Category: Introduction to sound art

Since our session with Joseph, I have been fascinated by his work as it fits into what I am also interested in as an artist. Joseph’s work focuses on sound art, field recording, and noise! The latter is something I create a lot of in my own work. The way Joseph thinks about culture through sound and how he turns that into his own art is something I found particularly interesting. He takes these concepts and expresses the thoughts and ideas behind them through installations, performances, and other types of creative compositions. Personally, I like to do the same but with different ideas, I found the way he takes these ideas and transforms them into something people can experience something that will be very useful to me.

Joseph goes under the pseudonym KMRU, on his Bandcamp page you can see the mountains of work he has released thus far. I would like to focus on his cassette release Jar, which was released through Seil Records. KMRU describes the record as ‘Jar is a journey through the dust of time. Merging found sounds, analog warmth and granular dreams along the way. This perfectly sums up the record, the sound of the record is very warm and analog. This suits the cassette release perfectly as these types of sounds work best on tape. The album is very dream-like, for example, the song ‘ulmma‘ has this warm synthesizer pad progressing throughout the piece. With the use of percussion (xylophone) and what sounds like field recordings. It makes for a very peaceful listen. I really enjoyed the composition of this record in general.

Overall Joseph has become my favorite practitioner to date, a truly fascinating artist who is one to keep your eye on for sure.

References

KMRU. (n.d.). ulmma, by KMRU. [online] Available at: https://kmru.bandcamp.com/track/ulmma

KMRU. (n.d.). Jar, by KMRU. [online] Available at: https://kmru.bandcamp.com/album/jar

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Sharon Gal is an artist who spans many skills, known for being a performer and composer primarily, The fact she works in so many different fields makes me excited to see her lecture. Her works using Voice, Electronics, Instruments, video collages, and field recordings, and using that to explore themes of relationships between people and sound and space make for a watch that you don’t get often

Etudes

Etudes is a pack of 78 cards that Sharon created, with one side of the card being text and the other being text.  The way it works is that it is an open score, which means the cards can be interested in the artist, and then the artist will create work that they think suits that card. It is somewhat reminiscent of Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategies cards’ where you pull a card and it tells you an instruction. Then you interpret the card how you want to then do whatever you think you should do. It is a fun but interesting way to get an artist to switch up their creative pattern and push them outside of their comfort zones.

To show an example of this Sharon created two pieces based on this technique, the piece I want to focus on is ‘ETUDE No 1‘. ETUDE No 1 is a vocal piece very reminiscent of Joan La Barbara’s work. Having screechy high vocals reaching octaves that are uncommon to the human ear. The piece is quite peaceful, these scattered vocal patterns with a splash of reverb make for a nice listen.

Overall I really liked Sharon’s work and how she pushes the boundaries of sound art by using card games that make the artist intentionally create something different, the fact she is in so many disciplines makes for an interesting read and I am very excited to see what she does in our lecture.

References

Sound and Music. (n.d.). Sharon Gal. [online] Available at: https://soundandmusic.org/discover/composer/sharon-gal/

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Makoto Oshiro is a Japanese sound artist based in Berlin/Tokyo. Makoto works in sound for the most part but combines his sound with physical aspects too, like mixing light and electronics in his work. I found Makoto to make for an exciting practitioner, after doing some more research on him I found what he did even more enthralling. One thing that stood out to me about Makoto was the creation of his own instruments, primarily out of junk and random items. This reminded me of Japanese noise artist Merzbow and his ‘junk guitar’. The strings are attached to metal plates that he strums and the vibrations would then be picked up through contact mics and run through effects. I really like this way of thinking that Makoto did, as it inspires people to create whatever works for them. And by doing that you can create some really phenomenal equipment and sound.

Above is a sound installation by Makoto called ‘Strings’. Strings is a sound installation that is supposed to explore the different aspects of beat frequencies (interferences that happen between audio waves). Here is a description from the video description that better explains what Makoto did to achieve the piece. ‘However, instead of simply combining several audio waves, it combines a flickering light with physical vibration to create a heterodyne that gives a visual representation of what happens between the two waves. Several strings are tied to a subwoofer that emits a low-frequency sine wave; the strings are stretched to certain points in the exhibition space. When the stretched strings are tuned to certain tensions, the vibration of the subwoofer passes on to the strings, causing them to oscillate and depict waveforms. The exhibition space is lit up using a strobe light that flickers at a varying frequency that interferes with the string vibration, allowing us to see the string movements at a much slower frequency than what is actually happening’.

This is an incredible idea, I really like what Makoto tried to achieve, I think the idea was very thought out and he did more to it to make it something purely unique. I thought the idea of using the strobe lights to interfere with the string vibration was really interesting and how that can affect the way you see things happening. Overall I’m a big fan of the work Makoto showed us and creates, I think the use of mixing sound and visual art was done in a way I have never seen before and I hope he continues to push the boundaries of sound art. I took a lot away from this practitioner like his use of light and sound and have been thinking about how I can expand my work from what I have learned.

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Strings – Makoto Oshiro. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXPR7iOzQdQ

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I find psychoacoustics to be a fascinating topic, as I enjoy looking at how humans perceive sound and how everyone can perceive sound in their own ways.

The way we hear and perceive sound was challenged by avant-garde composers creating tracks with sounds we’ve never heard before. Whether this is the early work of John Cage, introducing Musique Concrete to a wider audience, or when synthesizers became more widely used, opening up a whole new realm of sound for both the audience and the artists. Composers at this time like Pauline Oliveros, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Wendy Carlos took this new invention and strived to challenge how we as humans hear and perceive sound.

Oliveros is famous for her ‘Deep Listening’ work which was Oliveros’ own way of teaching people the art and beauty of listening. The term ‘deep listening’ was coined by Oliveros after going down 14 feet into Dan Harpole underground cistern in Port Townsend, Washington. She went there to record a piece, and she came out with the idea of ‘deep listening’. ‘Deep Listening’ has continued to grow, even past her death. It has become a staple of Sound Arts and is one of the most revolutionary listening techniques of all time.

Even in mainstream music, sound has changed considerably with the introduction of synthesizers into popular music during the ’70s and ’80s. Unique time signatures have become more common as popular music taste grows and evolves.

Personally, I’ve had some interesting experiences with how people can interpret sound differently. When I am back in my hometown, I work with young adults with special needs, ranging from more abled to severely disabled. The young adults I cared for typically had autism, brain damage, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, speaking issues, etc. We would host music classes, in which they could play an instrument of their choice which was typically percussion, singing, or guitar. It was fascinating hearing their listening habits. When they’d choose a song to play, a lot of them would pick the same song over and over again, including Disney songs, children’s shows theme songs, nursery rhymes, or pop hits from the ’70s until the present. It was interesting to see the amount of joy listening to music could bring to them, and how they use music as a creative outlet to express themselves, which they may not have had the chance to do before.

I enjoyed this project very much, as I think everyone making a collaborative album is an exciting prospect. It gives us an opportunity as artists to get exposure, and to work together to support and uplift one another. It gave me an opportunity to improve my skills as a sound artist, and to further my skills in styles of music that I had not previously worked on.

Furthermore, it gave me the opportunity to indulge myself in things that I have never done. Like researching psychoacoustics, creating a dystopian soundscape, learning about graphic scores, and releasing a collaborative album. I really enjoyed the possibilities I got with this project, like the opportunity to create a sound piece in which I had a lot of creative freedom. This is great for a collaborative release, as each track will be unique and different from the rest.

What I could have benefitted from was some more support and information about the project before starting the work. Luckily, before the deadline, some information was put on Moodle to help us but I found myself needing a little extra help. I really enjoyed looking at psychoacoustics and researching how humans perceive and interpret sound. I would like to take a further look at graphic scores in the future and would like to incorporate them into my work, such as releasing one with my album or a piece. I feel like what I need to improve for my next project is my planning and execution. I felt a little rushed in completing my work and if I had started planning earlier I would have had more time to enjoy the project.

I started working on this sound piece with an Ableton pre-set called ‘dark one’. I then ran it through Valhalla Supermassive, which is a reverb plug-in. I used this as my main instrument to work from. I did consider using the Mother 32, which I mentioned in a previous blog, but while I was starting out with Ableton I found this sound and thought it was perfect. I then layered a lo-fi synth lead on top and took a speech passage from a movie called ‘Taste Of Cherry’. I transposed it down, reversed it, and ran it through a plug-in called ‘wires’, which emulates the sound of a soviet wire recorder. This gives it a very grainy and alien sound. The reason I chose the movie ‘Taste of Cherry’ was because it deals with the themes of suicide and mental illness, which is a prominent theme in my music. The movie is about a man wanting to commit suicide and his search for someone to help bury him once he’s dead, but because he lives in Iran it is much more difficult, as suicide is seen more as a taboo. The reason I admire this film is because it is very minimalistic and quite powerful. It is not a graphic film, receiving a PG rating by the BBFC.

As mentioned, my track was made using Ableton, using a mixture of Ableton presets and my own sounds. I used a field recording I made in October 2021 with Jose on a field recording trip, which was a contact mic placed up against a vent on the Southbank. I took this and transposed it down, and panned it. I also used some fx sounds I found on Ableton. As the piece has a gritty, dystopian sci-fi feel to it, I thought the use of fx could be an interesting way to add some more depth. Also, as I mentioned in a previous blog, Tod Dockstader created special fx sounds for his work in Television and Film. I thought it would be a good fit for my piece. I used another drone for the end of the piece but tried to keep the track as minimal as possible. With ambient music, I find the most interesting ambient/dark ambient music is made with minimal materials/sounds.

Doing something different, to me, means wanting to do something different from my past work, especially in terms of what I’ve created for my Sound Arts course. My work so far has primarily been dominated by Harsh Noise & Power Electronics. I would like to show my versatility as an artist to both myself and my peers. I’ve dabbled in Dark Ambient before, but it’s something that I wanted to make more of a focus to improve upon.

The way I started to prep myself to create more Dark Ambient/drone tracks is to listen to some releases under that genre. This would help to refresh my knowledge and to do some critical listening to discover more than I previously knew.

Albums

1. Sunn O))) – ‘Flight of the Behemoth‘

This Sunn O))) record is one of my personal favourites. The album primarily consists of fuzzy, distorted guitar drones. I find it interesting as it creates a rich, dark atmosphere with analog equipment. It is also a traditional instrument that I find inspiring. This piece shows drones can be made from all sorts of instruments, common and obscure. The record also features two tracks with noise music artist and maestro, Merzbow. He is well known and appreciated for pioneering noise music (in particular Japanoise), and his harsh, brooding style.

The works featuring Merzbow take low guitar drones and manipulate them with effects, turning them into noise hits. Merzbow uses samples of dissonant piano chords over the guitars. As the song continues, he brings in his signature squealing noise which is prevalent in a lot of his music.

This record was very helpful to revisit for this project. I really like the use of guitars to create a hellish atmosphere. As a fan of Merzbow, I thought the collaboration with him was particularly inspiring.

2.Tod Dockstader – Areils 1

As mentioned in a previous blog, Tod Dockstader’s ‘Ariels 1’ is a masterclass in Dark Ambient. This is one of Dockstader’s final releases, it was released in 2005 as the first part of the Ariels trilogy before he passed away in 2015. Dockstader had been making experimental music since the ’60s, so was a master in the craft by the release of this album. It is texturally rich, emotional, and well-balanced. This is one of my favourite examples of modern ambient work.

3. David Lynch & Alan Splet – ‘Eraserhead‘ Soundtrack

This soundtrack is also a good example of drone/Dark Ambient music. David Lynch and Alan Splet both work together to create a truly terrifying and unsettling atmosphere. This soundtrack stands well on its own. The soundtrack was made in the ’70s using D.I.Y. techniques and analog gear. Lynch and Splet would come up with creative ways to achieve the sounds they wanted to create, with the shoestring budget they had.

Listening to this again was a great way to understand Dark Ambient/drone music made at a different point in history, and to remind myself of one of the most influential soundtracks for this genre.

Bibliography

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Eraserhead: Original Soundtrack Recording. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b5WTcePU2k

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Song. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK5R1p7be_4&list=RDLK5R1p7be_4&start_radio=1&rv=LK5R1p7be_4&t=1

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Sunn O))) – Flight of the Behemoth (Full Album). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkcHJ5YnvbU

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As mentioned in my previous blog, I have decided on what I wanted to do stylistically and what I wanted to accomplish in general. In this blog, I will talk about my overall plan so far for the piece. What instruments I want to use, what sounds I want to create, and how it’s all going to come together.

1. DAW?

The DAW (digital audio workspace) I use is Ableton. The reason I like using Ableton as a sound artist is the room to experiment. The way Ableton is designed is to give the artist a lot more creative control. I like the layout of Ableton, it’s quick to access instruments from the DAW itself and very stress-free to record external equipment. This is why I gravitate towards this DAW for my projects.

2. Instruments (Analog)

Mother 32 – The Mother 32 is a semi-analog desktop synthesizer by Moog. It has a patch bay, but it’s not required to make sounds. The Mother 32 is great for creating buzzing and low drones. Particularly when being run through a reverb like Valhalla Supermassive, the sound feels wide and dense. One of the best features of the Mother 32 is the frequency knob, which when used can create a very unsettling and uncomfortable atmosphere. Overall, I enjoy using it to create a solid base to work with. It also helps to expand my knowledge about analog gear.

3. Instruments (Virtual)

Ablet0n has a wide range of instruments. Additionally. you can download packs with specific sounds on their website. Personally, I am very fond of a pack called ‘Drone Lab’. ‘Drone Lab’ is an experimental sound pack that comes with samples of drones, noise, and other experimental sounds. It also comes with midi kits to create your own soundscapes and instruments. This pack is great for adding more to the piece or to help you build a foundation to then expand.

Deciding what the sound piece should be is the first and sometimes the most challenging part of the whole process. The great thing about creating a sound piece is that there are so many types of sound to make. Whether it’s more Musique Concréte based (e.g. John Cage) or Dark Ambient (Tod Dockstader) or a collection of field recordings (‘Secret Piece’ – Clipping). There are also many more examples of unique sounds to make.

In the past, I have often defaulted to creating noise/power electronics pieces. I still continue to make those compositions for my solo work, but I wanted to try something different for this piece and composition to show more of my versatility as an artist. So after some contemplation, I decided to do a dark ambient sound piece.

Dark Ambient as a genre contains characteristics such as dark and deep drones, long repeating notes, and eerie sound design techniques. An example of Dark Ambient music that inspired my piece was Tod Dockstaders track ‘Shout’ of his record ‘Ariels 1’. Tod Dockstader was a sound designer and experimental music artist. He worked on television shows such as ‘Tom & Jerry’ in the 60s, creating cartoonish and playful sound design for the children’s television show. During that time he was also creating avant-garde music, which started to gain some traction during the ’70s-’80s, working with sound artists like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. One of his most notable works was used in Federico Fellini’s film ‘Fellini Satyricon’.

The aforementioned track ‘Shout’ was what inspired me to use this style for my track, as I wanted to try my hand at that genre and push my boundaries as a sound artist. The track fades in with wishy-washy drones that sound like they are flanged slightly, with harmonies barely breaking through the heavily reverberated drones. This gives it a melancholy and hopeless feeling. I find it to be a beautiful piece, but equally haunting. This is what I endeavored to accomplish.

Sound Design is a crucial element to building an atmosphere in a piece of media, whether it is a film, radio, video game, etc. It can completely change the way a scene is interpreted. For example, if you took a scene from Eraserhead, took out the industrial sound design and replaced it with silly clown music. It would completely change the atmosphere of the piece. Hense in my piece, I made the sound design a key element to provide the tension that the writing is trying to give. The style of writing was made to leave room for the sound design to greaten the tension of the piece.

A great example of sound design is used to help create and change the atmosphere would be Gaspar Noe’s film Climax. As with my last blog, you can see Gaspar has a way with sound design. The plot of the climax is in short, a dance group in France are preparing to tour the united states with their dance troop. The rehearsal space is an abandoned school and as they celebrate their rehearsal, someone spikes the sangria with LSD. And the bad trip starts from there.

The soundtrack is a list of back to back disco and electronic classics. Starting from Cerreons ‘Supernature’ to Aphex Twins ‘Windowlicker’. The reason this is important is that during the movie as the camera flies through the school, you can hear this thumping constantly in the background, like being in a nightclub toilet. And it creates this horrifically uncomfortable atmosphere. Here is a clip. I like the way this movie uses music that you wouldn’t normally associate with a bad time. I used this idea by using familiar sounds like Swing chains (which I personally associate with being a child) and using them in a different context to create a sense of familiarity and uncomfortableness.

For the sound design, I made use of dark, low, brooding drones. Coated in reverb layered over other drones to create a dense and uncomfortable atmosphere. I used the sounds we created in our foley session to help create the sounds of this industrial hell hole. I took the sounds of my classmates speaking and moving their mouths to create the sounds of tounges for the Columbian Necktie line.