Christopher Orczy Ambient Harmonium

orczy · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 161 Location: Australia

Hiya Everyone.
My name is Christopher Orczy. I live in New Zealand, and I have been composing and releasing ambient music since 1993.
My current project is entitled "Harmonium Diaries". It so far consists of 6 CDs which have been released.
The music is all played on a 1904 Mustel harmonium. The pieces are then "ambieafied". All the pieces are recorded live, no overdubs, editing, cut and pasting, sequencing or beats. I am interested in an organic sound.
You can hear some mp3s of the "harmonium Diaries" by going to my website:
www.christopherorczy.co.nz
I look forward to hearing your feedback.
PS- none of the non-harmonium mp3s are working yet, so it is just the 5: August-December.

seraph · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:06 am Post subject:

Hi Christopher
welcome to electro-music.com
I'll check your music soon Very Happy

mosc · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 6:54 am Post subject:

mustel1216922

I'm listened to your August 27 and Sept 6. Very nice and relaxing. I like this quite a bit. When you said you "ambieafied" your track, I was expecting some reverb and phase shifting. I was pleasantly surprised. What do you do when you abieafiy?

seraph · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 8:17 am Post subject:

Michael Chocholak · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject:

beautiful music. your influences are apparent but your sound has its own character. as you said; "organic". thumright

your unique choice of instrument certainly plays a part, but your feel for what you're doing definitely comes through and has a substance that's fairly scarce in ambient music.

many years ago after doing some work on a local ranch an elderly lady was going to give me one of these! she never played it anymore and it was just collecting dust and covered with knick knacks in her sitting room. but before i could wrangle a pickup truck, an antique dealer snaked it out from under me. i only got to play it once, but it was fantastic. nothing digital could touch that sound. plus there was the feel of playing it; it breathed sound! it was a huge disappointment then, but i feel it all over again after listening to your work. now they're all in museums or treated like fossils in antique stores. Sad

how did you isolate the sound from the bellows, stops, foot pedals, etc? great job.

fine music.
Cool

orczy · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 161 Location: Australia

Hi chaps. Thanks for the positive words. As regards your queries:
By "ambieafy" I mean eq, echo, modulation, and reverb. The acoustic in my room is flat. If I lived in a church however.......
I am not sure how the Mustel came out here. I know it was involved witha Catholic church at some point, and was used to accompany the Vienna Boys Choir once. Mustels are very rare. I was very lucky to find one in NZ.
I don't do anything special to isolate the sound. The mustel has two sound holes on the top, one for each half of the keyboard. I place my mike inbetween the two holes. The treadles are very quiet, and the bellows control the airflow, so all the dynamics are real. You may be thinking more of a reed organ. Where a reed organ suck air through the reeds, a harmonium blows air, hence more control over dynamics and tone. As regards the stop noise, I don't change stops during a piece, so it isn't an issue. Background noises are everywhere though: nextdoor neighbours car, my 2 year old daughter talking, cats scratching at the door, me coughing (smoker!). The nature of the diary aspect means these little nuances should be left as they are, so I don't filter or edit them out.
Thanks again. A new CD is released this Friday, so a new mp3 will be around the same time. I have reached the halfway point in releases of the project, something I am very pleased about.
Cheers
Chris

Ponk · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:16 am Post subject:

This diary project is a very interesting concept. And I like the music too. Keep it up! thumright

mosc · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:40 am Post subject:

Christopher, do you record every day? You never miss a day?

orczy · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 161 Location: Australia

Regarding the "Harmonium Diaries", the process is as follows:
I record everyday, although I miss the odd day here and there, say, 3-4 a month, tops. Every recording session yields 7 or so pieces. Over the week, I listen to the sessions, and select and mix the best pieces. Over the month, this may add up to 50-60 pieces. Then these pieces are compiled to a CD, which I spend the next month or so listening to. This CD is then reduced to 40-50 minutes, which will then make up that months CD for release.
I have recorded 8 months of material, and have released 5 CDs, with "January" being released this Friday.
Cheers,
Chris

seraph · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:30 pm Post subject:

if you keep this pace your discography will end up being greater than that of Herbert Von Karajan Cool

orczy · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 161 Location: Australia

Karajan, yeah! I'll be stopping this project in July. It will cover a year. I don't think I could go on at this rate for years. Although, if I didn't have to do anything else......

mosc · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:09 am Post subject:

Somebody else was doing daily composition here about a year ago, but I can't find the posts. It's a good technique to unblock.

orczy · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 161 Location: Australia

Hi guys,

just a quick note to let you know that I released the 6the CD in the series today, "January".
I am really happy with this one, although it was easily the hardest to compile, due to more than usual amount of pieces, and greater variety contained within.
You can check out an mp3:
http://www.mp3.com.au/track.asp?id=103301

I hope you all like it, and you will notice that I have given all the mp3s little phrases to help listeners.
I look forward to hearing you insightful feedback
Cheers
Chris

mosc · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:03 am Post subject:

Congrats, Chris. You are inspirational... Very Happy

richie_dionysus · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Scotland

mosc · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:30 am Post subject:

richie_dionysus · Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Scotland

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:57 am Post subject:

Great ambient music! The harmonium really works well.

mosc · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:54 pm Post subject:

Oh, yes, you should look into Mark Mahoney's music too. Very Happy

http://electro-music.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=6_38&products_id=54

Oops... Embarassed

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reference, Mosc!