Psychoacoustics

I have become more interested in this area recently as I grapple with my reasons for the placement of sounds in my collages. Whilst I easily get lost in the science of psychoacoustics, it really is a fascinating area to investigate and try to understand. The physical qualities of sound and hearing are truly amazing. I have just borrowed Yost's Fundamentals of Hearing, so that's me sorted for Easter.

Albion

Canterbury

Initially, on the way home from yesterday's recording session, I thought this was going to be a bit dull, cliched even. All those bells and church organ, but having listened through the recordings and begun a very rough lay out in Logic, I am quite happy with the start of this track.

Otford

Took Otford as my latest location for the Pilgrims' Way. The present High Street is the old Pilgrims' Way and as noisy and busy as one would expect. The River Darent, whose source is in Otford runs through the village at the West side. Plenty of avian activity it being spring and I noticed yesterday the volume birds are able to sing at these days to cut through the traffic noise.

J G Ballard 3

... and of course, whilst not a place specific, but unquestionably English, Graham Greene.

Sonic Neolithic Sites

I have just come across the idea that some Neolithic stone sites were constructed for their sonic qualities as opposed to or equivalent to their visual.
I am trying to find a Channel 4 documentary from about 10 years ago on the subject.

J G Ballard 2

Ballard leads me to Orwell.
Note to self: Dig out copies of George Orwell's Keep The Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up For Air.

Village Greens

After a conversation with Salome last week, I thought I'd look into village greens a bit.
There is good practical information on the Open Spaces Society website.
The Kinks should not be overlooked at this point.

J G Ballard

I have been thinking about Place and Englishness in English poetry recently thanks to the frequent quoting of Blake, Tennyson and particularly John Clare. I bought a small collection of Clare's work and found them to be really charming.
Thinking about poetry, I then was reminded of the huge emphasis upon place in many of J G Ballard's brilliant books.
Born out of the development of my Non-Places project, I am going to experiment with a Ballard piece or series of pieces. I will begin with Concerte Island and High Rise. Partly as they are the books I enjoyed the most but because fortunately are more straightforward to begin obtaining pertinent recordings.

Listening Through The Noise

I found an interesting thought on Space, Place and Location today in Listening Through The Noise by Joanna Demers.
Space refers to large-scale sites, be they physical, mental or cultural.
Place refers to sites that are local governed by interpersonal, ecological or political relationships.
Location refers to the physical placement of listeners or of sound objects. Location can be actual or perceived, but says Demers, usually perceived. (2010, p114)

White Horse Stone 2

This location and the Neolithic stone will be the basis for my sound sculpture.

White Horse Stone

Recorded on the same day as the Charing recordings, this will be a modest piece from a relatively quiet place punctuated by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and several tractors.

Moat And Green At Charing

A new piece for the Pilgrims' Way project. This was a fairly quiet and sonically unremarkable location but had a lovely small moat that ran through the village at the bottom of the green.

Kit's Coty House

I visited a couple of spots for the Pilgrims' Way project yesterday. I spent a great bit of time getting the feel of these amazing stones for the megalith project.

Edgelands 2

Having discovered this phenomenon a week or so ago, I naturally bought the book. I have been thinking of these areas in the same context of non-places, the same un lived-in feel that these places exude is really interesting especially as they owe their existence to the needs of people then the people abandon them. Looking forward to digging deeper. There was an interview with the authors on the Today Programme which might interest.

Modern British Sculpture

Had a good couple of hours at this Royal Academy exhibition today. This was one of those exhibitions where I go and spend a few hours and come away with a really positive feeling but cannot for the life of me work out why. The show it not that big and actually rather subtle but left me really wanting to get my megalith piece sorted out properly.

Non-Places 2

This side-project is starting to take shape. I'm not sure if it will be substantial enough to be included in my portfolio, but it is starting to be quite interesting. I have the beginnings of a piece from a Tesco check-out area and an hour on Clapham Junction station.

David Nash

I discovered this sculptor a few days ago. Amazing to me that there are so many interesting people out there that I don't know about. I was really taken by Nash's sculpture, but in interview I found his approach to his work, his aesthetic and his overall concept. He has a very personal commitment to his medium and an obvious emotional relationship with it. More striking totemic pieces.

Box Hill

I trudged and slopped my way through quagmireish pathways to the top of Box Hill today. Sonically, I struggled to find the central sound for this piece, but think the sloppy, squelchy journey will be the core.

Edgelands

I came upon this exciting new area this morning thanks to Radio 4's Today programme. Edgelands are mobile masts and gravel pits, business parks and landfill sites that occupy the non-places around England that are the strange lands between the town and the countryside. I need to get the book and find out more.

Pilgrims' Way 3

I recently came across the walking artist Hamish Fulton. He created a piece in 1971 about the Pilgrims' way. He says of his work, "My art is about specific places and particular events that are not present in the gallery. The given information is very minimal. My hope is that the viewer will create a feeling, an impression in his or her own mind, based on whatever my art can provide.".

Medway Bridge 2

Recording the expansion gaps on the Medway Bridge.

Listening

I'm listening to Saison by toy.bizarre & Pierre Redon, which is a mixture of field recordings and musical instrumentation. Not as engaging as I first thought, but worthy of a good listen and there are some nice areas where it is unclear what the sound source is.

Sculpture 4

Here is a very interesting collection of work by Dominique Blais. There is also a strong visual element to the work and a consistency throughout his recent work that gives a solid feel to the whole body of work.

Sculpture 3

More of what's out there......

Megaphone Sculptures 1 & 2 from Paul Naughton on Vimeo.

Sculpture 2

From the Rolex Tower in Dubai. I don't have much of a feeling for this, but it is interesting to see what other people are doing in their work.

Sculpture

It is interesting how the Zeitgeist flies around influencing us before we even know it. To this I add my interest in sculpture and the sculptural aspect of my work. There is a BBC programme on soon looking at sculpture and this exhibition at the Royal Accademy.

Andy Goldsworthy

Quite a lot of Goldsworthy's work is inspirational to me. Not simply the totemic nature of some of the pieces, but the solidity and mass of many and the obvious link with the landscape.

John Wynne

This piece by John Wynne at the Saachi Gallery is obviously influential.

Sound Tower

A piece by Achim Woolscheid. An interactive piece from a series of three towers.

Wall Of Radios

This wall of radios was interesting in connection with the megalith project.

Beauty

I watched a DVD last night presented by Roger Scruton on Beauty. He has some very interesting points to make, not all of which I agree with, but many that pertain to a version of an English idealism. He hadf quite a problem with a lot of 20th century non-representational art, not exclusively, but argued that the past had given us so much more than the recent. I have sympathy with his aspirations towards the Romantic ideals of beauty, but do not feel the need to reject so much post war art as he seemed to do.

Megalith Equivalent 2

I was reminded today by Tansy and Alex about this piece, Babel. A huge stack of 1000 radios.

Megalith Equivalent

The piece now has a name, Megalith Equivalent, and was exhibited today as a work-in-progress piece. I was pleased with the overall idea, but there are some areas that need serious consideration.
I will not use microphones on future versions except to pick up passing listeners, and then only sparingly. The telephone pick-ups worked very well sonically, but I have to find a good way to mount them. The piece must be more physically representational of a column, it was too pyramid-like. The cabling was no problem wrapped around the base. Low tones on the lower speakers and higher tones higher up worked best.

Non-Places

As an adjunct to the portfolio project, I have begun recording in Non-Places. I was interested to read Marc Auge's book on the subject ant thought about representing these strange places that we all know, inhabit and transit at some point in our daily routine.
Supermarket check-out, cash machine or waiting room. They are usually dull as dishwater and spaces we invest very little of ourselves in, and yet we all have to be part of some of them all the time. I have a supermarket check-out area as my test pilot.

Blue Bell Night Call

This piece, recorded around Blue Bell Hill, a few miles south of the Medway heard the birds beginning to settle in as dusk arrived. it is amazing that everywhere I wend in mid-Kent, I could hear the M2 or M20, or both very often. Constant hissing type sound from tyres on tarmac.

Medway Bridge

Following some successful recording this weekend, I have two more tracks underway. The forst is on the M2 bridge over the River Medway. The Pilgrims' Way is now directed over the Medway by way of the footbridge at the side of the motorway. Very strange experience! There were some really interesting rhythmic sounds from cars going over the expansion gaps on the bridge. It has started out really well.

Megalith

I have applied for some sponsorship with the megalith project to a number of places, but no answers! I have bought several more books on the subject and think there might be another interesting angle to consider pertaining to their sacredness and the meaning we give them.

The Wey at Farnham

I have begun the basics of the second piece for the Pilgrim's way project. This one centres around the dominance of the River Wey. I'm going to think positively about Schafer's Flat Line theory on this one too as there was a constant drone from the busy A31 and there may be a way to work this in.

Englishness

The dissertation has been my focus for a couple of weeks, but I mustn't let this practical project slip behind. Bought a couple of great books yesterday, Landscape and Englishness and The Megalithic Monuments of Britain and Ireland.

Hydrophone.

I gave up trying to make one and bought a great little hydrophone last week made by Jez Riley French.
Sounded fine in the bath and sink, but she got a river in various states of roughness yesterday in the River Wey. Very nice results. Here are a few seconds to the side of a small weir.
New Hydrophone Test Audio by Russell Callow

Hydrophone.

Farnham

Had a lovely day today in Farnham, one of my Pilgrims' Way locations. the first indications after listening to the recordings on the train back to London was that its going to centre around the River Wey. This was a dominant sound during the day, provided that is if one could ignore the constant din from the busy A31. A classic example of Schafer's Flat Lines.
I took a load of photos too for referencing the Sonic Megalith.

Presentation

I'm working my way through Powerpoint. If one keeps away from the rather cheesy templates, it can be quite clean and slick. I'm actually rather enjoying it.

Containment Project 2

This site-specific exhibition I curated this week, Containment has now ended. I have not spoken with today's artists, but the preceding artists all spoke very positively of the experience.
I shall be documenting the week in due course.

Place

Another beauty to augment my library arrived in the post today.

Two-Lane Blacktop

Of course, it's about as English as Coca Cola, but as a representation of minimal dialogue, landscape and sonic overload this is one super film. Masculine posturing is where America and Albion separate.
Close your eyes, and think of England.

Luc Ferrari

I was reminded by a friend on Friday to re-visit Luc Ferrari's work.
I have to admit I have not listened to his work for ages and was pleasantly reminded.
Ferrari includes less subjectivity than I might, and although dated to our 21st century ears, his use of electronics is sparing and considered.
An area to pursue further.

Topophonophelia

John Drever coined this phrase, extrapolated from Yi-Fu Tuan's concept Topophelia.
For Tuan, topoplelia is the emotionally positive feelings people have to a given place. Positive feelings such as pride, fondness for a place and its subjective history. Ownership of a place, health, family and personal involvement in the place. (Tuan, Topophelia, 1974).
Drever takes this notion and concentrates it upon the sonic. The positive and subjective principles remain, but we focus on the relationship to the sounds.

Max Neuhaus

Max Neuhaus stated this in his essay Notes on Place and Moment. "In these works I am not trying to build a sound image for its listeners to hear; I am building a sound to bring this imaginary place or moment of mine alive'.
This encapsulates my intentions most accurately.

Spectral Space and Tonal Pitch Space

“Exploring the Boundaries of Spectral Space and Tonal Pitch Space” Peiman Khosrav.
pdf document with good info.

Sound In Space 2. Thanks to Aki.

Categories of space.

SPACE AMBIOPHONY. Sound from all or any directions. Not precise sound sources. Works better with lower frequencies.
SPACE SOURCE. Sound from a specific point/location. Works better with higher frequencies.
SPACE GEOMETRY. The creation of a sonic shape in space.
SPACE ILLUSION. The illusion of a sound appearing to be from another place. Eg, metallic/dull, near/far, large hall/small room. Processed sound.
ARCHETYPAL ASSOCIATIVE IMAGES. Sounds meeting our expectations. EG, The sea will always be outside.

Sound In Space. Thanks to Aki.

Sound design practices to remember when editing.

CROSSFADE. Move sound from one place to another.
UNMASKING. One sound is revealed by bringing down the volume of all the other sounds.
ACCENTUATION. The opposite of above; bringing up the volume of an individual sound.
GLITTERING. Increasing the volume of granular sounds. the spacial equivalent of tremolo.
PENDULUM. Draws a line between two points.
OSCILLATION. An accelerated variant of Pendulum.
WAVE. Like successive Unmasking/Accentuation, but rather than one point rather a continuous wave of increased and decreased sound.
RUPTURE. Establish a space, then dramatically alter it with a new sound rupturing from within.
(DIS)APPEARANCE. Sudden surprise from the rapid addition or subtraction of sound.
EXPLOSION. The fast passage from a narrow space to a wider one.
ACCUMULATION. Sound/s emerging and forming a new sonic place.
INVASION. A rapid, violent sonic trajectory towards the listener/s.

Paul Nash 2

Having made some more studies of Nash and his work, it is his attitude towards landscape representation that resonates most strongly with me.
Thanks to looking at and reading about his work a lot over the break, I will be out later this week recording and listening particularly for surreal, incongruous or curious sounds that I can use in the final piece.
I have also taken note of Nash's use of abstraction which, like surrealism, he employs in a subtle, slightly muted way. Again, another quality that I will use sonically.

London Sound Survey

One of those great finds that happen on the internet. London Sound Survey is packed with ideas and information and most importantly for a phonography site, sounds!
Well worth a visit.

Spacepilots

Another interesting organisation whose work relates to place. Spacepilots.

Holly Rumble

This is an interesting place-related work, One Minute Bird Watching.

Transition

Transition: The London Art Scene In The Fifties was an exhibition at The Barbican in 2002.
This is a particularly interesting period for the research on this blog as it is the antecedent to a huge amount of the work I am influenced by.
What I liked a lot about this exhibition was the increasing amount of mixed media that worked its way into the art.
No sound, of course, but mixed and varied nevertheless.
I remember being struck by the sculptures of William Turnbull and the collages of Edward Wright.

Aerial Perspective

After looking at more Lowry paintings today, I thought about this phenomenon. It will be worth a try and see if sounds that have less contrast and depth will produce the distancing effect as this does with colour.

L S Lowry

Easily overlooked, thanks to the popularity and fame of his 'matchstick' men figures, are the wonderful landscapes by Lowry. Simplification and abstraction carried out to great effect.

Humphrey Spender

Back in Germany and able to get to my book case at last!
I have just been through Lensman, a book of Humphrey Spender's photographs of England 1932 to 1952 and what a fantastic collection it is. This book is probably more social observation than place, but there are some astounding images here nevertheless.
It is very easy to forget what a bloody miserable decade the 50s was. In fact, after the horrors of the war and the crushing cost in lives, property and infrastructure, the poverty was felt by most until about the mid-60s. Much of that burden, it seems to me to be borne by the working class. This poverty and hardship was reported by Spender in his work for newspapers.
It is very easy to forget that just over a generation ago there were still Public and Saloon bars in pubs and that relatively few people enjoyed the luxury of fridges, washing machines, televisions etc.until the 70s.
These days, we create a right tantrum if we can't get to The Maldives on time, 50 years ago, a 6-day week and unpaid leave was common.

Listening to the Building

A rather interesting site-specific piece by Ian Baxter I came upon this evening.

Wait 2

I have re-worked the sound for this little film and am now much happier. I don't want these to be entertaining visually, more to act as a vehicle upon which the sound should ride.
It is a bit of a difficult balance to get right, especially as most people are so visually aware and sonically neutral.
I hope the hammer and bolster are suitably incongruous.

Cafe Concrete

I play this from time to time as there are some interesting sonic representations of place. From the documentary to the musical and the realistic to the abstract.
I'm pretty sure this was a Wire magazine give-away. Thanks Wire.