Clay Mining
by CLAY GOLD
feat. Peter Stavrum Nielsen

Clay Mining began as a 30 minute percussion improvisation by drummer Peter Stavrum Nielsen. This session, performed on a drum kit comprising found plastic, metal and wooden items, was captured by a combination of ambient and close range microphones inside a theatre in Lisbon, Portugal and recorded straight to stereo via a Yamaha M7CL mixing desk, whilst manipulating the on-board effects live (flange, phase, delay, distortion) at the console.

This initial recording gave me the impression of drilling a hole and is where I began to develop the concept of mining. Peter was playing as though his performance would be cut into loops and used separately. He could not hear my manipulations which I was monitoring on headphones. Later, I could only envisage using this percussion recording as a complete work. You cannot divide a hole up into several holes, once it has been drilled. Having said that, distinct acoustic atmospheres presented themselves within the piece and these became the five tracks or chambers of Clay Mining.

From there I explored more deeply and in greater detail. I “hung” items inside the hole, mapping the contours of the rhythm. I introduced field recordings (mainly from where I was living and working in Macau, China) and Foley performance to create distance and depth. I poured synthesizer pads into the mine, and they ran down, dripping from the walls. The final mix was completed at Fort Yellow in Canterbury, UK // Clay Gold