Christmas Eve 1998 from The All Saints Sessions

All Saints Sessions

 Today I'm posting another set audio files from what I've been calling "The All Saints Sessions" which are a hand full of old audio  recordings & videos captured at All Saint Anglican in Niagara Falls during the 1990`s. The post from the sessions consisted of audio files from Carols and Lessons today is Chrsitmas Eve and There is a post coming up in the spring of Easter 1993.  I have an idea that there may be additional recordings in a box or or on a hard drive but, for now it`s  just these three.

Background (or how we got here)

Originally recorded at All Saints Anglican Church in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada December 24th 1998. The recordings where made with two mics run through a mixer then onto cassette. Neither the equipment nor my ability to use it was up to the enthusiasm I had for making the recording.

What had been captured was not exactly up to expectations. The cassette sat around in the hopes that something could be salvaged from it, eventually.

Somewhere around 2010 the cassette was digitized. Again with the hope that  preserved in this new format some possibility of improvement might exist. The software I had and my knowledge of how to use it proved to be of little help at that time. So, they languished on a hard drive waiting for the time when the technology & (more importantly) my ability to use it could help.

Through working with video I have gained basic familiarity with adobe Audition audio software. I still wouldn't say I have any skill with it. But, I can identify some problems, find some answers and apply the answers when I find them.

There are still problems I can  hear but cannot figure out how to address. This leaves us with something that is OK in spots and not in others. It also leaves us with something that is out in the world for people to listen to instead of sitting in a lonely folder.

The Files (or how to listen to the recording)

Links to the files are below. There is one file with the entire service & an option to download it in smaller pieces.

Unfortunately downloading the files is a bit convoluted.

Click on the File & it will open a new tab.
From the new window you can download the file from the arrow button at top right.

There is also a player on the new tab. If the click on the player and don't have a compatible app installed it will give the option to download the file or the app.



All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Full
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 1
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 2
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 3
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 4
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 5
All Saints Christmas Eve 1998 - Part 6


The files are basic mp3's and should pay on most devices.

How I Halloween | #3 - LibravoxGhost Story Collections

Ghost Story Collections

There's nothing like a creepy story on a cool autumn evening. Personally I like to listen while walking. Preferably around dusk and with one ear bud out, so I can also hear the rustle of the leaves as the red and orange drain from the sky and I'm enveloped in . . . I'd like to say darkness, but usually it's the glow of streetlights. At least there's darkness and shadows between the houses and sometime even between the streetlights. It's not that the darkness itself is scary, or that something might jump out of the darkness, the thing about the darkness is that you see less & listen more. The story becomes more absorbing if your not looking at a hundred things all the time. Once you've begun concentrating on the story and are paying less attention to your surroundings, that's when the shadows can start to become just a little bit ominous, adding to the story in a whole new way.
 

For the 3rd post you have a selection of downloads from librivox.org.  As mentioned in the 1st post librivox is a project that provides reading of public domain materials for free. The books are read by volunteers and sometimes several volunteers will contribute part to one book. Due to the variety of readers there can be variety in the finished product. This can range from volume to pronunciation and rhythm. They are all 'up to the task' as they say, but some really do a great job.

One of the things I like is how they create "Collections". Like the 'coffee break collections' that are shorter snippets of stories & poems that (I suppose) are supposed to be long enough (or short enough)  for your coffee break. Another example is the series of ghost story collections we will be looking at today.

Everyone's taste is different but I've made a few suggestions for each collection. I wouldn't say these are the 'best' or even all of my favourites. The suggestions are a product of my strange taste with an allowance for variety. There are tragedies and comedies. There are tales that are creepy and sinister as well ones that are amusing. There's  a tale or two of insanity and a morality play. There is even a few straight forward ghost stories.

The suggestions are there for you to take or leave as you wish. 

There is a link to each of the collections.  You can download a zip with the whole collection or skim through the titles and download the individual stories that catch your eye.


1) Ghost Story Collection 001
Suggestions: Man Size in Marble - The Empty House - Uncle Abrahams Romance

2) Ghost Story Collection 002
Suggestions: The Ebony Frame - A Psychical Prank - The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall

3) Ghost Story Collection 003
Suggestions: An Astral Onion - The Chromatic Ghosts of Thomas -  The withered Arm

4) Ghost Story Collection 004
Suggestions: The 9:30 Up train - Green Tea - The Haunted Orchard - The Signalman

5) Ghost Story Collection 005
Suggestions: The Yellow Wallpaper - The Ring of Thoth - The Phantom Coach

6) Ghost Story Collection 006
Suggestions: Children of the Moon - The Man who was not on the Passenger List - Rattle of Bones