SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife composer and multi-instrumentalist Carmen Braden is inviting residents to follow her on a journey around North America this fall.

Carmen Braden records found sounds using a Zoom H4 field recorder, a Rhode NTG shotgun microphone and a Jez Rriley French Hydrophone, a device designed to capture underwater sounds. - Bill Braden photo

Braden is midway through a trip across Canada and the U.S. She is sharing her experiences on a new online travel blog.

While it is not unusual for travellers to document their adventures online, Carmen's approach is unique. In addition to photographs and text, Braden has posted sound clips.

During the East Coast leg of her trip earlier this summer, Braden recorded the jovial music and laughter of a ceilidh in North Sydney, N.S., the percussive rhythm of a rattling washroom aboard the 21-year-old MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood Ferry en route to Port Aux Basques, N.L., and a symphony of buzzing of cicadas on a beach in Malpeque, P.E.I.

Earlier this month she recorded the New York Police Department Pipe Band performing during the Sept. 11 World Trade Centre memorial in Manhattan. A few days later, on Sept. 15, Braden recorded the sound of U.S. Marine Corps cadets exercising in a large public park in Boston while church bells toll in the background.

"The simple counting in a group seems almost childlike and innocent and the hymn has a comforting feel that belies the intent of the training of these very young cadets," she wrote in her journal.

She presents some of the tracks in their natural, unaltered state, such as her recording of a train leaving Sherbrooke Station in Quebec or the banter of men playing cards and bocce in Boston's Little Italy.

On other recordings she isolates certain sounds to create new effects, such as the track of a German tourist speaking above the din of a loud, squeaking engine.

Braden refers to her sound art as "acoustic ecology," and her practice documents the ways in which humans interact with their environment.

Braden introduced young musicians to the art of capturing found sound during a workshop series she led at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre in 2008 and 2009. In addition to covering jazz, improvisation and other contemporary music genres, Braden helped her students to uncover rhythms in the natural and urban environment by inventing their own instruments using recycled materials.

As performer, Braden has shared the stage with a wide variety of musicians. She has formed several innovative ensembles in recent years, including the jazz quartet A Fine Madness, which also featured Mike McCormick, Dennis Siemens and Caleb Harrison. Braden has presented revamped covers honouring Tom Waits and The Beatles to classical composer Claude Debussy, as well as her favourite Latin, folk, funk and calypso standards.

Braden has composed original scores for Aurora Chorealis and wrote a soundtrack for Song for the Dead, an independent short film co-produced by Yellowknife filmmakers Sarah Kalnay-Watson and Charles Kalnay-Watson. In February Braden showcased her original compositions for an international audience as part of the NWT Performers Collective during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver.

Braden earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from Acadia University in 2009 and before that completed an International Baccalaureate degree from Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific. In Yellowknife she studied piano with professional instructor Ardith Dean.

The next destinations on Braden's acoustic journey will be Washington, D.C., Chapel Hill, N.C., and New Orleans, La.

To hear some examples of Braden's work, check out her website at carmenbraden.wordpress.com.

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