The Big Bell

Yesterday I had an appointment after dinner with Marielle, who will be coming as part of the Soundwave event next Saturday, to record the big bell in the Buddha Hall. I was quite reassured when she pulled an AKG 414 out of her bag, as this was pretty much my favourite mic back in my BBC days (sound geek aside: she and I agreed that they are not quite as good as a 4038, which may have been built in the forties but remain unsurpassed).
As I sat down at the bell, I was remembering my session last year with the film crew, but this was much more relaxed, as the visuals were not important. Since we were focusing on sound, I got to focus on sound - the richness of the various combinations of high and low frequencies that each strike (there are those here who don't like this word in relation to how you interact with the bell, but it is a useful word nonetheless) will provoke, letting my attention just follow them and relaxing with the wholeness of it. I also remembered my days on the doanryo at Tassajara, when we would be encouraged to sit at the bell and sound it as many times as we wanted, to get used to its properties.
It was a lovely way to wrap up a long day, just to be present with the sound we were making. Marielle ended up running the striker around the rim, something we don't usually do here, and a surge of bass harmonics completely filled the room, a visceral experience that perhaps will be recreated on the 25th.

I immediately thought of this picture for this entry, and was a little embarrassed to see that I had used it before