Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room - Elephant & Castle's reverberant spaces

You can listen to the whole track here on Last.fm



I have a real interest in the way that sound is coloured by the space that it is projected in to. Alvin Lucier's piece I Am Sitting In A Room is a beautifully simple and extremely effective example of the way that the resonance of a room can alter the sound of the human voice so that the words spoken, (through re-recording and re-projection) no longer contain the significance of semantics, and instead, transform in to a rich reverberating and smooth texture.

One particular aspect that I have enjoyed when working on sound for film is trying to recreate that dimensions and spatiality of a location depicted on screen, through treating the sounds recorded (within a "dry" environment) with electronic effects like reverb and EQing. I find this process very challenging and learning about how sound reacts to the environment it projects in to is fascinating stuff.

When recording sound for Broken Bottles, I have discovered some really interesting dynamics in the way that buildings, spaces and architecture around Elephant & Castle drastically colour sound through dampening and reverberation. Favourites include:

• Entering Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre through the sliding doors, from the outdoor market. The roar of the traffic and the boom of the personal stereos of the market stall vendors suddenly, with the closing of the door to the shopping centre, decrease in volume and brightness, and then what replaces it is this cavernous space, with the clicking of heels and footsteps, along the hard floor creating sharp attack sounds that bounce off of all the hard surfaces of glass and concrete, this creates a soundscape that is both insular and sterile. The sounds exist in this space and present themselves with such clarity because they are protected from the sounds of the vehicles outside, and they are sterile because they are so "clean" of the sounds outside smothering them with their rough and brash shouts and drones. The Muzak that tends to be playing over the tannoy system, is a feeble attempt to fill the cavernous space, and with its hollow and tinny characteristics only serves to further enhance the dimensions of the shopping centre. What is also interesting to listen to is the different stall holders, with their own distinct sound tracks, either through pertable TV sets or stereos, and then the many different shops with their own miniature sound worlds, each attempting to entice would be patrons. At one moment the musics of South America, then Africa, and then the Carribean, and walking at haste, they emerge and recede with such frequency that they echo the hustle and bustle of the traffic outside.
• Another prime example of the above, is when entering LCC through the front doors and then stepping in to the main foyer. Immediately, the roar of the traffic gives way to (if there are a lot of people milling around) an immense cacophony of voices that intertwine with each other and collide with the solid surfaces (not unlike the sound heard at a municipal swimming pool). What the voices are saying is difficult to understand due to the echo and reverberation, however, the sonic properties of the sounds are really interesting in their distortions.
• Entering any of the underpasses that criss-cross the main roundabout at Elephant & Castle creates an interesting contrast in volume between the traffic and the pedestrians. Their roles in the amplitude of the soundscape reverse, and whereas the traffic at street level rules the dynamic range, in the subterranean tunnel network, the pedestrians are free to sound their journies.
• Emerging on to the railway station platforms from underneath the train station creates an amazing expansion of sound as the city suddenly reveals itself to the ear. Underneath the station, the trains passing overhead are dampended rumbles, and as soon as you enter on to the platform, you experience the full power and violence of these huge machines as they thunder along the tracks, the screeches of metal on metal, the blast of wind from the air the train forces out of its way, and of course, the autmated announcement of names of locations that aid the imagination in mapping out the size of the city. From up on the platform, you can also get a panorama of the sounds of the city, as the platform is exposed from each angle, sounds confront you from all sides.

More to follow...

Welcome to Elephant & Castle

Check the soundscape in this vid. Just sit back, close your eyes, and relax. Merzbow digs this.

Poême électronique - Edgard Varêse & Le Corbusier

this piece was commissioned for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Sound by Varêse and images by Le Corbusier.



More information can be found here.

What I find especially useful for inspiration in designing the sound for Broken Bottles is the sparseness of the composition. I like the fact that each sound introduced is presented on its own, one after the other, so that each sound has its own moment in time to be digested.

I also love the fact that the sounds are not overt in their intention to match exactly what the images portray. When watching it, it gives me freedom to interpret the sounds and images to start to project my own emotions on to the piece.

I also appreciate the similarities between the idea of this piece being an electronic "poem in a bottle" and Gary McQuiggin's idea of Broken Bottles being a "film poem".

The piece was designed to be heard throughout the Philips Pavillion at the World's Fair, on 350 speakers, mapped over the whole architecture of the building. The strong use of sound and architecture resonate with me, as I'm currently attempting to establish a relationship between the sounds that I am composing with, with the strong images of architecture within Broken Bottles.

DADA DADA DADA DDDAAAAADAAAA DADADADADADADA

Interesting documentary on the origins, manifestos and practitioners of the Dada movement.

Excellent editing of video and audio in this documentary to create a narrative that wonderfully matches the irrationality of Dada.

U B U W E B :: Sound

Visit UBU and and get stuffed with loads of sound art.

The website is an extensive resource for avant-garde material from historic practitioners right up to current 'uns. All there in handy .mp3 format.

The website (accessed through the homepage link www.ubu.com), also includes tonnes of streaming videos which include interviews, performances, short films, video art, all sorts. It's as deep as the ocean.

Particularly loving Nam June Paik's video art (saw some of his work at an exhibition in Croatia last Summer). Nutty.

Stalker - Railroad Scene (sound design and music boundaries blur)

Beautifully crafted sound in the below scene from Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker





Music composer Edward Artemyev gradually weaves electronic sounds and starts to process through delay and reverb, the mechanical sounds of the motions of the train, so that these sounds start to take on a musical rhythmic quality, not too dissimilar from Musique concrète compositions. This treatment of the sound is effective in conveying the passing of time and also of the anticipation and dread of the journey in to The Zone.

This sequence, is a really good example for me to study when creating the soundtrack for some shots in Broken Bottles, as I would like to try and keep the identity of the recordings that I make, but also inflect them with a sensitive amount of electronic processing in order to create an impression of subtle interference and manipulation.

Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound - great book for practical tips on sound for film

Pratical Art of Motion Picture Sound (3rd Edition) David Lewis Yewdall

David Lewis Yewdall knows his stuff. His sound design and editing credits include The Thing, Evil Dead 2, The Fifth Element and Jackie Brown.

In his book he goes in to great detail, based on his own experiences, of a career involved in working as a "sound man" within the film industry.

His book is compiled so that the chapters follow the process of sound for film, from before pre-production begins to post production.

Of particular interest for me, before I was due to work on location for the Grad. film Sidney was the chapter "The Challenging Battlefield of Production", not knowing how the shooting of Sidney would unfold, it was eye opening to read this chapter as it explained the difficulties that can arise when recording sound on location, reading this chapter, I felt better prepared and with some prior warning as to how the film shoot might go. Thankfully, shooting for Sidney went smoothly, however, I did glean information from this chapter that certainly helped me with ensuring that I documented the sound reports in as much detail as was necessary to convey to the post production sound editor (ha ha, Me) anything to look out for with the different sound takes, whether to be aware of any "off mic" interferences, like aeroplanes overhead, etc. or to note of good sound takes.

Of the 22 chapters in this book, chapters 14 and onwards start to deal with the post production side of sound for film. These, I have started to read as they will prove invaluable when editing the sound for Sidney, especially "Dialogue Editors: Hollywood's Unsung Heroes", as Sidney has a great a fair amount of dialogue that will require editing.