I’ve just stumbled across a wonderful little combination of technology, found audio, and music — Stark Effect’s ‘mic in track’.
A “mic in track” is a recording made on a PC using MusicMatch Jukebox, a music utility packaged with many new PC’s that allows the user to record from the microphone input of the PC’s sound card and save the recording in mp3 format. The default filename is “mic in track” followed by a number.
If that user also happens to be running a file-sharing program (WinMX, Audiognome, Kazaa, etc.), and shares the directory in which the mic in track is stored, then these personal recordings can be easily downloaded from the user’s computer. The vast majority of them are either silent or uninteresting, but many are like Christmas presents giftwrapped in nondescript serial numbers. They represent unique examples of audio vérité.
There are number of amusing ‘mic in track’ samples posted on the page, but the best ones have been turned into musical compositions, with five being offered as a DIY EP from Comfort Stand. I’ve been enjoying all the tracks, but the two standouts are definitely Eeples and Beeneenees and Bunnyrabbits, Satan, Cheese and Milk, both of which have been running through my head all day.
iTunes: “Bunnyrabbits, Satan, Cheese and Milk” by Stark Effect from the album Mic in Track (2003, 2:19).