her works which included a lot of texture and use of contact mic is inspiring, especially the terracotta structure with terracotta rings around it. the sound it produced were distinctive and I would like to use them in future, explore with contact mic.
Many of them were quite and consists of strings
Currently I’m concentrating on directing myself to be more involved with sound design for screen as a gradual extension of my interest in movies. The major reason being my newfound interest in exploring the field of field recording and concentrating on detailed sound though most of my current practice are more related to music and performance. This also opens up the door to be part of both detail oriented work such as research and my creative practice for screen. Recently I have been able to start researching on topics related to ecology and sound, such as this project.
I hope to continue working on more science-based work with sound art as a part of the outcome and will try to develop there gained information into both sound and something in physical form using the skills I have gained during previous years.
It was decided to make it into a stereo rather than a 7.4.1 though I did start processing it. The main reason was my poor time management, and I was not able to book the studio for the final mixing. If my timing was better managed, then I could have given more attention to the level of signals being passing better. As a part of making into stereo I avoided panning though there are points when right side is much louder.
The work had developed lot more than where it began to have multiple sources of water bodies together as an extension of my previous project. This one is funkier at times and has better refines elements to narrate a story which has naturally took its shape. The
Most of the highly manipulated tracks has become the atmosphere and the raw ones have become the star of the composition. At times it does become chaotic, but I have managed to balance it with stronger sound with more bass
The process started with selecting the category of souds I’ll be using, for this a map was made picturing the flow of sound as given below:
the mapping of the structure to follow
A most important point was to keep the middle portion in the five minutes empty in the in the noinput layer and to have blend in and out of crackling sound of ice. The middle 20 seconds would be just the sound from the wavefarm recording I have recorded online from the broadcast station. But somehow it kept sounding odd while mixing and had to reduce the the empty bit but introducing more sounds of birds and howls into the mix.
Since this is the first time, I am independently using the set up, I did makes loads of mistakes and were not able to have long snippets. Many got monotonous even after trying to edit then in postproduction. It was solved by multiplying and reversing the tracks, but there were more internal feedback than I expected, leaving me with very few. By second time I was more in control and had better output, still there were technical issues because the output from left was just sine wave and it did interact with the right at some point. This did slow me down more than other layers.
Something interesting I got to experience was, trying to figure out the logistics of setting up the stem for all three layers separately and where to start from. I was not sure about how I have to start developing a multichannel work, but as time went by, I found the starting point to be the noinput layer to fix the final structure I can follow. This idea was short lived since I had to move strategy to be based on the live recording of the water body since I wanted to keep it in the same structure without much manipulation.
I have tried keeping the wavefarm track as raw as possible with necessary editing and enhancements to support make it a support system as well, such as made it more ambient. Using pen tool edit the pops has been both boon and a bane because it did help in making certain sound clear but certain been became a flop though I managed to have a straight line.
Initially the idea was to record a pond/ lake or a live source such as a shallow river where in a quitter place compared to an extremely busy Themes. As a part of my research I found two location apt for the recording
It is comparatively a shallow river and there are bridges from where I can record. The place has a bit of hike so its quitter and there are chances of river ecosystem being livelier.
This is a lake generally used for swimming but and it would be a good mix of human interaction with the nature if I am able to get good recordings.
There are dock like structures which are perfect to get setup ready without worrying about interface being wet.Their website: https://www.diverscove.co.uk
The idea was abandoned as the essay developed and took a turn in the direction of dividing the discussion based on different categories of contribution towards climate change and global warming. I tried accessing PALAOA, the Perennial Acoustic Observatory in the Antarctic Ocean, since it is an open access broadcasting station. It was found that it was shut down few years ago. But there are other stations all around the world who transmits live hydrophone recording of their farms and ponds. the one I used is Locustream Sound map and I was able to find a wave farm station:
Locustream Soundmap (no date). Available at: https://locusonus.org/soundmap/ (Accessed: 6 May 2024).
Wavefarm recording
Tried recording the sound of people swimming and moving my feet underwater in swimming motion, it was extremely chaotic to be used in this piece. I kept losing balance while trying to mix it together. It was as annoying as working with unwanted wind recordings.
While recording it was noticed that the recording made using sound device interface along with an Aquarian Hydrophone H2A was much easier to edit than when I tried it with a Zoom H5 interface. There were no hissing and better clarity.
Pool recording
Sound for recording the crackling of ice was done using hydrophone in a glass with large size ice with and water. I tried to record it using a SM57 pointed to the ice but it didn’t have the sonic movement
It is a new practive I have been learning and was able to include as a part of my work. Though I have done it before, I have never set it up therefore it was a bit confusing to make the theory I am familiar with into a practical practice. Though the process is simple to connect output back into input as feedback. This csn be done in multiple ways and the most interesting is when it is connected to Aux. the process is largely based on self exploration since every individual’s preference varies. This has helped me in other unit as well, later on.
For this project the recording was done while I was exploring how to use the method of noinput under controlled level of sound. I tried to make it harmonious but wasn’t very successful. As a substitute I used synth for a touch of melodious. This was included after
Sample of a track used
Waves and creaking was recorded around here
The second layer of sound I have used are mostly recordings from Lisbon and Luxembourg. It is the layering of sound which is a mix of water bodies which includes, sea shore, dock, echo of people speaking in different structures, birds sound near a water body, dams etc.
The recording was tricky because left side of my headphones was not working and it was windy. There were times when I was not able to listen to what I was recording.
This these recording are mostly for fillers and to manage the tempo of the structure.
The essay discusses about ecology related to waterbodies and what are the contributions sound artis have been able contribute till date. This was discussed using multiple examples from different sound artists who have been involved with underwater sound in their own way. It was split into two categories, first being the section of artists who have tried contributing to the field of science by observing underwater recordings recorded as part of their work but were able to observe changes in water leading to discoveries of movement in species or changes in global warming. The second category is when the artists were able to use sound relater to water in different form to bring awareness about global warming and other climate changes.
The essay became an inspiration for my personal project by trying to include different modes of underwater sounds. My main idea is to have both synthetic and natural sound of water. Have been thinking of including all kind of sound of water sources, such as water dam, waterfall (if I can find any), waves, swimming pool (people swimming and just the water flow). The reasoning for including different sources is to bring the concept off all activity conducted by us as a part of our daily life does impact elevate from my previous project where I mostly concentrated on waves and underwater recording of Thames using hydrophones.
The reasoning for me wanteing to include sound in outside of water but related to it. Its inspired by something said by Annea Lockwood, It was mentioned in one of her interview about how the consistency of soil or the ground is involved in the mounding of the sound of each water source (Weiner, 2017). These leads to the idea that sound of water we listen to are heavily depended on the surrounding around us and the physicality of its flow. This lead to thought of trying to include waterfall and smaller dams or even water in puddle when it is drizzling or storming.
The idea is to make it into a 7.4.1, since I tried to mix my previos water based project with more stem into a 7.4.1 system where I was able to control the height and direction. The results were amazing and was able to immerse the studio to feel as if its right next to a shore but in an another imaginary planet. This gave the idea to use the height variation for the main water body stem. Might be able to give a feeling of wave, have to learn more about the plugins to be used.
Refence: The Sensual Sound Studies of Annea Lockwood (no date). Available at: https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/09/annea-lockwood-interview interview (Accessed: 4 June 2024).
The lecture given by Berk Yagli was inspiring and a reason to include noinput into my work. Though most of the work shown by him were related to making use of noise made using objects and to transform them into something unrecognisable.
How will Varispeed warp look on recording of water flowing?
Will it be annoying or as soothing as the original ? Is it possible to mix both of them together
I have tried using LFE in 7.1 system set up but I am not sure how to use them in regular work. it will be a good combination to use LFE and delay like it was mentioned underwater mix.