Echoes Ecosse is a project I have been working on for quite some time.  It's intended as a musical/aural collage of Scotland today.  The tracks fall into three categories: The Watter, The Land, and The Toun.  The locations were chosen to give a reasonable geographic spread across Scotland and the music is intended to reflect the atmosphere of the locations. The music therefore ranges from pastoral to urban.
         The idea behind Echoes Ecosse is a snapshot of life in Scotland.  I visited all the locations and recorded sound, took photographs and gathered found objects. The images which will soon be on this page are montages of these photos and drawings. They will be available as prints sometime in the future. The music and lyrics were written with the idea of reflecting the atmosphere of that particular place.  All the ambient sounds that can be heard were recorded in situ.  At the start and finish of Cape Wrath, for instance, the sound of wind, rain and waves were recorded with a DAT and a pair of condenser mikes on the clifftop at Cape Wrath (blowing a gale and pouring with rain).  Below is a list of the exact spots where the ambient soundscapes you are listening were recorded.
 
Cape Wrath - the top of the most northerly accessable point at Cape Wrath. Only the shelter of the lighthouse wall prevented the equipment being completely soaked - horizontal rain is hard to deal with! Strangely, the recordings don't reflect the awful conditions. Bizarrely a group of English ramblers appeared out of the misty rain, quite unexpectedly. If you listen closely you can just hear their accented voices.
Rainy Skye - On the beach at Ardnish, Broadford Bay, Skye. More rain, but not quite so violent as Cape Wrath. Some nice oyster catcher calls in the background.
Firth - Right down at sea level on the slipway at Wilkhaven - Tarbet Ness. The weather was calm and fair and the Moray Firth "like a mill-pond". This is why the water sounds seem so "trickly".
Song of the Kelpie - Beside the remains of Dalcataig Pier, Invermoriston bay, Loch Ness.  A surprisingly sea-like sounding Loch Ness - and more rain!! I was totally prepared for a visit by Nessie - no show!
Dunadd - On the top of Dunadd hill fort near Kilmichael. A lovely spring day with annoyingly little sound - apart from a passing car.
Bennachie - the highest point on the rocky summit of Mither Tap - Bennachie. A very long hard slog up to the top, and not a lot of ambient sound once I got there! You can hear a capercaillie if you listen closely. The view however is asolutely brilliant - go if you can!
Borderline - In the cornfield beside the Flodden memorial. Unfortunately, the rustling corn sounds just like tape hiss! Believe me you are listening to the "wind that shakes the barley", all the recordings are 100% digital..
Lullaby for 3 sisters - Achtriochtan, mid-way through Glen Coe. You can clearly hear the midges. (I was being eaten alive)!!
Dundee Blues - On the approach section of the Tay railway bridge, Magdalen Green, Dundee. As my luck would have it, there was restricted rail traffic that day and I just managed to catch 1 train!
Oil Toun - Bus stop, Holburn Junction and Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen. The crowd noise is absolutely real and you are hearing Aberdeen scoring against Glasgow Celtic. Joy of joys - if only it would happen more often!! Thanks to my special pal, TV sports presenter Rob McLean - for his inspired commentary!!
Leith Walk - The side of the road - top of Leith walk, Edinburgh. As I was recording, 2 young Edinburgh "ladies" staggered out of a nearby pub and, after some preliminary "verbal", proceeded-on to a highly undignified punch-up - full bhoona - grappling in the gutter, skirts round the waist etc.. I have the whole incident on DAT - but, unsurprisingly,  chose not to include it in the track! ( I was so transfixed I neglected to take any photographs - more's the pity!!)
Dream of the City - Outside  Hillhead underground, Byres Rd. Glasgow. I originally went to Harmony Row in Govan (as a tribute to my musical hero - Jack Bruce), but the sounds there were too quiet and uninteresting - changed days! Oops, sorry Govan!

System requirements - PC - broadband connection, windows 2000 + Quicktime
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