Liam O'Brien

At long last, “Phantom Hour” the new sample library @michaelaskill and I created is now available @splice ! A while back, I took a field-recording expedition to percussion wizard, Michael Askill’s house in Mullumbimby, Australia to record samples of his vast collection of instruments for a new Splice pack. We spent 3 days bowing, striking, plucking (and sometimes dipping into water) giant gongs, singing bowls, vibraphones, glass harmonica and many other unique pieces of sound art. We then teamed up with Splice sub-label Montage to create an imaginary film-score library in the theme of a “suspense thriller”.. The pack includes beautifully haunting loops, one-shots and ambiances taken from our recordings as well as cuts from tapes of Michael’s live performances at @abcaustralia and Sydney Opera House going back as far as the early 1970s. With the use of vintage tape machines, physical re-recorded loops and meticulous post-processing, we crafted a wonderful batch of tension-building, cinematic soundscapes.

Bodysurfin’ into 25 @adrianmesko 🎥

Final week of hustle & cinemagic for 2024.. Sound geek for three vastly different, beautiful short films in under 7 days 🍿 🎥

am old af..

Halloween Dance Party with @lo.ts.cc DJs and friends.. tomorrow night.. 👻 Mandatory attendance - RSVP essential [email protected] 🎃 💀

On topic between 2 swans with the one and only @jhidalgoburch May 2024

A preview of some of the sounds in Bells & Whistles, my new sample pack for @splice

My new sample pack, “Bells & Whistles” is now available to download at @splice I recorded hundreds of different church, cathedral and municipal bells (and a few horns) from around the world and processed them with tape machines and signature sound design techniques. The result is a vast library of beautiful, organic worship sounds, melodic and percussive loops, cinematic ambiences, foreign soundscapes and some bonus custom-built synthesized bells for music and video production. After diving deep into the worlds of field recording and sound design, through my previous work with Splice, I decided that I wanted to experiment with the natural harmonic content available in bells. Each recording has its own unique profile with rich resonances and artifacts that allow for infinite unintended magic to occur through time-stretching, pitch-shifting and magnetic tape loops. Church bells tend to resonate with such a spectrum of different frequencies that it’s almost impossible to pigeon hole the sound once you start to unpack it.. You can play a sample of a live bell through an equalizer and see just how many overtones are occurring at once.. so much that you might think a particular bell strike is in a certain key but when you mix it with other instruments in that key it might sound alien and incoherent. Conversely, the same bell embedded with instruments in a totally different key will very curiously.. somehow.. fit perfectly and create an entirely new perspective within the sound pallet that you’re crafting. The artistic possibilities are vast. There is magic in bells 🔔 #bells #splice #musicproducers #music #church

Truly happy 🏄‍♂️🏝️☀️🏖️🌊 📷 @adrianmesko

Last week was the most fun I’ve had in the 7+ years since I last saw this man.. LO’BDO’C 2024 @daveoconnors ..

home for the holidays..

desert tubes and tunes.. made some dusty blues/surf music for @thepalmspringssurfclub .. can’t wait to ride the thing :) 👌🏄‍♂️ 🎸🥁 🌵🏜️