Sonic Encounters: An Original Music Podcast by Synthesist Mark Mosher

Story:This is the Krell. We are beaming a tonality from orbit to your station. Are you receiving?Artist Notes:This is another piece inspired by the ground-breaking work of Louis and Bebe Barron on the film Forbidden Planet. I use oscillators as the primary source for the piece.Instruments & Instrumentalities:The piece is a live improvisation on the Nord Lead 4 using only expressive real-time synthesis around a single original program from INIT...

Story:The swarm of the Nanobots is approaching.Artist Notes:This microtonal mayhem is an exploration of swarming notes and joyous distortion that was inspired by the Dewanatron Swarmatron instrument.Instrumentation & Instrumentalities:I performed and recorded this in one real-time pass with no edits on an Elektron Octatrack.From a sound design perspective - I was working to emulate an instrument called the Swarmatron http://www.dewanatron.com/instruments.php?page=swarmatron...

Story: The sound of what is going on inside the HAL 9000’s mind as he’s speaking “I’m Completely Operational, and All My Circuits Are Functioning Perfectly” to the crew.Artist Notes:This piece was improvised and performed on the Nord Lead 4 and the Elektron Octatrack. It was recorded in one real-time pass with no edits.Instruments and Instrumentalities:All the synthesized source sounds are from my original Lead 4 presets...

Story:Ready to take a “trip” on The Georgetown Loop Railroad? Your journey starts at Devil’s Gate Depot as you stand between the cars and hear the sounds of this historic narrow gauge train as it rounds a tight bend. Things morph from there… enjoy the psychedelic ride.Artist Notes:The piece begins with the raw field recording of the train as it goes around a tight turn...

Story:This is the soundtrack of an expedition to an ancient ice cave. As you descend deep into the cavern hear surreal sound of the wind blended with your own scanning equipment reverberating through massive cave system. At around the 7:00 minute mark, your systems start picking up some movement in the cave. You've got a bad feeling about this - so you initiate emergency ascent at 8:20.Artist Notes:This is not a sample. This is all synthesis...

Story:As humans and their technology have evolved, they have encroached more and more on the domain of the whale and other sea life. Of course the whales have been evolving as well - and - unbeknownst to us, they have been patiently plotting and waiting for the right time put things back in balance. Listen as a group of humpback whales execute phase 1 of their plan to take back the ocean...

Story: “Welcome to transfer station 11203. Your consciousness transfer is about to begin and soon you will enjoy immortality in your new custom body. The process is 100% foolproof thanks to your personal technician who will be actively monitoring the process for transcription errors...

Story: Over 2,000 centuries ago – the Krell technicians went about their day in the 8,000-cubic-miles of the fabric of the great machine on Altair IV. This is the day in the life of one technician.Artist Notes: Inspired by the ground-breaking work of Louis and Bebe Barron on the film Forbidden Planet I use oscillators rather than samples as sound sources for this piece...

Story: What happens when the children of the gods get a hold of the weather machine? Listen to find out.Artist Notes:I recorded the piece in one real-time pass with no edits. The song is primarily based on the field recording of a thunderstorm. Most of the low bass sounds is a manipulated thunder clap. Instrumentation & Instrumentalities:I recorded this in a park in Louisville, CO on my Octatrack running on battery...

Story: This soundscape is the soundtrack to an imaginary experience where, using a special morphing environment suit, the wearer can instantly transition from a land to sea simply by walking into the surf.The piece begins with you observing a figure walking down the steps on to Chatham Lighthouse Beach late at night. The figure is silhouetted by the beam of the Chatham Light. As the figure walks past you and on to the beach you switch to the figure’s point of view...