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WP_105/ 2006
(  Satoshi Kinoshita )
| Series: | Works on paper: Paintings 2 | | Medium: | acrylic on paper | | Size (inches): | 21.6 x 15.4 | | Size (mm): | 555 x 395 | | Catalog #: | WP_0105 | | Description: | Signed, date and copyright in pencil on the reverse.
Soundscape:
A soundscape is an acoustic environment or an environment created by sound.
As such, it refers in the first place to the natural acoustic environment, consisting of the sounds of the forces of nature and animals, including humans. This is the domain of acoustic design (R. Murray Schafer).
There are different elements of the soundscape such as keynote sounds, sound signals, and soundmarks.
Keynote Sounds: This is a musical term that identifies the key of a piece, not always audible… the key might stray from the original, but it will return. The keynote sounds may not always be heard consciously, but they “outline the character of the people living there” (Schafer). They are created by nature (geography and climate): wind, water, forests, plains, birds, insects, animals. In many urban areas, traffic has become the keynote sound.
Sound Signals: These are foreground sounds, which are listened to consciously. Ex: warning devices, bells, whistles, horns, sirens, etc.
Soundmark: This is derived from the term landmark. A soundmark is a sound which is unique to an area. “Once a Soundmark has been identified, it deserves to be protected, for soundmarks make the acoustic life of a community unique” (Schafer).
Soundscapes are often combined with the performance of music.
A soundscape composition is an electroacoustic musical composition creating a sound portrait of a sound environment. Composers who use soundscapes include real-time granular synthesis pioneer Barry Truax and Luc Ferrari, whose Presque rien, numéro 1 (1970) is an early soundscape composition. (Roads 2001, p.312)
Soundscapes from a computerized acoustic device with a camera may also offer synthetic vision to the blind, as is the goal of the seeingwithsound project.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundscape
"Styles of Environmental Sound Composition." by Jim Cummings.
Though most of today's environmental sound artists combine elements of various approaches in developing their own styles, they draw from four basic approaches, built upon two common foundations
A key common ground is that all of these producers are engaged in their creative art from the moment they begin recording. From choice of overall locale, to finding the ideal vantage point for recording, field work is creative work. It is an exploration in listening, no less than the later choices made in the studio.
Also, these producers recognize that no environmental sound recording can possibly recreate the experience-even just the sonic experience-of being in nature. Not only is the emotional, physical presence lost, but there are also technical limitations. Each mic has its specialty, its best use, and most can amplify or highlight specific sound sources, but none can hear as richly as our ears. Once the sound is further channeled to just two speakers or even headphones, it is further transformed. The better producers fully recognize these limitations, and devote their creativity to developing new ways for us to experience these field recordings. They aim to affect, or guide us in specific ways that the more profound experience of "pure" nature may not.
From these commonalties, the styles of each producer is forged from one or more of the following approaches:
>Documentaries This purist approach is essentially "what you hear is what you get," and relies on un-adulterated field recordings, presented either separately or with gradual cross-fades from one location or take to another. These recordings celebrate the intrinsic sounds of earth as they occur, unimproved by human designs. Yet these are not dry or simple "snapshots;" rather, they are among the most vivid of soundscape productions, thanks to careful mic placement and creative sequencing of the recordings. Documentary recordings also serve as source material for other styles (see below), which often include extended unaltered sections. Gordon Hempton, Lang Elliott, and David Lumsdaine are among the recordists who primarily work with such single-takes.
>Reconstructions Here, many source recordings are combined in the creation of a single soundscape experience. It is often difficult to tell which segments are "documentary" and which are overdubbed, as the better producers work from a deep knowledge of the sorts of combinations of voices that occur in nature. The goal here is to present an overall sound journey that is true to the essence of the place-that will sound "real"-even though the events actually may not have occurred as presented. Bernie Krause, Doug Quin, and Ruth Happel often use this approach. A variation on this style is heard in the work of several composers who work in the realms of deep ambient and electroacoustic composition. Their goal is not to be "realistic", but rather to present immersive sound journeys molded from a wide variety of field recordings, often including human sounds (both "natural" ambiences and intentional soundmaking such as scratching surfaces or adding instrumentation). Eric la Casa, Koji Marutani, and Hans Ulrich Werner work in these realms.
>Transformations Some producers use their field recordings as raw material for electronic transformations and manipulations. They may isolate a particular frequency that is, to their ears, a "sweet spot" in the soundscape, then reinsert these samples into the piece. Or, they may slow down or speed up the source recording as an exploration of the nature of that sound. Perhaps they will repeat a given sound, or perform "granular synthesis", which stretches a brief snippet of sound into a prolonged tone. A related approach, often used in consort with transformations, employs sudden crosscuts from one sound to another; this is particularly common in urban soundscape composition. The transformation approach can be heard in the works of Hildegard Westerkamp, Barry Truax, Francisco Lopez, and Doug Quin.
>Musical composition Some composers add human instruments or voices to the mix. This may include woodwinds or percussion, electronic keyboards (perhaps with some field recordings sampled as voices), or even such adventurous things as Claude Schryer's choreographed tugboat horns in a harbor, heard on his Auteur CD. These producers are generally part of the vanguard of modern composition, with the resulting works being, at times, quite challenging to mainstream musical notions. Steve Heitzeg, Barry Truax, John Luther Adams, David Dunn, Paul Winter, Doug Quin, and David Rothenberg are among those pursing this path.
-greenmuseum.org/c/vop/vop_styles.php
"On Soundscapes: Glimpses of the Issues in Play." by Jim Cummings.
There are many ways to listen to the Great Conversation. Relaxed. . . with intent focus. . . analyzing. . . in forgetfulness. Each has its rewards.
Do you tend to find pleasure more easily in natural sounds that are melodic, or musical in a familiar sense? Do repeating drones, subtly shifting ambiences, or scratchy voices seem less interesting to you? If so, you are not alone; many Westerners, especially, have deeply engrained habits of listening, and require some practice to open to other sorts of voicess in our planetary symphony. (Ah, there it is again: the symphony as the ultimate beautiful human music. What earth-based image might we use for the collection of voices that includes the white noise of the wind, the chaos of the swamp, the sharpness of echolocation, or silence broken in random bursts by unknown soundmakers?)
Most, if not all, nature sound recordings foster the illusion of healthy ecosystems; many times, even the location being recorded is severely degraded, and only a combination of boundless patience in the field, careful editing out of human noise, or overdubbing of field recordings can recreate the primal fullness.
The creation of environmental soundscape art, or audio productions based on field recordings of nature or human environments, is one aspect of a larger field of interest known as Acoustic Ecology. The term acoustic ecology arose from the World Soundscape Project, based at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia during the early 1970s. Founded by R. Murray Schafer, the WSP studied acoustic environments in natural and human settings, and has spawned numerous books and diverse careers in philosophy, urban design, composition, and theater. Virtually all of the artists represented in this greenmuseum.org sound art show have been fundamentally influenced by Schafer's work. One of the key contributions of the WSP was to develop a vocabulary for investigating and describing the functions, social context, associations, and individual or community responses to various sorts of sounds encountered in our daily lives.
Related to acoustic ecology is the academic discipline of Bioacoustics, or the study of animal vocalizations and the perception of sound by animals, and the recent BioMusic project, which explores the ways that some animal songs bear melodic or structural resemblance to human musics, and so suggests that music may pre-date and transcend human history.
In more recent years, acoustic ecology has taken a larger role in environmental advocacy. Beginning with concerns about airplane overflights, and expanding to include conflicts between motorized and quiet recreation, protection of "soundscape resources" is becoming a part of the land management equation. The National Park Service has led the way in this regard, establishing a soundscape office that works to establish soundscape resource surveys in parks nationwide. Most recently, ocean acoustics has emerged as a "hot issue", centering on the effects of manmade noise on whales and fish. Recent reports from the National Academies of Science, Office of Naval Research, and non profit organizations have called for the creation of ocean-wide sound maps and better research into the effects of human noise on ocean wildlife.
The protection of "natural quiet" and awareness of our acoustic impacts are rapidly increasing concerns among both grassroots activists and scientists. This movement can be seen in calls for regulation of airplane overflights and other noise intrusions in wilderness areas and national parks, by increasing awareness of the need for urban sound refuges, and in protests about the effects of extremely loud military experiments in the seas. (See AcousticEcology.org for more on all of this.)
Notice how so many of the human sounds are mechanical, the voices not of us, but of our machines. How is it that we have claimed the right to make so much noise, with so little thought?
-greenmuseum.org/c/vop/vop_onsoundscapes.php
Sometimes, I get shy, and tell people I'm a "nature sound recordist." But actually, I'm a composer for the instrument-or orchestra of instruments-called "nature." And, I'm composing through the whole process of my work.
-Jonathon Storm (quotes from the Field)/ greenmuseum.org/c/vop/vop_quotes.php
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