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Carpenter’s Arms is the name of a tavern in central London thought to have wood salvaged from the original Tyburn Tree integrated into it’s barrel cellar. The Tyburn Tree was a triangular gallows of historical and symbolic significance, that once stood at the southern end of what is now called the Edgware Road, and is the central focus of James Holcombe’s full length documentary, Tyburnia.
In 2010, during the early stages of James’ research and gathering of material for Tyburnia, I accompanied him to record the sounds of the barrel cellar beneath the Carpenter’s Arms (distinctive clicking of ale pumps, and assorted fans), while he filmed what he could deduce as being related to the Tyburn Tree. Unfortunately, after only being on location for some minutes, my Sound Devices 702 recorder suffered a technical malfunction on channel 1 (left), resulting in a recurrent pattern of what was rightly identified as (P48) power interruption (which gives this characteristic decay of signal as the power drains) before the microphones were even positioned.
The recordings that were made are concerned more with trying to fix the issue on location, over any attempt to capture the environmental activity in a conscious or considered way. Instead, these recordings lend themselves now to a certain historical and symbolic significance of their own, with regard to the performance and lifespan of the recording device; It is the document of the malfunction itself, the most significant to date that has effected this particular machine. Despite it being repaired shortly after the issue occurred, the prospect of it arising again (or some other such issue), may always imbue a small, but not entirely negligible, degree of anxiety.
All images are 16mm film stills courtesy of James Holcombe.
