Author: Francis Burgin

Original Quote:

‘There cannot be ‘a’ response to the performance, only a patchwork of responses that might be stitched together to give a ‘democratic’ account of the event. But even if he, or I, were to track down attendees at the concert and quiz them on their experience, their responses would be mediated through the unreliable filter of memory. Even if it had been possible to rig machines to record the brain activity, nerve responses, heartbeat and other reactions of audience members at the time, we would still only be left with another partial account.’

Paraphrased:

In ‘Sound, Music, Affect: Theorising Sonic Experience’, Thompson explores the sonic effects of the listeners’ presence within a sound performance. Each audience member has a one-of-one unique experience of the performance due to physical and psychological factors. For example, there are measurable variations created by milliseconds of difference in the direct and reverberated sound reaching their ears, due to their physical space in a listening area. This, alongside a person’s emotional reaction to a music piece, makes it impossible for a truly accurate measurement of the effectiveness of the performance to be made when multiple listeners are present. (Biddle, I, D., Thompson, M., (2013) Sound, Music, Affect: Theorising Sonic Experience, Bloomsbury p. 77)

Bibliography:

Biddle, I, D., Thompson, M., (2013) Sound, Music, Affect: Theorising Sonic Experience, Bloomsbury p. 77

For my 2-3 Minute track required for the Audio Fundamentals assessment, I am starting by deciding how I will explore a sense of place as this is the primary focus of the track. Having recently moved from Bournemouth to London for Uni, I think it is fitting for me to try and encapsulate the emotion of moving to a new place in my recordings.

One interest I’ve had for a long time- probably due to growing up with my brother- is public transport. Trains, Buses and travel networks. When I think of London as a place, TFL always comes to mind for me, due to its distinctive and effective graphic / audio design. During my final year of sixth form, I explored the visual design elements of travel networks across the world, including TFL, RATP (Paris) and JR (Japan). Studying the graphical design of these networks led me to create my own travel network for Brighton ‘Brightline’!

Completing this project led me to explore the sound design for the Tokyo Metro, and I was interested in the work of Minoru Mukaiya, who composed the arrival melodies linked below.

Being inspired by field recordings that capture the atmosphere of public transport like this, I decided I would incorporate them into my assignment.

One of my first ideas for field recording after learning to use the Zoom H5 in Rory’s workshop was to capture the melodies and ambience of London’s transport. Over this week, using the Zoom H5, I captured the sounds of the bus, the Tube, and Waterloo station. The raw recordings are in WAV, but mp3s linked below:

At first, I was most focused on capturing the melodies and ‘jingles’ eg. the train arrivals, but after a few recordings and listening back to them all at home, I think the ambience of the train station and bus are really effective recordings that could definitely be used as a drone noise with some EQ and reverb effects. Also, the recordings of the train announcements will definitely be used in the ‘voice speaking a text’ part of the assignment.

At this stage, I am starting to use the recordings to make an ambient track with layers of ambience from recordings and instruments. I will include drum breaks that if possible, are recorded by me in the studio as well. I miss recording my drums!

For this task to find a piece that utilises sound shaping, it took a while for me to find a good choice but I decided on Hailod Zerrox Copy 9 by Alva Noto.

The reason I think this piece can be well described and understood through spectromorphology is mostly due to the use of subtle automations and movement throughout the entire composition, creating layers of white noise and bass. As well as this, small bursts and oscillations give the track lots of character.

I really enjoyed today’s class studying Ableton’s session view, and I felt that it helped me clearly understand the benefits of the software compared to the FL Studio (my most used DAW). After the lesson, I made a quick remix of a song from a game I have been passionate about for ages mainly due to its soundtrack- Ace Attorney!

I used a mix of drum loops and bass from my drive, as well as a field recording of birds (the firework-esque noise) as well as basic filters and effects. I added these into session view and recorded them live by using the different scenes :).

My choice for a laptop DJ performance is one of my favourite DJ’s- Dazegxd’s- set at Wazeima in February 2024. Even though the set isn’t incredibly experimental in any way, his blending of genres is flawless and the set has an incredibly high energy. I was surprised when I saw this set as I was familiar with Dazegxd as a jersey club / house artist on Spotify / Soundcloud, but his sets incorporate original jungle and techno tracks, as well as mixes of rap songs.

Underneath is a video of when I saw him live in February this year, and the energy was some of the best I’ve ever seen. I find it hard to articulate the technical side of what I enjoyed about dj sets as it’s not a medium I’ve ever deeply explored, but seeing him resonated a lot with me and came to mind when set this task.

For my task to choose a song that utilises the sound of the medium, one that immediately came to mind was the Smashing Pumpkins’ mayonnaise. The song was recorded on Billy Corgan’s cheap guitar with broken pickups- this made it create high pitched feedback whenever he stopped playing. You can hear it clearly at 1:58 in the song, and it’s one of the most interesting and defining elements of the composition!

As well as creating the iconic squeal noise it also forces the Guitar to be played nonstop which creates a really full and almost overwhelming sound when paired with the distortion.

For my task to worldize sound, I wanted to focus on the sounds of different parts of London. I decided the best way to do this was to accompany the sound with a video to visualise the space it was being recorded in! Overall, I’m happy with the outcome of the piece although I was surprised that through the mic of an old iPhone, the sound was still clear and didn’t change massively between most of the clips. The subtle differences and background noise still come through clearly though!

The song recorded is a part of a jungle track by me from January this year 🙂

All my life, I have been interested in sound and music. Whether it was just listening to a favourite song or hearing the noise the tracks made when a train comes, listening to sound has always been a significant part of my life. 

My introduction to Sound Arts was definitely through learning the drums around 7 years ago, because it was the first real chance I had to create my own sounds and music rather than just consume or appreciate it. At the start of my practice, I wasn’t familiar with the term Sound Art, and although I definitely would have considered music to be an art form, I never consciously created anything with the intent of making ‘art’.

What really got me immersed in the art world was through meeting artists at my job as a gallery assistant for the past 3 years. To be honest, I spent a lot of the time I should’ve been painting the walls or taking down work talking to various artists about their practice, motivations, and experiences. They gave me a new perspective on art, and through them asking for my opinions on their work / how to curate the exhibitions, I felt like much more of a participant with art rather than an observer.

Essentially, I chose to study sound arts because I am hoping it will allow me to use my technical skills in music to develop my own creative art practice. Films and games are also two of my longest standing and biggest interests, hence why I chose design! Personally, effective and interesting application of sound within media is almost always what most resonates with me for the longest time after consuming. For example, the film that accompanies Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, tells a complete and captivating story even with the lack of any dialogue, due to its use of music.

Sound, particularly within a 3D environment such as VR, has the ability to entirely immerse the user in a way that traditional music cannot. Being interested in this aspect of sound design, I am looking forward to experimenting with audio engines such as Wwise and Steam Audio in the coming months.