When I made the first egg fry recording, it was after spending much time each morning listening to breakfast cooking and becoming fascinated with the sounds of eggs frying, I was curious as to how it would sound if I placed tie-clip mics on the rim of the pan in a binaural fashion, in effect placing my ears far closer to the source than was safe or practical.
Starting with warm (not hot) oil, I allowed the egg to cook, reaching a crescendo of activity, then cool, allowing the sounds to die away (hence the 15 minute duration). The experiment was successful, as what I heard astounded me. A very rich, multi-layered soundscape consisting of a variety of different sonic elements that developed as the egg cooked and then cooled. Various repetative sound events emerged and changed through time lending this recording a very musical feel.
I've since become intrigued as to how similar this 'soundscape in a pan' is to some quite disparate sources of sound, such as pond soundscapes (insects and plants), ice melting, Clay Music (Colley), etc. Indeed, the sounds are produced in a similar fashion, in essence, this is a music formed by liquid, bubbles, gas and modulating surfaces, not unlike certain techniques employed by many improvisers on wind, brass and reed instruments.

This experiment had little to do with 'documentary' field recording or phonography, for me, it was more akin to (auto)composition, framing fascinating sounds within temporal and procedural bounds. The fact that the sounds were sourced from an everyday act may act as a distraction for some, but for me, it reinforces my sense of wonder at how things are when one pays closer attention, deep listening if you will. To my ears, this is anything but mundane and most definately worthy of closer inspection and through headphones this was/is an utterly compelling, immersive listen.

For me, this recording easily transcends its origins, and is in no way comparable to the holiday snapshot as some phonography practice can often be. Given the huge and often bewildering amount of cultural product available to listen to, it is all the more important to be selective, whilst maybe at the same time re-evaluating how one listens to the sounds around us.

L.P.