. Part of parts (no. 2). Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  139. Bass-ment loop, no. 3. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  140. Part of parts (no. 2). Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  141. Lily Doran, no. 1. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  142. Lily Doran, no. 2. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  143. Lily Doran, no. 3. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  144. Lily Doran, no. 4. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  145. Lily Doran, no. 5. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  146. Lily Doran, no. 6. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  147. Lily Doran, no. 7. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  148. Lily Doran, no. 8. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  149. Lily Doran, no. 9. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  150. Lily Doran, no. 10. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  151. Lily Doran, no. 11. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  152. Lily Doran, no. 12. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  153. Lily Doran, no. 13. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  154. Lily Doran, no. 14. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  155. Lily Doran, no. 15. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.
  156. Lily Doran, no. 16. Theoretical Audio Laboratory, Baltimore, MD.

Track Two Attention, Attention

Track Three Buffy

Track Four Faith

Track Five Goldberg Variation no. 3, track 5.

Track Six Found and Chosen

Track Seven Time Sensitive

Track Six Freedom

Track Six Goldberg Variation no. 6 + Sum of the Parts

This project is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council. I want to thank MSAC for the encouragement and funding, for without it, I could not have completed this project. And thank you to the Hamilton Gallery for partnering with me on the release of this project.

maryland state arts council

Jim Doran on one of his walks for this projectJim Doran
November 2022
jimdoran.art