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Re: The MRI and Looping: For Ambient & Experimental Music?



Well, I got my Xmas wish....one of my musical collegues has a friend at Standford University. He recorded an entire MRI session for me with a Sony mindisk and external mic. He said the whole bit about absolutely no metal objects being in the room is nonesense....maybe that was for older machines? Not sure.  It depends on the type of metal and the distance from the machine.  I'll send you all out the piece of music I write with these clips as soon as I'm done. :)  I plan on manipulating the clips with some EQ, VST effects, etc and then using them as a backdrop for some experimental/abstract looping. Fun!
 
Thanks all for all the great input and discussion.
 
Kris
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 4:25 PM
Subject: The MRI and Looping: For Ambient & Experimental Music?

I just had a most exhilarating experience: my first MRI (on my lower back).  This was amazing. I laid down on a sliding table, and they pushed me into a sarcophagus like tube with mere inches around my entire body.  They put large headphones on my head, and then for the next 30 minutes I was eased into a seemingly euphoric and meditative state. What I heard were a series of interesting sounds...from jackhammer-like hammering, to buzzing or vibrating cycles, bizarre sci-fi industrial like sounds, and so on. It was delightful.  The MRI technician said it was a rarity for someone to actually enjoy that procedure.  At one point in time, I was in a half waking/dream state and was awoke by my leg twitching.  I could have stayed in there most of the day. And the amazing thing is that when I asked about the source of the sounds, he said they were not mechanically generated; rather, around my body, encased in metal, was a giant electrical coil surrounded by helium, chilled down to a cool minus 270 degrees.  The sounds were a result of changes they were making in the electrical current and the resulting vibrations to the machine. Unbelievable...not sure how all that produces an image of my back, however.
 
...anyway, I started thinking, I would love to have that 30 minutes captured on a digital recorder so that I could use it for looping or as an ambient backdrop to my more experimental looping.
 
Are there any MRI technicians on the list?
 
Kris
 
*****************************************************
Krispen Hartung
Improvisational Looping Guitarist
http://www.krispenhartung.com
info@krispenhartung.com
Discography: http://cdbaby.com/all/khartung