IL RESPIRO
Following a friend’s suggestion, I went to the Balzi Rossi—also known locally as Baussi Russi, meaning “red rocks”—on the Italian border with France, to record what could be described as the “breath of the sea.” The sound can be heard through a small opening between the rocks, where air is pushed through from below. I made the recording in sea conditions ranging from calm to slightly rough, which was ideal for capturing the details of the sound without overwhelming or saturating it. I used the built-in microphones of the Tascam DR-44WL to record the surrounding ambience, an Aquarian H2a hydrophone and, finally, a Schertler BASIK contact microphone. The sound captured by the contact microphone was incredible: it genuinely resembles breathing, sometimes almost laboured, and full of subtle variations. Now it is up to you to use your imagination and create your own story, perhaps one set in the distant past, especially considering that just a few metres away are the famous Balzi Rossi caves, where remains associated with Cro-Magnon humans were discovered.
THE BREATH The first part of the recording was captured using the built-in microphones of the Tascam DR-44WL together with an external Aquarian H2a hydrophone. In the second part, I recorded exclusively with a Schertler BASIK contact microphone to capture the distinctive sound of the sea’s “breath.”
