soundart
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Author: Eleanor Anderson

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Reading Music

With the reaches of cuts of funding and lack of support from the government towards the art; many schools have chosen to strip music lessons from Britain’s state school education. While reading a BBC Article it states state schools in England have seen a 21% decrease in music provision over the last five years, research suggests. 

This lack of music education has reduced our generation from having the ability to ‘read music’. Compared to older generations many people who can read classically are beginning to die out. 

When doing graphic scoring in lessons I was inspired to look beyond this and its benefits and how it may change our music scene. Instantaneously when one googles the word ‘composer’ the results are very clear. Every single picture is a white privileged male. It seems that these boundaries have always been bound into place and there still seems little light of change.  

However, despite these chains upon music and society, I began to realise that this left pathways and opportunities for new types of creativity. For example, the rise of DJ music and computer-produced music has had ample effects on our generation’s music scene. With house music holding the charts alongside most festivals worldwide this proves that being stopped from learning to read music will not have an effect upon your ability to become a composer. 

This struck clear when making graphic scores within a lesson; proving that classical sheet music is just a theoretical tradition that people have been taught to follow. Despite boundaries being there making music and becoming a composer is entirely possible.

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Visiting Practitioners

Pamala Z – Visiting Practitioner

Within Pamala Z’s lecture, many things stood out to me. In particular, her confidence and ideas of using the human voice within composition spoke to me. I loved this section as it inspired me to think about using vocals as the main source in the future. 

Within her piece ‘Breathing’, she uses just her own voice to create the entire piece by manipulating and mixing her voice through a 21 channel self-made sound installation. How she used the breathe throughout stuck with me. It became extremely emotional and peeled back the human voice to its rarest form. Her instincts to include breath provoked such emotion that certain instruments can not. I have used voice in the past within my work however I have never manipulated and layered it to create a solo piece in the way Pamala did. I hope to do this in the future and isolate only vocals to create an entire sound piece.

Within another performance, Pamala used a score of different vocals to create different sounds melodies and harmonies. By isolating just the voice as the main instrument; the lines between art and reality became blurred. It was as if human instincts and nature were manipulated into music and sound. I found this beautiful as it supported the concept of art and reality being not so far apart after all. The way the voices intertwined with one another sounded to me like water in the brain. 

One of the sounds reminded me greatly of the song “The Great Gig In The Sky” by pink Floyd. Where the voice is used as the soul of the song and the main instrument throughout. Despite cultural changes and traditions; the human voice stands as the most universal instrument we as a society can share. Sounds can be used as a multilingual language and can provoke emotions that speak universally.

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First Year Thinking & Doing Sound

Are Cliches Good Or Bad?

When discussing the origin of the word cliches it is a French-derived word that originally states that it is a piece of artwork that has become ‘overused to the point of losing its meaning’. Cliches have the potential to ruin the effect of your work and provoke emotions or feelings that were not originally aimed to provoke. As a creator, this is a problem as when I produce my art I make it intending to create certain effects and moods. Theirs washed down meanings can paint your work with a cheap tacky effect stopping it from becoming meaningful art.

Due to cliches overuse; humans are trained to respond and recognise the aesthetics of what they are trying to capture. For example, a creaking door and crows squawking instantly make people think of horror and a haunted atmosphere. Despite it not being original; people naturally think about the connotations that come with it. When making sound pieces such as soundscapes; it is important to create clarity so the listener is aware of what is going on. I wanted to produce realism within my piece so the narrative that went alongside the soundscape was effective and believable. When creating soundscapes for both a beach and a city proved difficult. Due to the sound being my only medium; I was limited on what I could use to make the environment of the story obvious. Cliches were the one thing that served true clarity to my work. They serve instant and realisable effects that universally people will understand.

Overall Cliches are not entirely a bad thing to use within your work and it truly depends on the context and aim of your piece. If you strive for originality and abstract meaning – cliches are not your friend. However finally if you want clarity and instant clear directed feeling then cliches will provide this to your work.

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Uncategorised

Suiting the Voice To The Aesthetic

Podcasts are episodic series of audio files. As the term developed I realised the scale of different genres involving podcasts. During my radio project, I realised the importance of the voice. A human voice is a key instrument that many many people begin to forget. When recording a podcast or audio project the voice must fit the aesthetic and theme of the piece. Like an electric guitar to a rockbound, the vocal aspect is a jigsaw puzzle in the overall performance. When the voice is less suited I found that layering the piece with sound effects and different levels became a way of masking this. However, when the vocals are suited, the piece only needs minimalistic sounds added on top for effectiveness. In future, I will consider this and ensure that my vocals used are always suited to the aesthetic of my art piece.

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First Year Sound Artists Thinking & Doing Sound

Soundscaping:

Soundscaping is an acoustic environment made by sound to imitate an environment for humans. This was first coined by the Canadian composer Murray Schafer in the 1960s. Schafer was a naturalist composer who centred his work around realism. I took inspiration from Schafer’s work; he quoted “A soundscape is any collection of sounds like a painting is a collection of visual actions”. This can be fascinating, I believe it’s possible to portray any type of environment even better than a composed piece of music can. By capturing a sense of reality soundscaping serves me as the composer an opportunity to immerse the listener into my work. Playing with realism makes the listener believe they are the main character immersed by the feelings the composer is trying to create. When creating my audio podcast I chose to use soundscaping throughout the entire piece. I aimed to create the most realistic performance possible. Adding narrative audio on top will make the story clear and effective, almost as if the listener can paint the story inside their heads. As I continued this creative process I found that the more immersive the piece – the more it affected it became to the listener.

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Uncategorised

Stereo + Panning Throughout Radio

When working with radio projects I discovered the importance of panning and stereophonic sound. Stereophonic allows the listener to hear a piece from a human’s most natural form – multi-directional! Despite first being used in 18881 in Paris with several telephone transmissions, stereo-only became popular when it first aired on radio in 1961. This then got used in the late 1960s / ’70s during the psychedelic movement within the music. Famously bands such as Pink Floyd showcased this as normality on many of their albums.

In my experience, I have found that panning allows the most immersive experience possible. It adds another dimension to the sound which creates room for the listener to become truly immersed. Creating sound which reverts to a human’s natural state of hearing makes the piece realistic. This realism leaves the listener vulnerable to feeling and provokes certain emotions throughout the performance. When creating car sounds in my piece I could pan these to create a realistic vision of cars passing. I find this useful as it gives me chance to shatter reality and create a more atmospheric effect on the listeners’ mood and feelings. In future, I will always make my art pieces in stereo due to such success.

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Uncategorised

Impressionism and Expressionism within music:

During a lecture, I recently learned the differentiation between Expressionism and Impressionism. Impressionistic music first took its spin on music in 1918. Being a sound that is not trying to grab the listener attention and aims to fit a mood or aesthetic. Theodore Adorno stated “eliminate all of traditional music’s conventional elements, everything formulaically rigid. In contrast to expressionist music which presents different levels and pitches throughout the piece. 

Admittedly I came to realise that all the pieces I make and the most definite expressionist pieces of art. From this, I would like to experiment more with the field of impressionistic music. It fascinates me how despite there being fewer elements to attract your attention, it still holds the power to be something so atmospheric and moving. A blend of sounds can be as beautiful and thought-provoking as an expressionist can. Although within expressionism it is easier to create a specific mood with individual elements such as speed, pitch or instruments; impressionism leaves a space for the listener to reflect. Without their attention being constantly grabbed the free space and sound levels within the music send the listener into their self-reflection to provoke any mood they want. Its effects are more internal than expressionist. 

In the future, I hope to try and create more impressionist sound pieces and learn more examples. 

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First Year Sound Artists Thinking & Doing Sound Visiting Practitioners

The advancement of technology and how it has affected creative performance:

Christina Wheelers lecture made me reflect on her views on creative performance. Christina talked about the endless opportunities in which performance and sound art can be presented. She asked questions such as, where and how should the audience be positioned? Where should the performance be shown? How should they hear the sound, and where would the sound be played. In my previous blog posts, I have talked about the importance and effects spatiality can have upon sound; how the room in which sound is played is an additional instrument in itself. In a study by ‘Yueying Li’, she claims “an increasing number of theories and studies addressing spatial topics have argued that these two fields are closely linked and one would not be complete without the other”. Without exploring speciality your sound would have no uniqueness and space within the audio. I truly believe that this area has only been able to be truly explored due to the rise in technology. Before the 1900’s sound was limited and concert halls stood as the heart for live performance. This generic positioning of audience and performer has been able to outlive itself thanks to new realms of technological advancements. With arrays of speakers and microphones; sound can be heard from different directions meaning that the audience themselves can also change direction. The advancements in a film it has allowed a parallel for sound and can create artistic performances in any format or area.

Thanks to these advancements it has not only allowed space to affect the initial audio and recording it has also allowed effect to take place during performance. Experimenting with your surroundings can change the way in which the audience portrays your piece. I find this interesting as I believe it can add another layer to my work and create a more immersive experience. Vicky Bennet showed us a clear example with her exhibition performance ‘Gone, Gone Beyond 360’ where she incorporated the visuals of a 360-degree screen. After all, the way your listener views your piece is the most important aim of creating it in the first place. I hope to use this in future performances to capture a true aesthetic and mood in line with my artwork. It will help me go to that extra length of expanding the listeners mind and opening areas for them to feel my work rather than listen.

In conclusion advancements within technology have allowed room for us to break the barrier between audience and performer and create harmony for everyone to experience art at its fullest capability. The advancement of technology and how it has affected creative performance:

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First Year Pro Tools

Pro Tools – Lesson 6

1.) What audio file formats can be imported to Pro Tools without requiring conversion?

  • WAV and AIFF do not require conversion

2.) What condition would cause a file in one of Pro Tools’s native format to require conversion on import?

  • Any files that have a different sample rate from the session, regardless of format, must be converted.

3.) Name some common audio file formats that Pro Tools can convert on import.

  • MP3,
  • Windows Media Audio (WMA),
  • Sound Designer (SDII), 
  • Audio Interchange File Compressed (AIFC)
  • Waveform Audio File (WAV)
  • Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

4.) What are some video file formats that can be imported by Pro Tools? 

  • MP3, BWF, SD I/II, MXF, AIFL, MWA, MOV, AAC, M4A, REX, ACID

5.) What is the difference between split stereo and interleaved stereo? Which is/are supported for importing into ProTools?

  • split stereo is 2 or more separate mono files for left, right, etc. channels. interleaved is 1 file that contains right/left stereo information.
  • ?

6.) What is the difference between the Add button in the Import Audio dialogue box and the Copy button? Which button will force-copy the files into your session’s Audio Files folder?

  • The Add/Add All button will add compatible files or clips to the Clip List without copying them to the Audio Files folder. The Copy/Copy All button will add the compatible files or clips the Clip List but will copy them the Audio Files folder.
  • ?

7.) What happens when you use the Workspace browser to import audio that is not compatible with your session’s parameters (in other words, audio that requires conversion)? What happens when you import audio that does not require conversion? 

  • it converts automatically
  • Non-compatible audio is converted (and copied) when imported from Workspace browser.

8.)What steps are required to conduct a search for an audio file using the workspace browser?

  • 1. Window menu > New workspace > Default
  • 2. Select Advanced Search (Magnifying glass icon)
  • 3. Choose the folder that you want to search by selecting it in the Locations pane on the right side of the window (in this case, choose “Audio” folder).
  • 4. Click “Kind” and “File type” on the Search Column.

How would you go about importing a QuickTime movie file to Pro Tools while simultaneously importing the audio embedded in the file?

  • (Make sure that the Video Engine is enabled in the Playback Engine option)
  • 1. File menu > Import > Video
  • 2. Select “Import Audio from File” option in the Video Import Options dialog box

How many video files can be associated with a standard Pro Tools session at once?

  • Only One

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First Year Thinking & Doing Sound

A Reflection Upon My Finally Art Piece & My Artistic Process

Corruption On Childhood Innoncence:

My piece is a reflection upon the corruption of childhood innocence. It mirrors a short journey through life; showing how adulthood and added stimuli from the outside world can destroy innocence. I hoped to portray the negative effect it can have upon life. In this piece, I will be writing about my journey and the reasons behind my creative process.

Originally I wanted to represent how childhood innocence blinds people from the class divide and how your economical status is inevitable due to where and who you are born to. My idea was to take a field recording of private school children playing and state school children playing. However, this created some moral barriers and was not entirely ethically correct. From this, I decided to reflect the piece on something a little more personal – my experiences entering adulthood and my perception of life as a whole. 

The piece begins with very little sound and noise. A piano key and low pitched thudding in a rhythmic pattern. To me, this highlights the sound of a heartbeat showing connotations of new life. A heartbeat is what every human share. No matter who you are! This represents a human stripped down to its bare; naked from any outside influence or complexities. The sound is pure with no added other noise. I have played the piano from the age of 4 and chose to include this instrument to represent the heartbeat as it is a personal view of my life. As the piece develops and the beating continues extra noise is added including an increased raw which slowly takes dominance of the piece. This is the corruption from the outside world creeping in and taking over your purity.

As the piece moves on to the next part, I include a field recording taken from an old childhood video from my dad’s recording camera. These videos are something entirely personal to me and my life as it is a true representative of my life growing up. I decided to include a recording from one of my childhood assemblies. This recording involves many young voices, talking, and general chatter while we all play with each other. I liked this recording as I thought it fit the brief of my piece perfectly. The children (including me) are unaware of the camera recording them meaning their conversations are natural and pure. In their eyes, there is no outside influence on their conversation which represents to me how childhood innocence is dependant upon outside corruption. I added reverb and delay along with tampering the volume to go up and down throughout the recording. I used this to create a wave effect and intentionally show how slowly over time certain parts of your life take away that childhood innocence. Adulthood creeps up on your life and I truly believe from my experiences it has not been sudden. By creating a waved effect upon the sound by editing the recording it highlights slow corruption and the process of puberty. Silent parts of the piece demonstrate how I began to feel lost and out of place through my teenage years. Despite the fact, the pieces still going on the silence is lonely and creates a feeling of isolation – mirroring my emotions undergoing my journey into adulthood. 

As a sufferer from anxiety and paranoia, I often refer to my head as a “wasps nest”. Throughout the end part of the piece, I wanted to present this and the disarray that life has upon your mental state. The piece then begins to build in intensity through volume and added sounds. I started to include rhythmic beats and percussion as it shows a representation of adult working life and the routines in which we bind ourselves. It begins to get chaotic with several different noises and sound effects ranging from many different synthesisers, midi inputs and field recordings. Banging sounds taken from field recordings are used to add to this disordered sound, highlighting how problems and stress in adulthood life shatter your innocence. The noise ranges in pitch volume and type of recording which I hoped would portray severals paths of influence on the brain and the disordered stimulus it can create. Adults face multiple types of stress which is what I hoped it would indicate. 

Finally, the childhood recordings begin to come back into play and build up in sound as the chaos begins to die down. As a result, despite everything, your childhood will always be implemented in your life. It becomes your route for identity and carries on with you mentally throughout your entire existence. To end the piece I chose the heartbeats from the beginning sequence to start playing back again. I believe despite your influences and your positionality in life, everyone shares this process. By repeating the beginning I wanted to show a full circled effect – mirroring the circle of life. It shows me how everyone follows this process through and the heartbeats are leading onto someone else’s life. 

Everyone is born innocent and it is your life and society’s choices that destroy this. The frustrations, stress, and business of adult life take away your innocence bit by bit. Everyone shares this process and it is just a cycle waiting to happen. My goal was to produce this within my piece and I hope these visions come across when listening.