Month: December 2025

During Week Ten’s session on listening and the soundscape, I was initially overwhelmed by the volume of terminology created and defined by R Murray Schafer. Terms such as ‘Earwitness’, ‘Schizophonia’, and ‘Acoustic Ecology’ seemed at first to be buzzwords created in order to justify Schafer’s controversial views on the purity of sounds within a space. Before diving into these terms, I want to discuss some of Hildegard Westerkamp’s ideas of soundscape composition in relation to composition for Video Games.

Westerkamp’s (2002) view that soundscape studies are ‘the study of the interrelationship between sound, nature and society’ reminded me of an interview by Jennifer Walden featuring CD Projekt RED sound designer Paweł Daudzward (2021), in which he discussed how the ‘Distinct Ambiences for all six regions’ in the game Cyberpunk 2077 were created. He explained how the built-up urban areas of the game needed to feel ‘heavy, oppressive and dirty’, showing that the fragile relationships between society, nature and the player (humans) described by Westercamp were considered in order to bring the dystopian and unnatural setting of Night City to life. There is a complete lack of nature recordings, and foley is limited to the roar of car engines and multiple layers of human noise (voices, footsteps, etc). Having experienced these areas of the game, I think that the practice of amplifying sounds that Schafer would describe as ‘boring’ and ‘destructive’ is what makes the soundscape of Cyberpunk 2077 so eerily convincing to the player. This is why I believe that contentious claims made by Schafer that certain sounds must be ‘eliminated’ are counterproductive and limit the possibilities of what can be achieved when crafting and shaping a convincing soundscape, particularly in a digital setting.

Out of all of Schafer’s terms, I find ‘Schizophonia’ to be the most interesting. His initial definition- that electroacoustically reproduced sounds are ‘aberrational’- doesn’t necessarily imply that he regarded them as ‘destructive’ and in need of being eliminated. Instead, it seems that although Schafer views said sounds to be abnormal, he never claimed they could not be used as an effective tool to craft a soundscape. He is simply highlighting the distinct difference between sounds with an original source and those without. However, his term ‘Moozak’ that describes schizophonic sounds as ‘musical drool’ confuses the original definition. In my opinion, these two terms can co-exist without implying that all schizophonic sounds are unwanted ‘drool’; this is because Moozak is used primarily to describe sounds heard in public places. Therefore, I believe that in using the term Moozak, Schafer was aiming to describe the negatives of being bombarded with electroacoustic noise in everyday life, meaning that Schizophonic sounds can still be effective when mixed with ‘pure’ recordings or in the creation of entirely digital soundscapes.

Reference list

Westerkamp, H. (2002) ‘Linking soundscape composition and acoustic ecology’, Organised Sound, 7(1), pp. 51–56.Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771802001085

Walden, J. (2021) Cyberpunk 2077: inventing the Sound of the Future. Available at: https://www.asoundeffect.com/cyberpunk-2077-sound/ (Accessed: 10 December 2025).

Having chosen the design pathway of the course because of my interests in media such as films and video games, I was eager to begin to learn about how sound design for film relates to sound arts practice in a historical and contemporary sense.

The first thing that interested me about this session was the history of sound for picture. Having been interested in film for a long time but never taking any classes in film studies, this was my first formal introduction to the history of film in a classroom. I found the exercise of assessing wether sounds were recorded on set or added in post-production interesting as I would usually consider post-production editing to be a relatively modern development; seeing that Experimental early sound film 1905 ‘Five O’Clock Tea’ was produced by combining pre-recorded audio with a lip synced performance was surprising to me and demonstrated that the techniques that are more convenient today (like recording live on set) have taken over a decade to develop.

One discussion in class that surfaced repeatedly over the unit, but particularly in this session, was how sound design is commonly viewed as subservient to another medium (e.g. film) rather than being viewed as its own art form. Whilst others in the class saw this view to be harmful and counterproductive to the practice of sound art, I am a firm believer that sound, being used as an accessory to other artistic mediums demonstrates its value more than it denounces it. Whether it be gallery viewings with background music, film, Television, or video games, the fact that sound can be used to greatly enhance and shape these mediums demonstrates its flexibility and universal appeal. Although sound- especially in film- often goes unnoticed by the viewer, it nearly always completely dictates the emotional impact of a scene. I believe that sound’s ability to do this, whilst acting as a supplement to another piece, makes it truly unique and in no way reduces its credibility as an art form. When listened to on its own, sound is a rather ‘2D’ medium- in the sense that without the presence of picture, it is (for the most part) unable to act empathetically or diegetically (to communicate existing emotion) or Anempathetically / non-diegetically (to drastically shift the emotion felt in the medium). To put it simply, when acting as a supplement to film, sound is given more opportunity to be ‘3D’ and introduces more variation.

Following this session, I was motivated to continue to develop my technical sound design skills learnt in Jake and Jose’s sessions, such as synthesis. After some more experimentation with this, I will be eager to collaborate with other students in the film school.

Out of the two gallery visits in the Intro to Sound Arts unit, LINKED was definitely my favourite of the two. Before visiting, I visited Graeme Miller’s website and loved the concept of creating a sort of time capsule of recorded sound, immortalising people’s narratives and experiences. Upon arriving at Leytonstone Library, I was lucky enough to have a one-on-one chat with Miller in which I gained an insight into his personal musical and artistic background. The rare privilege of being able to speak to the artist behind a work about their motivations always improves my personal understanding and enjoyment of a piece. I felt this to be especially true with this specific sound artwork, as Miller’s experience living in the local area was central to the themes and process behind LINKED. His anecdotes about his relationship with the individuals featured in the recordings were invaluable, and I don’t think I would have felt the same connection with the work if it weren’t for my conversation with Miller.

After taking an hour or so to experience the piece, we were invited to have a group conversation, sharing our thoughts and feelings about the experience. In my opinion, the most interesting conversation we had was about the importance of the presence (or lack) of listeners. Miller’s view on this was that the listeners were an integral part of the experience; on his website, Miller (2025) states that the work is ‘in perpetual dialogue with the walker/listener who animates the work with their attention’. His views in this quote and in person suggest that the work is inactive when not being listened to. Personally, though, I believe that the lack of a listener’s presence can be just as valuable to a work of this sort. In our discussion, we mentioned a transmitter near Leytonstone tube station that was inaudible due to the construction of a new radio tower nearby. I find this disruption to go hand in hand with the themes of LINKED; the endless desperation of people telling their stories repeatedly, even when disrupted by continued development, is powerful. Although, after talking to Miller, I know this wasn’t intended at first, it adds a completely new layer to the artwork and was my strongest takeaway from the visit.

In my future works, I would like to further explore the concept of unheard and/or disrupted sound that I experienced during this visit.

Reference list

Miller, G. (2025) LINKED. Available at: https://graememiller.org/project/linked/ (Accessed: 9 December 2025).

Personally, the contact mic workshop with Rory was definitely one of my favourite sessions in the unit. For the past few years, physical electronics have been one of my bigger interests, and I have spent a lot of time on personal projects such as undergoing repairs on phones and iPods, as well as building and fixing computers for friends and (a few) paying clients! Because of this, I knew that I would enjoy the workshop- my soldering skills are adequate- so I felt quite comfortable with this element of the mic building.

Although I did have some prior electronics experience, I had never created any audio equipment before, so I was unfamiliar with how to connect most of the components, for example, the AUX jack and piezo elements. I found soldering the cables to the different contacts of the AUX jack challenging, due to the small size of the jack’s interior as well as the requirement to keep the wires from touching. This, alongside the uneven heat of the soldering iron, made the start of the workshop more challenging than I initially expected. I was also unfamiliar with how to attach the cable housing snugly without interfering with the wires. This took some time, but after some advice from Rory and more force than I expected, I managed to connect and house the wires correctly.

When testing the mic, I was surprised that it worked the first try perfectly, and I was impressed by the signal quality that could be achieved through two piezo elements and affordable equipment. Since finishing the workshop, I haven’t had the chance to test the mic as it is still being waterproofed; however, I experimented with the Geophone mic from the kit room whilst on the Greenwich trip with Jose. I found that contact mic recordings can be manipulated into effective percussive sounds, such as kick drums recorded by stomping on the ground near the mic. I have also been talking to my course mate Isaac about his experimentation converting a retro drum toy into a programmable drum machine with a direct output. This aspect of sound art interests me a lot, and I am excited to continue experimenting with physical electronics to create unique effects and samples by going to the Creative Technology Hub and using their equipment. I will also experiment with creating guitar pedals over Christmas, as my friend has recently taken it up; I am looking forward to learn the process.

Below are two photos of my contact mic- one work in progress and one of the finished product.

Before starting the course, I had heard of the practice of sound walking, mostly from the perspective of improving audio mixing skills from online tutorials. The concept is similar to what we learnt in Jose’s first session, listening to an environment blindfolded and plotting down a ‘soundscan’ visualised in circles. Recreating the 3D space heard in real life in a DAW helps to develop skills of sound placement and creating a wide, realistic mix. Despite this limited experience, I had never consciously done a sound walk for an extended amount of time over a larger area such as Elephant and Castle.

As it was my first sound walk, I initially struggled to divert the entirety of my focus to what I was hearing. The visual clutter in the area made it easy to lose concentration on sound, and I found myself being distracted by the happenings of the city, as well as the reactions of my peers in the group. This exercise helped demonstrate clearly how active listening is a skill that can take years to develop, as clearing my mind and focusing wholly on what was audible proved very challenging. Because of these distractions, once we had completed the sound walk, I found it hard to realise what I had experienced and taken from the activity. However, I found that sharing my experience with the class in the discussion that followed, as well as hearing other people’s perspectives on the experience, helped give me a much clearer understanding of the basics of sound walk practice.

For me, the element of sound walking that has been most interesting is when a walk is done using headphones and a recording device. Following Rory’s first session on field recording, I took a Zoom H5 to areas of the London underground and train stations, using the directionality of its mic arrangement to isolate and amplify sound sources that wouldn’t be heard otherwise. I found that I was hearing some higher frequencies, such as the stretching and scratching of the escalator handle, that I had never noticed before whilst in the same areas I had visited many times. Combining this experience with listening to Hildegard Westerkamp’s 1989 Kits Beach Sound Walk, I became fascinated with the idea of manipulating field recordings from sound walks by either removing frequencies or adding completely new sounds. Whilst some people in class thought this was negative and took away from the ‘purity’ of the recording, I found it to be positive as it allows the recorder to shape a listening experience that would otherwise be impossible to hear ‘naturally’.