Breitler Switzerland Music Box

My dad bought a bunch of these small music boxes many years ago, thinking he would put one into a carpentry project, perhaps as a gift to someone. But they’ve been gathering dust in the basement all the way since his initial thought occurred to him, until I stumbled upon them.

I don’t know what melodies are imprinted onto most of these music boxes, maybe they’re nursery rhymes from my dads upbringing up bringing in Denmark, because I do recognize one. I believe it’s a rhyme about a bear that’s sleeping, which he used to sing to me and my brother when we were very young.

I recorded the music box by stopping the gears, making it play note by note, in my parents atelier in Norway, that me and my dad built together actually. The ateliers birch walls and ceiling gives the room a beautiful, but not overwhelming reverberation. I recorded winding the gears in different speeds, and additionally, took the music box apart to record the subtle mechanical noise the springs and gears generate, you can play this on a lower register. I also tried my best to capture the rooms reverb, by recording a clap that can be used for convolution reverb. I used a pair of Lom Uši Pro to capture everything.

These music boxes never turned into any carpentry project nor gift, but perhaps my recording of it can be a gift to the Pianobook community.