Mark Rushton - Free Ambient and Electronica MP3s for you

Mark Rushton - Katydid and Fireworks
(2:45), 192kb-encoded MP3, 4MB

A recording of katydids and crickets in my backyard, punctuated with the sounds of distant fireworks exploding 13 miles away in North Liberty for the RAGBRAI bicyclers who were spending the night there. I like how the katydids take a break during the booming and then resume several seconds after it stops.

Mark Rushton - June 8, 2008 - Field Recording Of A Rain Storm
(14:00), 192kb-encoded MP3, 20MB

More storms coming through Iowa City tonight. We have flooding down by the University of Iowa and nearby Coralville Lake is about to flow over the spillway. This was recorded from my kitchen window using the Zoom H2 and edited on the ends.

Mark Rushton - May 29, 2008 Field Recording (Thunderstorm)
(3:50), 192kb-encoded MP3, 5.4MB

A thunderstorm passed through Iowa City on Thursday, May 29, 2008. The recording ends right as the worst of the lightning and thunder happen overhead. I was recording the storm using the highest microphone gain using my Zoom H2 and those sounds were too over-modulated to use. What happens before it is quite lovely, though.

Mark Rushton - Can I Have Your Attention Please?
(2:47), 192kb-encoded MP3, 4MB

This is a field recording made on May 23, 2008 at the elementary school near my house. The principal was getting the kids were getting ready for a school parade. It was raining slightly. Most of the kids had some kind of noisemaker in their mouth which made for a bizarre whistling sound. I'm walking away towards the end of the recording.

Mark Rushton - Dance Dance Electrocution
(3:46), 128kb-encoded MP3, 3.5MB

I got out one of my old backup hard drives and found, amongst what seems to be hundreds of unfinished tracks over the years, this "incomplete" song on it from 2004 which seems to be very much completed.

It's quite a bit different than the music I produce today. This is very uptempo dance instrumental music.

Mark Rushton - April 20, 2008 Field Recording
Recorded and edited by Mark Rushton
(5:00), 192kb-encoded MP3, 6MB

This was recorded in my backyard the night of Sunday, April 20, 2008.

Last year, after I moved, I had planned to make a series of field recordings from my back yard, which is next to a series of wooded areas and in-town farm land. I put out a couple of recordings as free MP3s, mostly of crickets and katydids. Even though I recorded every couple of weeks until October, some of the recordings weren't good. Later in the year, I got a Zoom H2 (which I love...), but after the first frost the sounds were over.

Here it is in 2008 and I plan to do recording on a bi-weekly basis. Each one will be edited down to 5 minutes.

We had a bad winter. One of the coldest in decades and the 3rd snowiest in 140 years of record-keeping. February had the most snowfall ever for that month. It was a long time melting, and now we've had week after week of heavy rains.

What do you end up with? I think that sounds like frogs. And note my neighbor's sump pump hose draining just after the beginning.

Mark Rushton - Lengthy Stay
Originally sourced from a Buddha Machine
(20:37), 128kb-encoded MP3, 20MB

The original audio was recorded from my Buddha Machine into a Zoom H2 as a 16-bit 44.1kHz WAV file, which was then transferred to my laptop and messed around with using audio software.

It's from the same source file as Pulse Detector, but remixed every so slightly different. Pulse Detector was a shorter edit of the original file. Lengthy Stay is a longer edit. It's not been looped, as the source file was recorded directly from the Buddha Machine in one big long chunk.

Lengthy Stay has a lovely and hypnotic ambient dub nature to it, along with a considerable amount of underlying background tension.

Mark Rushton - Pulse Detector
Originally sourced from a Buddha Machine
(5:11), 128kb-encoded MP3, 5MB

The loop is recorded from my Buddha Machine into a Zoom H2 as a 16-bit 44.1kHz WAV file, which was then transferred to my laptop and messed around with using audio software.

Pulse Detector has a lovely and hypnotic ambient dub nature to it.

Mark Rushton - The Ice Storm (a field recording)
Recorded and edited by Mark Rushton
(10:00), 128kb-encoded MP3, about 10MB

The Ice Storm features recordings done on my Zoom H2 on December 11, 2007 during the ice storm in Iowa City, Iowa.

Mark Rushton and Jon Harnish - Ten Foot Tomato
Mark Rushton - synth, keyboard controller, laptop, Zoom H2
Jon Harnish - bass guitar, effects box, speakers, amp
(3:20), 128kb-encoded MP3, 3MB

Mark Rushton and Jon Harnish produced this improvisational live ambient electronica piece on October 13, 2007 at Jon's Weather Excuse studio in the New Bohemia section of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Recorded on a Zoom H2 that wasn't properly positioned in the studio.

July 31, 2007 Buzz
Recorded and edited by Mark Rushton
(13:53), 128kb-encoded MP3, about 13MB

Every night is different, but all nights are loud in the summer. The katydids keep going with their multi-layered, out-of-phase rhythms. The crickets buzz, although less often and with less intensity as the week before. There is only a slight hint of road noise from the north. A nearby neighbor has the central air running, which you can hear slightly on the right side. This was recorded using my old Sony minidisc recorder and a pair of binaural microphones. I only edited for time, provided the two fades, and turned it into a 128kb-encoded MP3. File under: field recording

The Buzz, Part 2
Recorded and edited by Mark Rushton
(6:09), 128kb-encoded MP3, about 6MB

The katydids are out in my neighborhood every night now (late July 2007), and since I have woods behind my house there's lots of them chattering away. Here's 6 minutes of the sound, along with numerous other buzzing and rhythmic insects. It's nature's orchestra. I like how the rhythms get off track and are imperfect, but are constantly interesting. In the background, because of a northerly wind, is ambient noise from Interstate 80. This was recorded using my old Sony minidisc recorder and a pair of binaural microphones. I only edited for time, provided the two fades, and turned it into a 128kb-encoded MP3. File under: field recording.

Buddhametrics (live v2)
By Mark Rushton
(5:53), 128kb-encoded MP3, 5.5MB

This is a live remix of my track Psychometrics (originally released on my 2004 CD The Driver's Companion), but with many of the layered loops taken out and replaced with a loop from the Buddha Machine / Buddha Box. It was recorded live at the Ambient Matyk Cafe in the New Bohemia section of Cedar Rapids in March 2006. You can hear me walking around on the wood floor and occasionally some traffic going by. File under: mellow, pulse, chill.

Memory Trigger
by Mark Rushton
(3:25), 160kb-encoded MP3, 4MB

Memory Trigger is from my February 2007 CD release Regeneration X. Get the CD at or listen to other samples at cafepress.com/regenerationx - It has such a nice SomaFM "Groove Salad" feel to it, if you know what I'm talking about. Very laidback rhythms and keyboard sustains. Nice flow and very subtle. I even stuck timpani in a couple of places and it works. Very accessible. File under: groovy electronica.

Winter Wind Chimes
by Mark Rushton and Jon Harnish
(4:20), 160kb-encoded mp3, 5.2MB)
Taken from the podcast "What Does An Iowa Winter Sound Like?"

Winter Wind Chimes is very quiet ambient based on atmospheric loops by Jon Harnish. Mark Rushton later arranged and mixed these with some recordings sampled from an earlier performance at the Ambient Matyk Cafe where Mark Rushton was providing laptop and loop improvisation and Jon Harnish was providing bass guitar and effects.

Sunday's Drift
by Mark Rushton
(4:34), 160kb-encoded MP3, 5.2MB

"With its snatch of acoustic guitar providing an earthy, if distinctly computer-enabled, rhythm, "Sunday Drift" couldn't surprise more if it took a sudden pause for a glorious break of fog-splitting shimmer — which is exactly what it does. A free download off Mark Rushton's recent Hum and Drift album, the song uses that self-evident contrast (between pedestrian folksiness and heavenly aura) to its advantage, overlaying 'em for effect but playing them against each other as well." - disquiet.com

Theme From Lincoln Highway
(128MP3, 3.9MB)
Check this out... it's just over 4 minutes of guitar-driven, synth-washed, funky percussion groove. Great for cruising around in the car. From the album The Driver's Companion. File under: pop, trip-hop, accessible, slick, theme music, coffee table electronica.

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