Field recording
Night recordings and radio repairs from Jersey City: one tape a week with time, place and gear, and the bench log from a shop on Mercer Street.
The Philco 48-200 goes home at noon. Its owner called at 06:50 to ask if it still works. It does. Bench tomorrow at Mercer Street: the Grundig with no voice. Friday's walk starts 22:30 at Exchange Place. Tape 16, the Communipaw Avenue sign, goes up Saturday.
Friday, 22:30. Walk starts at Exchange Place and goes south along the river. Going after the Colgate Clock: I want to know if it ticks. Bench Wednesday at Mercer Street, a Grundig with no voice. The Philco goes home Tuesday. Its owner has been told not to drop it.
Tape 16 goes up next Saturday: a sign on Communipaw Avenue that buzzes in B-flat when it rains. November's long take follows for the Night archive, 34 minutes at the tunnel vent fence.
Fri 6 Nov, 01:12. Newark Avenue near Summit, Jersey City. Ice merchandiser outside a bodega that closed at midnight. Handheld recorder plus two contact mics on the left side panel, gaffer tape, 48 kHz / 24-bit. 4:38. 6…
Mon 9 Nov, 06:50. Not a repair day. Mr. Delacroix lends me the key on condition that I'm gone before he's in.
Sat 7 Nov, 09:40. Shutter half up. Mr. Delacroix is here for a pickup and says the bench is mine until noon, as long as I don't touch his coffee.
Tue 3 Nov. Mercer Street. Zenith Royal 500H, 1962, leather case, brought in by a woman from Bayonne who found it in her father's garage.
The radio belongs to the repair shop on Mercer. At the edge of the dial, between two stations, there is a soft pulse: a voice, then rain, then the room itself.
I left the recorder on the bench after the last bus passed. Rain ticked against the shelter roof. A loose sign tapped once every few seconds, and somewhere behind the wall a refrigerator motor gave up and started again.
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