listening and critique: similar & contrasting sounds (Project 1) 1. How aware were you of the sources of the sounds heard in the composition? 2. If you recognized the sound source, did it suggest a narrative or specific place in which you imagined the piece as a whole? 3. Did you feel that the sound combinations and pacing held your interest? 4. How did the piece affect your sense of time? (Did time seem to be moving quickly? Slowly? Both at the same time?)
Close your eyes. Listen. What are you hearing?
Stephen Vitiello (recorded using contact microphones on the windows) World Trade Center Recordings: Hurricane Floyd, 1999 (recorded using contact microphones on the windows)
Microphone Types A) Picking up vibrations in the air: Power Supply Dynamic Condensor USB Power Supply Polar Pattern Cardioid Hyper-cardioid Shotgun Bidirectional Omnidirectional B) Picking up vibrations on a surface: Contact microphones (piezo disks)
Cardioid mic: Heart-shaped Polar pattern Frequency range:
Frequency Response
Microphones Available Through Video Equipment Checkout Dynamic Cardiod: Shure SM57 (instrument), Shure SM58 (vocal) Condensor Cardioid: AKG C1000S Condensor Shotgun: Sennheiser K6 Condensor Bi-directional: Sony (mini plug)
Stereo vs. Mono In what situations might you want to record in mono? Which situations would call for stereo recording?
Stereo Recording Techniques XY Coincidental Stereo (using 2 directional mics) AB Stereo Recording (using 2 omni mics)
More Stereo Techniques Near-Coincident Stereo Recording Using 2 cardioids M/S Stereo Recording: Bi-Directional and Cardioid
Protecting Against Unwanted Sounds Microphone Blimp Microphone with Shock Mount
Common Microphone Connectors
XLR
TRS (1/4” or 1/8” mini)
Web reading for next class: Tones and noises: three kinds of soundscape, one music by Stefan Beyst Additional Resource: http://www.tape.com/resource/stereo_microphone_techniques.html
ambient soundscapes
ambient music listening list: Brian Eno Steve Roach Harold Budd Vidna Obmana
Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations #13 – Energy Changes (for Elaine Summers) – Listen to the environment as a drone. Establish contact mentally with all of the continuous external sounds and include all of your own continuous internal sounds, such as blood pressure, heartbeat and nervous system. When you feel prepared, or when you are triggered by a random or intermittent sound from the external or internal environment, make any sound you like in one breath. When this sound, or a cycle of sounds, is completed re-establish mental connection with the drone, which you first established before making another sound or cycle of like sounds.
in-class work: In the Brown Center stairwell, record a collective pool of samples with a shotgun mic, pair of condensor cardioid mics, and Zoom H2 recorder: found objects & surfaces, bowed cymbal, accordion, melodica. Guideline for our improvisations: start simply, branch out. We will record 3 or 4 improvisations between 1-2 minutes each. Incorporate some portion of the collectively recorded samples into your ambient soundscape piece, but expand with other sounds (other samples, software instruments, or both). Transform audio with various forms of EQ, delay, resonators and other effects in Live. Find samples to fill out additional layers in the frequency spectrum. Aim to blend harmonically, match pitches where possible.
AMBIENT SOUNDSCAPE Project 2 criteria Compose a piece with at least 3 layers of sound, each given its own area of the frequency spectrum. Unfolding slowly, with subtle changes. Listening attention is focused on hearing each moment in multiple dimensions. Aim to suspend perception of forward-moving time. Focus on richness of texture, and giving each layer a distinct kind of rhythm (even if apparently beat-less). Incorporate your own field recording in some way. 1 - 2 minutes long.
Describe your sound sources and your approach to working with them. journal #2: Describe your sound sources and your approach to working with them. What kind of an atmosphere were you aiming to create with this project?