order form

I appreciate sales: they offset the costs of my gear, travels, and website. At the current prices, I do not, however, expect to make any.

But I have no regrets; as my recent parenthood has made my time very precious indeed, I decided to raise the cost of my CDR releases to a level that would make it worth my while to create them. (The general question of what value a reproducible media object has in this age I do not have time to take up here; but I will add that I believe that in an era of easy file trading, a tangible CDR handmade by the artist does have a greater value than even a mass-produced CD.)

Also, please remember that I am open to barter, and that you are welcome to make your own CDs from the mp3s on this site, which I give to you as a gift.

All offered items are hand-packaged CDRs. I will sign or dedicate disks on request.

If for any reason you can't play a CDR, I'll replace it free of charge (this hasn't been an issue).

 
how to order
Shipping is currently $2 per disk for USPS first-class mail; international orders require a premium.

The easiest way to pay is via PayPal at aaron.ximm@gmail.com.

Specify US dollars and 'goods — non-auction,' and be sure to include both a list of what you want and your mailing address.

If paying by check, make it payable to Aaron Ximm, denominated in US dollars; send it well concealed along with a list of what you'd like to:

aaron ximm
179 elsie street
san francisco, ca 94110
usa

Note: it's a good idea to email me to let me know you're sending a check.

 
quiet american presents
one-minute vacations
five volumes available

Fifty-two one-minute vacations, as shared weekly at this site. 'Vacations' are minute-long unedited field recordings from somewhere, somewhen, made by Aaron Ximm and collaborators recording around the world.
All profit from the sale of these CDs goes to charity!
$108 or more
annapurna: memories in sound A 38-minute audio documentary collaboration with my wife Bronwyn Ximm. Winner of the 2002 Third Coast International Audio Festival Director's Choice award.
$108

   
full-length compositions

vox americana

 Compositions made from field recordings from Vietnam.
$108

maritime suite

 Compositions made from field recordings from San Francisco.
$108

moorish idol

 Compositions made from field recordings from Fiji.
$108

s3

 One 74-minute field recording of a train ride in Vietnam.
$108
serendipty A 74-minute excerpt from the first Serendipity Machine, a never-repeating stream of chance-mixed recordings.
$108
plumbing & irrigation of south asia Several dozen field recordings documenting my personal encounters with water use in Asia; packaged in a DVD case and includes an essay by Claude Willey. Released by and currently available from Seattle's and/OAR. Not as dry as the title might suggest...
$108
rockets of the mekong Compositions made from field recordings from Laos. Released by Grain of Sound and currently available from and/OAR.
$108
kagbeni variations Two discs: one containing a twenty-minute field recording made in Kagbeni, Nepal; another containing thirty-two 'variations' composed from excerpts of that recording.
$108
dusk machines Two discs documenting three Serendipity Machines made in 2003-2004, which randomly mix libaries of field recordings and quiet sine tones derived from the slendro scale of gamelan orchestras.
$108
guantánamo express One 40-minute composition weaving field recordings from Cuba, manipulations thereof, and the unedited performances by the portrait-piece's subjects, Julio and Jesus Ávila Gainza, and their family members. All profit from the sale of these CDs goes to the Ávilas!
$108 or more
embertide One 40-minute composition documenting the birth of my daughter, Ember.
$108

   
3" compositions

moments in burma

 Compositions made from field recordings from Burma (Myanmar). Two tracks, approximately 20 minutes.
$108
lovely little A small collection of favorite recordings and work from 2001 and 2002; one track in common with the above.
sold out

   
excerpted field recordings

The following CDs contain excerpted field recordings some minute or two long. Please ask for permission if you intend to use them as samples in your own work.

vietnam sources

Field recordings from Vietnam.
sold out

fiji and sf bay sources

Field recordings from Fiji and the San Francisco Bay (together on one disk).
sold out
china and japan sources Excerpted recordings from China and Japan (together on one disk).
sold out

cambodia sources

Field recordings from Cambodia, mixed into an evolving, 77-minute soundscape.
$108

   
commissioned work

deep creatures

 A thirty-minute seamless mix of subtly-processed recordings of water and wave-sound, including rain, waves, streams, and mysterious gurgles. Also includes my thirty-minute contribution to Chris Cutler's Out of the Blue Radio on Resonance104.4FM in London, a soundwalk at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, on a rainy afternoon.
$108

for monkey pod

 A forty-minute seamless mix of subtly-processed recordings of natural sounds, including rain, waves, birds, crickets, cicadas, etc. Bed-time music.
$108
 
selected unedited field recordings

I sell CD dubs of the 125 minidiscs I recorded in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Tibet and China, and Japan, and the thirty odd discs I recorded in Cuba. Each contains 74 minutes of recordings, and is presented just as it was made. None has been edited other than to normalize volume and clean up any incidental distortion.

I recommend particular disks on the strength of their serendipitous contents, or which address a specific interest or theme (among other things, I have four or five more full-length train recordings similar to S3). Currently available:
no 62 Field recordings from Maduari, southern India, including the lively street ceremonies, a walk through a brass-engraver's market, and the environs of the Shree Meenakshi temple.
$108

no 78

Field recordings from Kerala, southern India, including a cricket match at a park in Kochin, a long walk through Allepy, the squeaking of playground equipment and the eve-teasing of my wife, and the rhythmic hammers of a houseboat-building yard.
$108

no 89

 Field recordings mostly from Kagbeni and Marpha, in the Annapurna region of Nepal near Tibet, including a twenty-minute long recording of a ceremony to mark the Buddha's birthday, a few donkey trains passing in a cacophony of mellodius bells; and several long recordings of a 5' prayer wheel in a Buddhist gompa in Marpha.
$108
 
commissioned and other major work

Current prices available on request.
30 fpd prints

I sell days of my life, in limited edition: I am documenting my life every day in digital photos (see 30 fpd for more information). A 'day' is a set of 5x7 prints of the thirty images chosen to sequentially document a given day, each in a glicine sleeve, collected in a signed cedar box. Details and images here.

Note: I recommend days be chosen for reasons of personal significance, as I do not permit browsing of my images before purchase.
quiPod

A brand-new iPod of any model, preloaded with over twenty hours of my work, stamped with the Quiet American logo, signed, and numbered. Comes with Etymotic ER-6i earphones and an AppleCare Protection Plan. Details here.
serendipity machine I create Serendipity Machine sound sculptures on commission. Usually housed in a suitcase, they use a variety of (non-computer) hardware to generate a never-ending, never-repeating multilayer soundscape from a library of my recordings, chosen to evoke a particular mood. Comes with two pair of headphones and stereo output to connecto to a stereo.
documentary relocation

By arrangement, I will travel to and document sound in one specific (remote) location, prepare a produced soundscape from my findings, and transport that sound to a second location; the soundscape will then be presented (publicly or privately) precisely once. Immediately afterward, all copies of the original source recordings and the soundscape itself will be permanently destroyed as a coda to the presentation.