JIG

[Tunborough]

I'm quite convinced that the sound is artificial, probably electronic, and I wouldn't be sure it was intended to represent a helicopter.

[Nanohedron]

There are three things that persuade me it isn't [a real helicopter], apart from the general sound of the thing not being quite 'right', at least to my ears:

Firstly, as I said before, it's too rhythmical. With a real helicopter, the sound doesn't quite follow a regular beat, and this one does.

Secondly, there's a deep, bass, scrapey, sort of 'parp' sound that a real helicopter makes with each 'beat' of the props. It's absent from this recording.

Thirdly, there is virtually no Doppler effect present at all. The tone changes a bit, in what to me seems an electronic sort of a way, but the pitch hardly changes at all. I've never heard a helicopter where the pitch doesn't change constantly. Either it's manoeuvring, in which case the sound changes fairly dramatically and will rise and fall in pitch, or it's flying in a straight line, in which case there will be a distinct Doppler effect and the sound will drop off in pitch considerably.

Having said all of that, I've never been in a helicopter - I've heard plenty, but never been up in one. I've heard the sound in plenty of films, of course, and the pitch always varies dramatically in them, but maybe that's for dramatic effect. Maybe the pitch is constant if you record the sound in a helicopter, flying at a constant height, at a constant speed, in a straight line and with constant wind speed.

Perhaps you're right. For my part, I've been going by a number of underlying assumptions; for one, that the sound of "approach" would have simply been a matter of a hand at the volume control in the studio, hence no Doppler effect. Also, I take into account that not all recording/sound equipment are alike, and settings too can be meant to register only certain frequencies for various end purposes: optimal fidelity for an audiophile's entertainment center will be lost on a car speaker, and vice versa. Assuming it was in fact a recording of a real chopper, some fiddling at the equalizer was probably necessary for an acceptable-enough result in the playback. The usual run of recording equipment isn't going to be able to realize the full range and nuance of human hearing, so we have to go for plausible approximation.

Anyway, those points are what I go by.

I'm quite convinced that the sound is artificial, probably electronic, and I wouldn't be sure it was intended to represent a helicopter.

Funny, because no matter how it was generated, to me it couldn't be anything else!

[david_h]

Sounds like an engine to me, maybe an old, small single cylinder generator such as one may have on a farm, though the one I am most familiar with has more bass in the tone and maybe runs a little slower.

[Nanohedron]

Well, isn't someone going to ask Peadar Ó Riada himself, and get it from the horse's mouth?

[benhall.1]

Well, isn't someone going to ask Peadar Ó Riada himself, and get it from the horse's mouth?

I very much doubt it was a horse. Didn't sound remotely like a horse to me ...

[david_h]

Sounds like an engine to me, maybe an old, small single cylinder generator such as one may have on a farm, though the one I am most familiar with has more bass in the tone and maybe runs a little slower.

Something like this https://youtu.be/JWVeOH01YYQ?t=29 with a longer exhaust. A typical sound of the idylic off-grid world in the last half of the 20th century.

[Nanohedron]

Well, isn't someone going to ask Peadar Ó Riada himself, and get it from the horse's mouth?

I very much doubt it was a horse. Didn't sound remotely like a horse to me ...

All right, all right. Sheesh. I just took it upon myself to email Peadar (I consider us to be on a first-name basis, now ), so let us cross our fingers and hope I may evade the spam folder, and that my audacity will earn a reply in which all shall be revealed.

And I still think it's a chopper.

[Mr.Gumby]

There is that sense of Cuil Aodha meets Apocalypse now, isn't there? Particularly this bit, obviously.

I watched the Fiach clip again and realised too what threw me on first listening but it took only a second go to get into it. The Triur version is more flowing.

A few weeks ago I saw O'Riada, he was talking about the language, the language of music and how it is possible to loose 'the line' by stacking 'stuff' onto it and obscuring it. I think that is what he was doing with his Triur tunes, stripping things down to a clear line, statement, response and no bull.

[Tunborough]

And I still think it's a chopper.

And I think you've been watching too many M*A*S*H re-runs.

[Nanohedron]

And I still think it's a chopper.

And I think you've been watching too many M*A*S*H re-runs.

Hah. No, I don't watch M*A*S*H; nostalgia has little attraction for me. No, I need the stimulation of new adventures, like emailing total strangers and peppering them with impertinent questions.

Speaking of which, Peadar already got back to me, including a mention outlining his artistic vision for his recording projects: each the part of a greater whole, marking nodes in the progression of time. For example, in the recurring theme of voices, they are to mature from children to adolescents and, I presume, into adulthood.

Now for the unveiling you've all been waiting for:

Jason a chara
Helicopter sampled and mixed in fading across the stereo spectrum

So there you have it. But I am gracious, and pardon my former skeptics.

[benhall.1]

Thanks, Nano, for asking and for getting the answer.

[Nanohedron]

Thanks, Nano, for asking and for getting the answer.

My pleasure. I have little patience for speculation, and it was getting to that point, so even if it meant learning that I didn't have an ear in my head, it was worth it to me to find out. And the rest, as they say, is history.

My impression of Peadar is one of a gentle and open fellow.

[Nanohedron]

There is that sense of Cuil Aodha meets Apocalypse now, isn't there? Particularly this bit, obviously.

For me, in my head the scene was rather less gritty: an everyday playground, with choppers intruding to let you know that despite the normality of kids at play, all isn't rosy. To be starkly honest, given the source, the first thing I thought of was the Troubles. I don't know if that's what Ó Riada had in mind - he didn't say, and I didn't ask - but the image I got from the track was a poignant one.

[benhall.1]

I got more of a Father Ted image, personally ...

[Mr.Gumby]

the first thing I thought of was the Troubles

Not everything in Ireland has to do with the troubles.

Couldn't help the association with the opening of that film, was almost waiting for the bog to burst into flames. Almost.

Helicopters can have a menacing presence though. We are right on the route of the Shannon based coastguard helicopter to the Cliffs of Moher. It has to go there quite often. But where ever it goes, be it on search and rescue or just quick transport to a hospital, it's never good news to hear it on its way. But maybe it's different in Cuil Aodha.

The video, however, was really about people, places and community. That's what I took away from it.