I Thought I Heard a Stranger LP

Version 1:

Custom Three Color Stripe Edition (limited to 250 copies)

-------------------------

Ann Kroeber and Alan Splet were an influential husband-and-wife team of sound designers for film, known for their creative use of sound and pioneering techniques like using contact microphones. Their soundscapes can be heard in films such as The Black Stallion (for which Splet won an Oscar), Blue Velvet, and Dune, often in collaboration with directors like David Lynch and Peter Weir. Their extensive archive of recordings is available as the Sound Mountain Collection, a resource for sound professionals.

There is a moment in David Lynch's Eraserhead where, atop a hollow industrial din and a chorus of indiscerible bird like squeaks, Mr. X exclaims, "I thought I heard a stranger." It's a fleeting line, but it carries the strange familiarity of sensing a presence before understanding it.
When sound leads feeling, and intuition precedes logic. In many ways, it captures the essence of what Ann Kroeber and Alan Splet did best: conjuring worlds through sound.

Kroeber and Splet were true pioneers. Their creative approach to film sound design transformed how sound could function - not merely as accompaniment, but as story, mood, and a central force. Through innovative collaborations with a range of directors - including their deeply influential work with David Lynch on Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, and Blue Velvet - they helped usher in a new understanding of sound in cinema. Their creations made silence uneasy, machines sentient, and nature electric. Their recordings were never purely technical or utilitarian - they are deeply emotional, evocative, and alive.

The material for this collection is drawn from Sound Mountain - the vast, private recording archive created by Kroeber and Splet over decades of collaboration and exploration. Field recordings, textures, fragments, impressions, shadows. Desolate winds, insect languages, metallic resonances, mechanical heartbeats, the careful breath of a wild animal. All assembled into a sound collage guiding you through their world of memory and mystery.

Alan Splet passed away in 1994, and Ann Kroeber in 2024. In life, they pushed the boundaries of their craft and mentored a new generation of sound artists - and their influence continues to ripple outward. Beginning in 2016, Ann entrusted Pro Sound Effects with helping to share their sonic creations with the world. A decade and more than a dozen sound effects library releases later, we remain in awe of what she and Alan created, and humbled to be stewards of this extraordinary body of work. This record is our tribute - a way to honor their legacy through the very medium to which they dedicated their lives.

This is not a retrospective - it's a transmission. A meditation on the strange magic and invisible power of recorded sound. A love letter to the art of listening.

We invite you to listen closely.