December 11, 2016 – Jessica Lofthouse Audio Project

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].

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/

Day: December 11, 2016

Soundscape

Getting my work out there