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This started off without a direction, without a destination. I sampled some audio, listened to an episode of Ken’s Last Ever, and started putting stuff together. Then I remembered several weekends ago when I had my phone recording audio as I walked along the road to a diner in town, recording my footsteps on the grassy side of the road, the bare strips of sidewalk, traffic hurtling past, people staring at me, often to the neglect of watching the road ahead of them, watching me, the oddity that I am, someone walking alongside the road, how strange a sight that is, how can you not stare. I kept my phone recording as I walked into the diner, sat down at a table, ordered a meal, waited, ate, paid, left, back into the world of chaos.

This piece begins with Mogwai’s “Two Rights Make One Wrong”. I wanted that haunting melody to fade into the background, there but not overwhelming as other material settles in.

It continues with loops and samples from a documentary for a remastering of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. I thought this entire collage would be based around that framework, but these never go that way. The actual collage always emerges, different from my initial ideas.

Breaking up the beginning is Foo Fighter’s “Everlong”, which now brings back memories of David Letterman’s final episode of the Late Show.

Going along with the Dark Side of the Moon documentary theme, I include bits from DJ Shadow’s “Building Steam With a Grain of Salt”, a tune I discovered on Carlito’s “Madhouse Live” show.

There’s some Lou Reed included in the mix, with “Street Hustle” loops.

The Cranes’ “Don’t Close Your Eyes” cascades in the background for a while.

While finishing the collage tonight, I played around with Antony & The Johnson’s “Kiss My Name”, and the collage went to some emotional places, directions I never anticipated.

That entire recording goes on for around 40 minutes, and comprises the bulk of this sound collage, providing ambiance to the myriad other samples and loops.

More later.

MO 108: The Final Episode

I made the decision earlier today to officially end the Marble Operator podcast. It’s a decision that I’ve been pontificating for months now.

I’ve been unable to record podcasts since last August, and it seems doubtful that I’ll regain that capacity any time soon, if ever, so this played a large role in my making this decision.

Another major factor is the status of THAC. Some months ago, Joseph and Tim left the group, leaving just Troy and relative newcomer Noah behind. I don’t know the full details of their leaving and I don’t know that I want to know. All that matters is that the trio behind Marble Hornets had disbanded, leaving a still-new series in the lurch.

I’ve had mixed feelings on Clear Lakes 44. It’s taken a long time for it to even have any sense of an ongoing story, to let us know what its story might even be. This is largely due to how the story is being told, but it was slow going. Two of the creative minds behind their previous effort leaving just told me the series was losing what little momentum it had in the first place.

Let’s back up a bit. Marble Operator was a podcast that I started in August of 2011 in order to discuss the YouTube series Marble Hornets. I eventually included other series, at the behest of cohosts. These series included Dark Harvest, Tribe Twelve, and Andersen Journals. The common thread among the series was the Slender Man. I had lots of requests to cover EverymanHYBRID, but this was something I could never figure out how to do, given how many different websites and YouTube channels that story spans.

Marble Hornets finally ended, and with it went all other Slender Man series. The three others we covered just died. We had nothing more to cover. Eventually, Clear Lakes 44, the series that followed Marble Hornets, began, and I made an effort to continue the podcast in its honor.

It didn’t last.

I’ve lost interest in Clear Lakes 44. Broadcast 11 brought back a totheark-esque character and it just felt like I’ve been there before. There was nothing new. I had no way of recording new episodes, let alone do the conference calls co-hosts wanted. That may never happen again for any podcast I might do, at the rate my real life is going.

It’s been a fun run, Marble Operator. I met some great people, made some great friends, lost all but one of those friends. Rion, Erica, Abby, John, Katie, and Logan. The only one of those I still even sometimes speak with is Rion. I’m thankful for their contributions to the podcast. They made the podcast what it was, not me. I did nothing. It was all them. I owe it all to them. Thank you.

Thank you to the listeners for listening. I started the podcast because I wanted to hear people discuss, in an audio format, the Marble Hornets story. There were a lot of you who also wanted to hear that, and you continue to download the back catalog. Thank you.

Thank you as well to Adam Rosner, creator and writer of TribeTwelve, for appearing on an episode of MO for an interview. Likewise thank you to Chris of Dark Harvest. Both interviews were fun.

I also got to guest on an episode of the Around the Campfire podcast, where I was interviewed as host of Marble Operator.

So this is the end. Four years later, and it’s all over, the road has ended. It’s been fun, but now is when I bow out. Thank you and goodbye.

I am officially clearing out the Radio Free Caemlyn podcast feed.

It’s time for the older stuff to fade silently into the night, whispering a goodbye that no one ever hears, walking away into the forest, away from street lights. Watch them go, which no one does.

Which is to say I’m moving the older Radio Free Caemlyn episodes over to the Internet Archive. You can find the episodes here. Once archived, the episodes will be removed from the official Radio Free Caemlyn podcast feed.

Radio Free Caemlyn officially began on 10 January, 2010. I was a different person back then, we were all different people back then. The original name for the podcast was Radio Rand al’Thor, and it was to be a series of live radio broadcasts where I would play music and talk about random topics. The majority of the music I played was from OverCloked ReMix, a site dedicated to amateur remixes of video game music.

The podcast had a different feel in those early days, when I broadcast from my old Pentium 4 Dell machine at my parents’ house, alone in my room, talking into a Logitech USB mic (which is no longer manufactured). I would talk into the night, into the darkness, imagining myself as some radio disc jockey speaking to people asleep or driving alone along roads after a long day. Listening to these again makes me want to do this again, but in my current situation I can’t. It’s inspiring me to work harder in finding my own place to live.

It’s my own way of letting go of the past, setting it out into the world, a small part of me, how I was, who I was, way back then.

On this Christmas Day, 2015, I created and posted my 34th sound collage. What follows is a playlist of all the samples and tracks used.

Direct Download

Satellite of Love ambient noise (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Tori Amos – Frog on My Toe
“In a Prominent Bar in Syracuse One Day”, a poem by X. J. Kennedy
“Seeing Color For the First Time”, audio sample of kids in ’70s seeing color TV for the first time
Clint Mansell – Summer Overture
“I really wish there was some kind of plan,” Marble Operator co-host Erica S.
“I don’t really believe in standard sexualized pigeonholes” – unknown
Alan Watts talking about desire and Buddhism
“The Parade”, a poem by Billy Collins
“I am the hero,” Marble Operator co-host Logan
“Call in…” from Friday Night Trivia intro recordings
“Wrecking Ball stuck in my head…” Marble Operator co-host Erica
“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…” Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks
“Needle in the Hay” – Elliott Smith
Marble Operator calls After the Tone
“I have seen the face of god” – Network
“Dave’s not here” – Cheech and Chong
Recording from the local scanner
“With You” – I Fight Dragons (loop courtesy of RBCP of the Phone Losers)
“All my lights when wiggly” DaveAC
“Belle Isle 1949”, a poem by Phillip Levine
“These things, they take time” Gabe Newell
“I don’t believe in god” – unknown
“Mould” – Aphex Twin
“Radiator” – Aphex Twin
“Let Down” – Radiohead
“Together We Will Live Forever” – Clint Mansell
“YES!” – RBCP congratulation message for joining PLA’s Patreon
“UVB 76 Forever” – Unknown
Recorded ham operator chatter from K8QED
Art Bell quitting his radio show
“Into the Night” by Julee Cruise, from Twin Peaks
“Night Life in Twin Peaks”
“Sunshine Recorder” – Boards of Canada
“Transmissions Ferox” – Boards of Canada
“Collapse” – Boards of Canada
“An Ending (Ascent)” – Brian Eno
“Farewell Fire” – Boards of Canada