Four Floaters (2026) was edited at Gasworks Studio in Prague, Czechia and recorded in Studio FMEra in Watertown, Wisconsin, USA. All the recordings are based on improvisations made using incidental found objects, like that given in the banner above, but require speakers still available on an IOS device today where the vertical clarity and loudness shifts are barely detectable as in a proper performance or editing setting. To ameliorate this problem, use earplugs at a minimum, better still headphones, or connect your device to a advanced sound system.

In the late winter of 2026, having left my Zoom recorder in Prague, I purchased an inexpensive 32 Bit Float recorder from the same company. I didn't quite understand the difference between the old and new technology. It was just cheaper. When my H4n arrived, I was immediately suspect as it was missing most of the controls I was familiar with. There was just a record button! Any idiot could use the thing and so I very nearly sent it back. Then I watched a few video reviews (glad I ignored these earlier) and decided to test it out gradually, not quickly, learning, suspecting, that for my particular sound recording interests, it was better than I imagined.

For years I have been recording using 24 bit device settings but was soon totally convinced by the H4n. Indeed, 32 bit float technology was like putting an atomic microscope on sound in a way that COMPLETELY revamped my editing techniques especially when using very good microphones.

These works are not possible using the old recording technology but they also do not present well using the most common means of listening to sound these days, that is, over a handheld iPhone. Ear plugs help, but the vertical-timbral and spatial spectrum is mostly missing just where it is the primary creative element.

This technology may push patrons back to the concert hall, or to better auditioning gear or in the opposite direction where ignorance is bliss. The iPhone is a just-adequate source device for audio or video.

Performance Ordering: FF may be performed sequentially, as presented in the middle column, or reordered with a brief silence between sections. Or they may be presented as a stereo-quad work, with one section played over the front speakers, another over the back speakers either simultaneously or introduced gradually as if interwoven. It is Ok to perform only one, or two, or three of the sections. They may be interspersed between other compositions on a concert. Any combination of these may be used for dance accompaniment or background to nice meal. Contact the composer at rakutoo (at) icloud dot com for the 32-bit float .wav versions. DS043026


Sophisticated recording setup.

Dan Senn (Prague-Watertown) is an intermedia artist working in music composition and production, kinetic sound sculpture, installation work, experimental and documentary film. He has been a professor of music and art in the United States and Australia and travels internationally as a lecturer, performer, producer and  installation artist. He lives in Prague where he directs the Echofluxx Media Art festivals, and Watertown, Wisconsin, the USA, with his partner-collaborator, Caroline. Dan's work moves freely between expressive extremes and languages depending on the aesthetic joust at hand. He is cofounder of Roulette Intermedium in New York Cty (Brooklyn), Cascadia Composers of Portland Oregon, and the Echofluxx media festivals in Prague. (read more)