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Summary

In the audio part of the project, the most important, I didn’t have a set plan for how it would go or what it would sound like at the end, just a general idea. I knew it would have a space feel to it, because of the use of synthesizers, and I knew there would be hard hits in there from recordings from around the city. The piece starts completely futuristic, and eerie, and the urban recordings come in to the composition gradually; there is no massive build up in this piece, it is very gradual and even though there are points where it may sound like there will be a drop, there really isn’t. This was not something done by accident, or from a lack of imagination either, because I feel this reflects the visual piece; the more dominant being the painting that represents the synths, and although it is breaking apart in areas and the sketch is coming through, representing the recordings, it never fully takes over. There are some sounds that you hear that are obvious they are recordings, such as the water dripping and the saw sound at the end, some sounds that you may question, like the low bass rumble you hear that kicks in half way through being from a construction site, and the there are some that I have manipulated in the piece where you may not take a second thought as to whether they’re recordings or not, for example the distorted, slightly white noise you hear is in fact a recording of a train leaving the station; from that same recording I have left the steam from the train as it was without being touched, which appears every now and then in the audio. I never experienced any problems with managing my time in this project, even when I lost my composition at 1 minute in and had to redo it, and with the creating the art piece as well, because time management is something I personally am good at in general; this is why I wasn’t afraid to take on a large painting/sketch along with a long composition.

For my own personal aims and objectives, I see myself as completing all of them: before this I had been apart of a group doing field recordings, and after it I couldn’t really explain what happened, so for this project I made it a priority to incorporate field recordings into the composition and I myself will retrieve the recordings using equipment I have never used before, because I wanted to challenge myself. After using The Marantz recording kit, I now have a lot of confidence for using it and other zoom mics in the future; not only for the technology side of it, but also realising that when walking around with the mic in my hand it seemed as though more sounds were jumping out at me and I was thinking about what I could do with the sounds before even putting them into my project. I first started off using Logic years ago and it was always my more preferred piece of software, but being at university pretty much everything is done on Pro Tools, so I lost touch with Logic, this is why becoming re-acquainted with it was a necessity to me and why I chose this software. Gaining knowledge on the history and conducting research was not only a requirement on the list for this project for everyone, but for my chosen project I felt it was very important; experimental music, something that isn’t mainstream and known to everyone, needs an explanation of the history – where it started, what’s been done since and what’s happening today. I have done, I feel, an extensive amount of research not only on the history of how experimental music came about – through the likes of John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer – but also pieces written but those that are passionate about the joining of audio and visual – such as The Noises of Art conference – and other work and exhibitions that show the importance of this joining of different art forms, like how they did at The National Gallery in London with the likes of composers and DJ’s creating audio pieces to accompany visual art pieces. Another part of this project was having our work reach the public, and although this has not happened yet it will be happening as part of an exhibition that will be taking place next year, this is why I displayed my work as it would be when it will be in the exhibition, as follows:

The most difficult thing I found in this project was trying to get my work out there, whether that be online or as part of an exhibition, and this is I feel because of the combination between audio and visual not being something you come across all the time, and if it wasn’t for Emily being part of the ESP group then I would have chosen to set up the project somewhere on university campus, with headphones and the description next to the art piece for anyone to listen to. Although I see that I could have involved more recorded sounds into the piece, I am happy with the sounds I did record, and that I have used one recording a couple of times in different ways to the point where you would think they were separate recordings, and as I have previously stated, the synths being slightly more dominant reflects my message and my art piece. In reflection of my audio project I am really happy with the outcome and the steps I took to get there; not only is my art piece what I pictured it to be at the beginning in the ideas stage, but my audio piece I feel has achieved what I wanted it to and it reflects the message I put forward, and I am happy with me newly gained knowledge on experimental music and seeing that there has been a lot of work into the combination of different art platforms, getting rid of the boundaries between them.

 

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Research

Conducting more research was something of importance to me in my project because what I have chosen to do is not something you come across everyday; an experimental audio piece with visual art. To begin with I hadn’t actually realised that my idea fell into a niche subject, so I wanted to know why it was and how/if this is something that people are aware of and wanting to change. Throughout our tutorials Emily has always mentioned pieces that she believes would be of interest to me, and books and other forms of literature I should read, and one of those was a keynote lecture by Hildegard Westerkamp.

Westerkamp, a composer, radio artist and sound ecologist (the study of the relationship between humans and their environment in sound, sometimes known as soundscape studies) gave a keynote lecture at the London School of Sound – a school of integration of sound, music, recordings and sound art – stating that her intention is “to build connections between the professional ear… the media ear… and the ‘daily life’ ear” (Westerkamp, 2009: 111). Opening the lecture following the applause received after being introduced she dove straight into a hearing exercise for the audience; she described the acoustics of the room “special” so she got the audience to applaud again as she wanted them to pay attention to the many different sounds being transmitted around the room. Evidently she has travelled quite a bit and, in regards to sound, that is something very important to her, as she says she wants to know the source of a sound, and there’s something she calls ‘travellers ear’; it’s different than the normal ear. When being in a new place you start to pick up on the new, foreign sounds around you, but this can be something that we do subconsciously – a sound you heard for the first time in a different place, when hearing that again somewhere else it takes you back to that original place, whether you remember when you heard that sound or not. Also something she mentioned when travelling is the fact that she can’t really escape having to go on planes, something she isn’t a fan of because when watching/listening to films on a plane you can’t hear it properly because the plane is just too noisy. Something significant that made Westerkamp so intrigued by the listening ear is that she was apart of the World Soundscape Project in the 70s with R. Murray Schafer which lead to “daily life listening suddenly became a conscious act” (Westerkamp, 2009:114) especially as the WSP was about wanting to know absolutely everything they could about sound, from the how the ear functions to the work of the acoustical engineer. This is something I think is important, that there is/was an organisation filled with people who are so committed to the world of sound, which is another thing that has opened up experimental music. Following on from mentioning this importance, the next topic she moved on to was her own compositions, and the process she takes and how she feels about her work; most of her compositions consist of sounds that she has gone out and retrieved herself, but all of them are based on environmental recordings, aiming to have a message in her pieces – this could be about ecology or the form of listening itself.

The more conscious we are of how sound functions in the environment… the more consciously sound will inform our own work with sound. (Westerkamp, 2009:124)

Throughout this lecture she really emphasizes the importance of listening, and it is just as powerful as the sounds themselves, using the example to back this of film soundtrack designers understanding this as they are very good at knowing how to capture the audience with sounds, drawing them in with what they are hearing along with what they are seeing. Something that was of interest to me when reading this paper was that she has been trying to define what a soundscape is, feeling that it has become obscured throughout the years, but on the flip side she also says “the soundscape gives information about the relationship between listener and the environment” (Westerkamp, 2009:116) so dwelling on this too much and its definition will take away it’s essence. It leaves me with the question, can you define a soundscape? Because there isn’t one simple path to creating one, a beginning or an end, a formula, so how can something like this have a clear definition? On the subject of soundscapes, she says they have the ability to bring out images in the listener’s mind, but if incorporated into a film where you are given the visuals, the soundscape creates an atmosphere for how we experience the viewing. My piece echoes this as I have provided the visuals which reflect what you hear; you look at the art piece, while the audio acts as the soundtrack. Reading this keynote lecture I enjoyed knowing that there are people out there that are this passionate about sound, and listening, and what they represent and the effects they can have on us, consciously or not, and that soundscapes are yes about the use of environmental recordings and if chosen the use of synths as well, but there isn’t, in my mind, a clear definition; it is left to the listener.

The visual art approaches soundscape with more interest in contextual that timbral aspects, and representational significance is more emphasized. (Rudi, 2016)

A shore piece that I myself found and read was The Noises of Art (2013), opening with saying that it was in the 1960s with the rise of pop art and installations is what has “eluded categorization” – the boundaries have started to dissolve – and then there was the ability for inspirations to be drawn on between different art forms. An artist mentioned in this was Robert Rauschenberg, who was apart of the pop art movement, and that he drew influence from John Cage by applying random composition (chance) in his music to visual art. The earlier combinations of different art forms; mainly audio and visual. Something I found of interest that was mentioned in this conference piece is that they see the growth of the digital age aiding the combination of different media forms, this because the internet has the ability to preserve all information, and being able to share it, so it is easy to access different forms of art – music, film, art etc. Another thing mentioned that intrigued me, especially about the visual part of my project, is that in psychology, neuroscience and psychiatry etc. they used to view vision as the more prioritised sense, yet this has come under question as the growth of audio and visual combinations unites the two sensory modes equally – this new view brings the challenge to creative practitioners “to acknowledge the artificial separation of expressive modes and to articulate a sense of their connectedness.” (The School of Art, 2013).

A sense should not be prioritised over the others, so the joining of audio and visual is an important step and I’m happy that I chose to incorporate both in my project, and to see once again that this is an important thing that people are taking notice of.

References:

Rudi, J. (2016) Soundscape as Social Construct. [online] Norway: NOTAM. Available from: http://users.notam02.no/~joranru/Soundscape_as_a_social_construct.pdf [Accessed 13 December 2016].

The School of Art. (2013) The Noises of Art. Audiovisual Practice in History Theory and Culture, Aberystwyth University, 4-6 September. Aberystwyth:  The Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Westerkamp, H. (2009) School of Sound Symposium, London 2009; Keynote Lecture. London: Intellect Ltd. 111-126.

 

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History

For anyone that has ever come across experimental music should have heard the names John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer, two people that have helped pave the way for the creative artists of today to not be constricted in their work; with many of their works with technology being what has shaped the industry today.

John Cage had an amateur artist and journalist for a mother, and an inventor for father (an inventor who has said to have been “both revolutionary and eccentric” (Wolf, 2016)) and grew up being a pianist and a writer, which evidently was not his real passion as was proved by his work later on in life, especially as he made to drop out of college as he felt he was not being challenged enough as a writer. Evidently more ambitious and creative than anyone could have realized, including himself. His first experience with different art forms came after leaving college and going travelling, experiencing painting and architecture, and this travelling opened him up to Asian philosophy, which is said to have influenced his work later on; as well as influences from composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky being quite divers himself, creating scores in all types of genres. As the years went by Cage started to experiment more and more with technology and sound, and then in 1952 he made quite possibly his most popular piece; 4’33”. This was displayed in a concert hall where David Tudor, a fellow composer of experimental music, sat down at a piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds and didn’t play one single note – this piece was about the ambience created by the audience in the concert hall, left up to chance, which was something important to John Cage. Chance, which he saw as an important factor. Another influential piece was Theatre Piece No.1 (1952) that really combined numerous different art forms – this included poetry readings, dance, film, projections, art and music – and this included Cage himself either giving a lecture or being completely silent. This piece was also a chance exhibition as the participants were left to do whatever they pleased at their assigned intervals. Many have praised John Cage for his experimental work which is said to have paved the way post-modern art, breaking down the barriers which then existed between the different forms of art; showing this by challenging the conception that music has to consist of only the traditional instruments.

“Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at 50 m.p.h. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them, not as sound effects, but as musical instruments” (Kostelanetz, 1968)

Pierre Schaeffer is another figure that has been extremely influential in the world of electronic music, being known for his radical innovations as a composer, engineer, educator and philosopher (Patrick, 2016) and it was he who coined the term Musique Concrète – experimental music that consists of recorded sounds, and the identity of those sounds being manipulated, these sounds being from the environment to instruments as well as the use of synthesizers. Schaeffer drew inspiration from Futurist Luigi Russolo, who in The Art of Noise says “machines create today such a larger number of varied noises that pure sound, with its littleness and its monotony, now fails to arouse any emotion” (Russolo, 1913:5) this boosting Schaeffer’s experimental mind, then receiving a grant to put his experimental ideas into music and technology, into practice. In 1942 he then had his own studio The Studio d’ Escai’ (then renamed Club d’ Escai) and this he filled with a massive library of sound effects – important for any musical experimentalist – and mixers. A few years later he then created the first studio that specialized in electroacoustic music with Pierre Henry, also a composer considered a pioneer in electronic music. Electroacoustic music basically being any form of technology that works with sounds, so the ability of whichever piece of technology having the ability to manipulate or create different sounds from recordings. This studio was names Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète  and it was here that not only did they have countless innovations, but they were also successful in technology;  amongst these successes being creating looping and a three track recorder. All of this work shows that his aim was to join together music and science, and to bring technology to the forefront rather than it being in the background of an end product because as he says “why should a civilization which so missuses its power have, or deserve, a normal music?” (Patrick, 2016). Pierre Schaeffer, just as John Cage, opened up everything at their time and this has majorly shaped and influenced todays music, as music no longer consists of purely natural instruments; a composition could now be made purely from recordings and effects, just as he did when manipulating his own field recordings, both natural and mechanical.

Although there have been many experimental composers that have influenced what we know it to be today, Cage and Schaeffer are the two that I feel have paved the way in reflection to my own project. John Cage being because he was very much interested in joining together different arm forms and showing there are no boundaries, and this is something that has influenced me personally in my work seeing as I have combined sound and visual together in one piece. Schaeffer was very forward on showing that compositions can consist of recordings and synthesizers only but still be music, and this is what I have achieved; recordings that I have gone out and recorded and, some of them, manipulated, and bringing in synthesizers. Musique Concrète, this being the influence behind my project title A Concrète Composition, is what I feel I have embodied in my audio piece and my accompaniment of the visual piece reinforces Pierre Schaeffer’s work of the arts having no boundaries.

References:

Kostelanetz, R. (1968) John Cage, An Anthology. [online] New York: Media Art Net. Available from: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/source-text/41/ [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Patrick, J. (2016) A Guide to Pierre Schaeffer, the Godfather of Sampling. [online] Fact. Available from: http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/23/pierre-schaeffer-guide/ [Accessed 11 December 2016].

Russolo, L. (1913) The Art of Noise. [online] A Great Bear Pamphlet. Available from: http://www.artype.de/Sammlung/pdf/russolo_noise.pdf [Accessed 11 December 2016].

Wolf, J. (2016) John Cage: American Composer, Theortician, and Writer. [online] The Art Story. Availabel from: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-cage-john.htm [Accessed 12 December 2016].

 

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Soundscape

Because of me needing to show how my work will be displayed for the ESP event next year in exactly the same way for Emily and David, I set myself my own deadline for finishing my audio piece; by the end of this weekend. I am pleased to say I have achieved this, with the piece ending at 4minutes and 30 seconds long. Then because I have completed the most important part of this project, I can now finish the art piece.

I have found this project more challenging than I ever thought it would be, this being, I think, because when creating soundscapes in the past I have never used recorded sounds that I have gone out to retrieve myself. It was always purely through plugins. Wanting to get recorded sounds was not only a means to give more meaning behind the piece, but also to challenge myself and take me out of my comfort zone; stating previously that field recordings is by no means my strongest skill and something not taken on by myself before. The meaning behind this project, both audio and visual, was to portray that urban life, with cars and new buildings being built every day, and everybody seeming to live on fast-forward, are not the most important things in life. It is important to take a step back and remember to slow down; to just observe our planet and understand there is more out there – this being what inspired the space, futuristic vibe you will get when listening to the piece, and also viewing it. I also think it is important to bring together audio and visual in art because “images that one can view and admire now demand involvement of all of the senses, most especially the sense of hearing. A soundscape does just that.” (Orford, 2014) – being in an exhibition viewing a piece of art, it can not be easy to fight against distractions, especially from sounds. So instead of fighting it, why not join together both the senses, whether that be a piece of art created to join audio, or vice versa.

The soundscape starts quite eerie, and does gradually build up, with layering, more sound effects and bringing in the recordings from around the city, but there is never any big ‘drop’ to hear, this being to reiterate my point behind the entire project; urban life is gradually starting to take over the serenity of this planet, but it by no means if gone, there are still many places around the world you can go where you hear nothing but the natural environment. This I represented in the audio piece with the synths because the sounds I recorded are very industrial – cars, trains and construction. This message is made even more clear by the art piece, the large side being that of a painting of a scenic view focusing on the nigh sky, and then it looks as though the that has been ripped apart and the sketch underneath is that of a city – trying to breakthrough. It is important to state that of all the recordings I did, some I have barely touched, one or two not touched at all, and some I have manipulated to the point where some may not even take a thought of them being recordings from around a city they hear nearly every day; all of this again reiterating the message and aim. It was important to me to not put too much compression on the audio when mastering, because I wanted it to sound as authentic as possible, both the synths and the recordings.

One of my most important objectives for this project, to me personally, was the field recording. Not having a lot of confidence, and at times imagination was a worry for me before I went out and did it, but as I got started I lost all worry and as I heard sounds while walking around Lincoln ideas began to come to mind; I could hear in my head where said sound would fit, and not only that but how I could manipulate said sound through plugins, with EQ, distortion, compression etc. Overall I am proud of myself for completing an important objective in this project (field recording) and also the aim to become comfortable with logic again, by the end becoming more and more confident with what I was doing and actually looking forward to opening up the project and working on it

 

References: Olford, E.J. (2014) Decoded Arts. [online] WordPress. Available from http://decodedarts.com/music-as-a-part-of-visual-arts-art-sound-and-atmosphere/1369 [Accessed 10 December 2016].

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Getting my work out there

Throughout the time of this project, I have been researching exhibitions and online platforms in order to be able to showcase my work. This is something I have found to be a lot harder than what I originally thought it to be; especially for the type of piece my project is. When searching around for exhibitions, and even examples of others work, I came to find that experimental compositions accompanied by art pieces are far less than imagined. Even more so with it being a static art piece. In regards to exhibitions of this nature I have been through countless websites featuring exhibitions that have already happened, events that are not open to public submission, or just are not open to static art with audio. This is not to say that no one caters to this by no means, as something I have found through my research is that the mix of art and audio is something that is being highlighted, and experimented with, more and more as years go by.

Of the sites that I found that did not advertise any upcoming exhibitions, that allowed public submissions, but clearly were in the market of experimental, I sent emails enquiring if there was anything coming up, or any way of getting my work on to their platforms; whether that be an actual exhibit or even online. I made enquiries to the The Collection, located right here in Lincoln, explaining my project and the meaning of it, and didn’t even receive a response, and also through my search came up Hull’s art page, and as Hull is going to be 2017 city of culture, I enquired through this asking of anything coming up in the next few months. Again no response – this showing evidence of just how hard it is to try and get your work out there into the world of art and music. The two more highly recognised publications I contacted are Aesthetica Magazine and The Wire; Aesthetica a British art and culture magazine, hard copy and online, covering music and focusing mainly on visual art, and The Wire, an independent magazine focusing more on the ‘non-mainstream’ and more experimental, alternative music. I received a response form Aesthetica simply saying they appreciated me contacting them as the lady who replied to me is an experimental artist herself, but it’s not something they are interested in as a magazine, and I did receive an email back from Derek Walmsley, editor of The Wire, asking me to explain in more detail because he was interested, but following on from my response I have yet to receive anything back.

After speaking with Emily in one of our tutorials, she told that they have another ESP event coming up in March 2017 and that my piece would fit into their exhibition. So as this will be happening after the deadline I will be showing my work for Emily and David as it will be in the exhibition; with the canvas on the wall, headphones ready to be able to listen to the piece (headphones being what I feel are best for the listening and seeing experience) and a short description next to the canvas explaining my work. This has fulfilled one of my aims, of being to be able to showcase my work and put it out their to listeners/viewers who have interest in the field of experimental sound and art.

References:

Aesthetica Magazine: http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/

The Wire: http://www.thewire.co.uk/