The sounds of Bush House of the BBC World Service – luscious to listen to to and very interesting!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pd3jq
It really reminds me of a ‘found sound’ experiment I did almost two years ago looking at spaces in London: http://www.jay-harris.co.uk/sound-art/some-london-life/
Happy New Year! Here we are, 2013! We have escaped a Mayan apocalypse and there are reports of the UK’s financial situation improving!
Whatever your stance on the last two pieces of information, a new year always kickstarts new ideas and positive thinking. Most of us seem to be back at work now, looking forward to an exciting new year …despite some still being on the turkey sandwich diet…
I’ve heard more than a couple of times this January that people are keen to keep this New Year positive thinking intact, not allowing the usual January lull to depress us; a kind of new years resolution to stick to our new years resolutions… So, instead of giving up the fitness plan on January 17th (supposedly the most miserable day of the year), losing track of all those books you want to read for self-improvement purposes, or chaining an entire pack of cigarettes (…on the 17th…) lets join them and put plans in place to make goals and targets a reality. All you have to do is have ideas to improve yourself and plan out when you will see them through… and stick to it! Whenever you get tempted to leave something until tomorrow, do it right that second instead. You’ll feel better for it and actually see progress!
As far as myself goes, I am developing and expanding my work to make things more appealing to more people and am relishing the new challenges that this brings. After discovering that making sound and soundscape interactive is well within my grasp, I am now working on new systems to achieve this. Motion sensors, pressure sensors and more can be used to add a whole new dimension to soundscapes for events. Immersing an audience now becomes even more complete as people take ideas on-board by thinking about them while interacting with them. This is a powerful way to bring people into a branding or experience. For example, when promoting Crunchy Cornflakes, maybe Kellogg’s could use a doorway entrance mat that sounds crunching noises when walked on. Or maybe a company promoting it’s eco-friendly status could use an interactive rainforest of noises that appears when a display of its products is approached.
Innovating and pushing your ideas to their limits is key to success so don’t let January pass without making sure you stick to improving yourself and developing ideas! What plans and ideas have you got for this year? How do these ideas push your past thinking to it’s limits? Let me know, maybe we can share ideas…
We live in world bathed in sound but because it’s effects can be subtle, the impact of sound can sometimes go unnoticed. Sound is full of emotion, most obviously in the voices of the people we meet or the music we listen to, but there is also emotional content in pretty much every other sound you hear. Sound for events can harness this power.
The largest, and probably most subtle, application of sound using this unnoticed emotional content is in film through sound design (all the sounds in film that aren’t music). Music in a film affects film viewing massively (try turning a TV down and adding your own music) but people are still not really aware of the depth film sound designers go to carry the story of a film. There are an endless array of tricks sound designers use but here are a couple: they can (subtly or not so subtly) add ferocious animal sounds to human shouts to make them seem more violent; gradually raise the pitch and/or speed of sounds through a scene to increase tension. The viewer may not even realise this is going on but they will definitely feel more tense. This theory can also be used in live situations such as sound for events…
I recently came back from a great holiday driving around Europe. I visited Belgium and Germany and unfortunately enough for my girlfriend, my geeky thoughts on sound don’t switch off when not at work…I noticed some great examples of manipulating sound: we visited Ypres, Belgium, the location of some of the most horrific battles of World War One. Here, there is a very moving museum with fantastic thought-provoking and emotional exhibits. However, added to this experience was a low minor (sad sounding) chord drone wafting throughout the exhibition space. It was unrelenting and even though you may not notice it after a while, it gradually exhausts you physically and mentally so that by the time you reach the end, you are emotionally exhausted. Of course, the subject matter and exhibits are powerful on their own but the effect was really noticed when they turned this background sound off at closing time. Again, sound for events could harness such power even if this example is very dark and sensitive.
Another example came from visiting caves near Rochefort, Belgium. Toward the end of the tour, we were treated with a sound and light show in a very large cavern. My mind may have been thinking of ways that I may have created the sounds, but the the epic surroundings and echo of the caves were really used well to produce a really immersive experience. Sound for events could also harness a space and the sound within it.
There are other more mundane applications too: barriers have been used next to motorways/freeways for a while now in an acknowledgement that the sound generated by lots of cars continuously traveling at 70mph + has an adverse effect on people that live nearby. It’s not just a case of noise getting in the way though; such noises are fatiguing to listen to and can give a claustrophobic sense of being under constant bombardment which increases stress levels i.e. it has a direct effect on your emotions. Sound for events could also use preventative measures like this or even produce these negative effects on purpose!
In contrast to manmade noise, we experience the non-manmade sounds which also have an effect upon us (I would say nature-sounds but we are part of nature, right?). If you’ve ever spent any time in a park having a snooze, you may remember the gentle meditative affects of trees swishing in the wind and nearby streams bubbling away (…and those same streams possibly increasing your urge to visit the toilet…). Both the morning chorus of birds singing at the arrival of daylight and crickets chirping at night also put your mind in very different moods. Some work I am currently undertaking with the London Bubble Theatre Group will use such ideas to bring about a meditative effect. You can see that sound for events could also be subtle but still have a wonderful affect.
Other projects that I have undertaken have also utilised the sounds around us to produce feeling in more abstract ways. In ‘Some London Life’, I created a narrative journey through various London spaces to give the listener a sense of being there, evoking emotions that may be attached to them. Over this, I created a sense of the fantastical to develop these feelings. ‘Secret Soundtrack’ used one specific environment and the people within it to manipulate feelings by creating something fantastical out of an everyday experience. The feeling of space and it’s effect on human experience were key in both these projects. This work was also continued by teaming up with a photographer to enhance dreamy sensations and emotions.
Other projects that I have undertaken focused more on the physical aspects of sound. ‘Baralek Rendang’ used properties of sounds to mimic taste with a view to doubling up the senses to create a more intense taste experience.
Soundscapes I am working on with the ‘Classic Horror Campaign’ use both space and physical properties of sounds to create fear and stress, sometimes using the motorway sound barrier effect in reverse.
As you can see, applying sound for events in ways which you may never have thought of can enrich experience and manipulate emotion. Such application works particularly well with events as it is an opportunity to affect your guests and draw them ever deeper into the atmosphere you want to create. This also adds another layer of experience and offers a unique opportunity to experience something new and interesting.
Unusual and novel delivery of sound for events will add further intrigue and depth: wireless headphones could be used very effectively at certain points; mini speakers hidden around an environment could offer various interlocking sounds creating a sort of audio secret garden; QR Codes could be used to access audio treasure; imagination is the only limit…
If thinking about sound for events in this way has taken your fancy, get in touch and we’ll work towards creating something very special. Also, if you would just like to know more or already have an interest in sound, please feel feel to get in touch for a chat!
Local Sound Art to Showcase and Promote Deptford High Street.
‘Secret Soundtrack’ uses ‘3D sound’ recorded in Deptford Market, based on and around Deptford High Street, to create a theatrical atmosphere that people can experience as they wander around the market. Sound art, as a relatively undiscovered art form, seems like the perfect way to bring attention to one of south London’s lesser-known gems: Deptford High Street. I have created ‘Secret Soundtrack’, a work of sound art, which will be interactively-accessible on the High Street throughout June, in collaboration with local businesses/organisations.
To take part in ‘Secret Soundtrack’ you will need a smart phone equipped with a QR Code reader and a pair of earphones. ‘Secret Soundtrack’ can be accessed from 1st June to 30th June 2012 by scanning the QR code on one of the posters located at ‘The Deptford Project’ cafe, ‘Bearspace’ gallery, art supplies store ‘Arch Materials’, delicatessen cafe ‘Deli X’, and ‘Deptford Lounge’ library; all based on and around Deptford High Street and chosen as supporters of this neighbourhood and community arts.
Scanning the QR Code takes you to the ‘Secret Soundtrack’ website where you will be given instructions on what to do next. You will be encouraged to explore the market while listening to the audio streamed from the website, making sure not to drown out the live sounds. You can expect to hear sounds recorded from the market, reproduced in such a way as to become something new when played in conjunction with listening to the live sounds around you. It is this mixture, when experienced together, that gives you access to a secret audio world created from the local environment. The market takes place every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and a visit on one of these days is recommended to experience ‘Secret Soundtrack’s’ full effect.
I wish to see the local area prosper so that it may continue to inspire and grow. With the 2012 Olympics, Britain and London, in particular, are being celebrated this year and I strongly believe that Deptford High Street is a fine example of what it means to be British: Culturally diverse, traditional, forward thinking and quirky. These are some of the area’s special qualities that provided the inspiration for ‘Secret Soundtrack’, which I hope to see flourish; and I’m hoping this work will contribute. Inspiration has also come from ideas put forward by experimental musician John Cage in pieces like 4’ 33”. His notions on what an audio performance can contain have been central to the project
It is free to be a part of ‘Secret Soundtrack’ but your mobile network may charge you for streaming the audio necessary for the experience. I have also created a separate audio atmosphere for ‘The Deptford Project’ café which will be on display there from 1st – 8th June.
What are you waiting for? Go and put a Secret Soundtrack date in your diary!
Deptford Market takes place every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from around 7am until 4pm and is home to stalls that sell fresh fish, groceries, antiques, clothes and other collectibles.
Poster venue opening hours:
The Deptford Project -
(café – 121 Deptford High Street, Deptford, SE8 4NS)
Monday to Saturday: 9.00am – 5.30pm
Sunday: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Deli X -
(café/deli – 156 Deptford High Street, Deptford, SE8 3PQ)
Monday to Friday: 8am – 7pm
Saturday: 9am – 5pm
Sunday – Closed
Arch Materials -
(Art Supplies – 17 Resolution Way (off Deptford High Street), Deptford, SE8 4NT)
Monday – Saturday: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Sunday – Closed
Bear Space –
(art space – 152 Deptford High Street, Deptford, SE8 3PQ)
Wednesday – Saturday: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Sunday – Tuesday: Closed
Deptford Lounge –
(Library/public space – 9 Giffin Street, Deptford SE8 4RJ)
Monday – Friday: 7am – 10pm.
Saturday and Sunday: 7am – 7pm.
Take a look around my site for further works of sound art. You will also find soundscape works created for events, composing works and sound design. If you would like to commission a work of sound art contact me with your project’s requirements
If my work in soundscape for events, sound design for film, or composing interests you join my mailing list to find out more.
Bands have always been an interesting endeavour for me. However, I have never been drunk with the delusions that musicians in bands often get; the chance of making money in a band is very slim, especially if you want it to support you. For this reason, bands have always been something to forward my musical skill, have fun with and develop ideas with. Of course, that isn’t to say I never wanted to take things further; I would still put the work in to take things as far as they would go but I think the realisation about how things really work should be central.
It seems that most of the time bands never work out because there are just too many people involved. Without the threat of pulling income away, people shy away from accountability. Also, with bands being non-earners for extended periods, people will always put their money earners first, along with their security. People will also tell you all about how much they are looking forward to being creative and working with a band but when it comes down to action, the rest of their lives influence them more and all of a sudden they are constantly taking the inferior easy option and/or being unreliable. All fair enough really, we all need to eat and have roofs over our heads!
Anyway, for these reasons I have actually started work on a new project, which will go ahead at a leisurely pace but will be an exploration of basic sound and creativity harnessed with myself as a boundary. I plan to write and perform everything myself, using my own acoustic instruments all recorded in my own space with my own equipment, each instrument having only one role. For example, if I layered three or four guitar parts, it could sound luscious but if a group of musicians visited my flat without their own instruments it would be impossible to play, as I only have one acoustic guitar. I have actually talked out against people setting themselves creative boundaries before and it’s a little controversial but I still stand by those sentiments. It’s all about context in my opinion: Using only specific tools really does help, but why limit your ideas..?
These ideals are really at the forefront of my thinking at the moment, as can be seen with my project, Secret Soundtrack. Minimal tweaking, using what you have, not over complicating things and using natural ambiences. This is all just to see (or prove) what can be done without getting all excited about the myriad of technologies available. Musicians often want to use all the latest kit (influenced by marketing, no doubt) to give themselves a great sound but my experiences in recording have proved time and again that natural is best. For example, your living room will not sound as good as Studio 2 at Abbey Road, but it will have it’s own personality and flavour which you shouldn’t be ashamed of or scared to use. If you do use it, don’t do this under the premise that it is inferior, work with it’s natural personality to produce something different. Tinkering too much will easily destroy the integrity, and therefore communication of the output as your aim will be to ape. Also, you do need to improve something that is just different (and therefore not inferior – embrace what you have). So, to be creative, you need yourself, your ideas and whatever is around you. Of course, it won’t sound like Abbey Road but that’s only an issue if that has been specifically requested by somebody paying for your food and shelter…
If you like the ideas in this post, you may also want to read an earlier post: ‘Working With What’s Natural’.
If you saw somebody suspiciously loitering around on trains the other day in the London Bridge area, then you can put your mind at rest; it wasn’t a terrorist, it was me trying to get some decent recordings of what it sounds like to be in a train carriage while it’s on the move. This was for a project I’m working on at the moment which should be on display when the weather gets a bit warmer. More about this as things progress though…
However, the focus of this post is more on the fact that I was trying to get a ‘decent’ recording rather than working with what the recording was for. I was walking through carriages, getting off trains and getting on others without them even moving and was looking quite suspicious at the same time probably! I was behaving like this as I would get on a carriage and there would be somebody talking on their phone, or coughing a lot; and I got off of one train because a whole class of young children were noisily clambering aboard. Not very good if I wanted the uninterrupted recording of the train moving but this is all part of field recording; it is very difficult to get a clean recording of anything in it’s natural habitat as there is always so much else going on at the same time.
This behaviour has come from a perceived need to get only what I set out for. Anything else is seen as impure and incorrect and therefore I pained to get what I had come for. But when I thought about it, this wasn’t right… I had come to get a natural recording but ended up trying to shape this recording into something very un-natural: a train without passengers; the truth of what I was aiming to capture shouldnt be covered up.
This all seems fairly obvious, but I have noticed things in music recordings that have annoyed me of late: an acoustic guitar with too much high frequency (or treble) to make it ‘sparkle’, turning up the high frequency on the various instruments in a metal recording to aid clarity, compressing music so much that all dynamic range disappears so it sounds louder (which is generally perceived as better). All of these examples are trying to squeeze a foot into a shoe that just doesn’t quite fit. Auto-Tune is another great example as a tool to allow non-singers to sing. Click here for a mastering engineer’s thoughts on this. They do manage to make it fit but at what cost? The nice woody quality of the acoustic guitar was destroyed, the metal sounded thin and overly compressed music sounds more unnatural and is actually more fatiguing to listen to. Of course, the nature of mixing musical instruments means that they do have to be tweaked a little from time to time, but it seems some people out there like to go a bit too far.
I’m not saying that all recordings should be imperfect or sloppy but do you remember those recordings from the 50′s and 60′s (and earlier) that sometimes had a little imperfection in them? A drum not quite hit properly, or a musician deviating from the tempo a little bit. We are human, so mistakes happen and these little ‘mistakes’ add so much to the character of the music, even changing the feel of the song for the better. Also, the world isn’t nicely ordered to suit us. The world happens around us all of the time and any art that we create is a reflection of this. It should not be showing off for the sake of showing off or pristine as we think it will make more money this way, it should record life and not cover it up. This also goes for the way we live our lives: covering up reality and truth can quite easily be the cause of being led down the wrong path not to mention the confusion and extra effort it causes to get things done properly. Do the right thing and stay true! If you can’t do this you probably should be adapting what you are doing…But then, it really does depend on what your goals are! But anyway, the moral here is: why cover up the blunders you make when you could embrace them, integrate them and use them to make yourself stronger?
First, here is a definition: (to be) Objective - Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts: historians try to be objective and impartial
Objectivism is something I strive towards and therefore it filters through to everything I do. My beliefs here have nothing to do with the organised movement that calls itself Objectivism as I don’t have sufficient knowledge on what these people believe in and whether or not I fit in with that, so these ideas are just what I have thought about personally. The space here doesn’t really do such a huge subject justice but I’m hoping this post will at least get some conversation going so I can develop my ideas further.
Anyway, Science is the search for truth about the universe; factual reality that will enable us to interact with the universe around us in a safe and efficient way. To achieve this, Science needs to be objective. Letting your emotions and own thoughts about a subject get in the way of fact will not tell you about that subject, only of your own perceptions of it. If you’re unsure of the importance of these ideas or want to know more about them do have a read of science journalist and medical doctor, Ben Goldacre’s blog/newspaper column ‘Bad Science‘. He also wrote a book of the same name which I really recommend.
I think these ideals should spread to life in general. It seems pretty obvious that getting angry or violent over anything that isn’t life-threatening is silly and acting on emotion in this way can be very harmful. Next time you get angry, step outside of your own mind and see how it looks in the grand scheme of things; it’s likely the whole issue will seem more insignificant and thinking in this way will convince you to let it go. If people think less about themselves and more about the world around them then it follows that the world will be a better place to live in.
If objectivity is important in life, to me it follows that art should be a bastion of this concept usually reserved for the sciences because it is a means of communication. The whole point of communicating is to make others understand something so using situations and ideas that only you or a small portion of the world are familiar with is very inefficient and destroys the validity of your message (ie. trying to get an important point across using French when nobody speaks it- why are you bothering?). Of course, it is possible that you may only want to communicate to a small number of people, making the style of communication more specialist but art as self-expression assumes the rest of the world cares about how sad you are about breaking up with your girlfriend/boyfriend. The rest of the world may not care how sad you are but may be interested in how they can feel less sad themselves and looking objectively at reality would help solve this quandary. Also, if art is targeting a small section of people then it needs to address them and not just be an attempt to spew the artist’s emotions out randomly into the world. This is what gives art the reputation of being self-indulgent and elitist. We may even see that the right art marketed to the right crowd would progress the artists far more as effort would be spent communicating to the people that are relevant and not just targeting people randomly (musicians are usually guilty of this!).
Also, art to be something that communicates the objective state of the world to the people in it seems to make more sense to me in a moral sense. In this case, art wouldn’t convey issues that are incorrect as it will be based on fact and also be less of a vehicle for those that just want to manipulate others for whatever gain they may be interested in (think about how Simon Cowell calls his singers ‘artists’ and the actual, true focus of what his shows are about). This is far more abstract in terms of art conveying objectivity, but if objective thinking is used in art, it’s use would filter into other walks of life. This means that misinformation and people manipulating others through making up their own ‘facts’ would become more scarce as people in general would have been given the tools to sort out the correct from the incorrect and manipulative. Also, if an artist thinks about their work in an objective manner it will allow them to figure out to whom their work is actually targeted. If you think this reeks of ‘selling-out’ because it seems a bit like marketing, think about those men and women that wander the streets shouting random phrases at people and then think about how society treats them…
The odd thing about recording is that your end product, the music, isn’t exactly real… it is a process that allows replication of something that has gone on before: The music etc is played live and a snapshot is taken. Also, you may know that the recording process cannot capture every single aspect of what the sound was like when you took that ‘snapshot’. Current technology is very good at trying to emulate the original sound and you could argue that it does it so well that the imperfections are not even noticed, especially to the non-musician.
However, there are aspects of live music that the face-value capture of sound encapsulates with great difficulty. Think about listening to a great busking band on the street. You have the excitement of stumbling upon the performance; the personalities of the performers as they interact with the crowd, verbally and with their instruments; the collective experience of being part of a crowd; your own state of mind, if you are on holiday for example; and all of the sounds and feelings associated with these aspects. Then there are the more physical aspects: the way the sound of the different instruments reverberate around the buildings (even depending on where each musician is sitting), the qualities of that reverberation (imagine the difference in sound of a cathedral to your living room); other sounds working with/against the music intentionally or otherwise; even the state of the air could influence the total experience. You then buy a copy of the band’s CD as the experience was so wonderful but, although the CD may sound good, it just isn’t the same.
The total experience (the actual music added to these aspects missing from the CD) is atmosphere (which I go on about all of the time!) and modern recording technologies can even go a long way to accounting for this; think about those realistic reverbs for example. To my mind, maybe a change in focus is what’s needed to get closer to this elusive ‘atmosphere’. When recording, maybe don’t think of it as recording music; or even as recording a performance. Maybe think about the process as recording an experience. This combined with keeping an open mind about what you can use to achieve this may produce even stronger results. Music in particular tries to reproduce the thoughts and feelings of the song-writer using abstract methods (communicating with a guitar is very different from talking!), so why not extrapolate this to the whole process rather than just the sound-making? You could even take this to the extreme by reproducing the atmosphere of a performance without actually including the instrument being used, although this would be a little silly if you are recording a virtuoso violinist because they are technically brilliant, for example! Obviously, the balance of sound reproduction and atmosphere would have more real-life applications…
So, that finally brings me to the more overt topic of this post. Architecture could be said to be one of the unsung heroes of the life experience. We take it for granted that buildings, trees, and the rest of our surroundings are ‘just there’ but as any architect will tell you, these surroundings mold our lives and our life experience/atmosphere. Therefore if we are thinking about the recording of music as above, it follows that we should take time to notice how sound interacts with the spaces it is immersed in. This could go further than just putting the sounds in a reverb that emulates the space, and many musicians work with furthering this idea (for example Gustav Holst tried to describe the planets of our solar system in his music ‘The Planets’ using an orchestra; The band The Gathering used samples of crowd noises and street noises in their album ‘If Then Else’ to manipulate the atmosphere).
Thinking about how sounds interacts with architecture or the environment may not lead to placing sounds in a space as such, but it may also deepen an understanding of sound by looking into it’s real-life behaviour, which could loosen-up a musician’s perspective and therefore increase creativity. For example, watch this you-tube video of a fantastic sound-art installation and see what you learn…
Also, think about the application of sound within the architectural field. Have a read here for some actual buildings/projects that have been designed to work within an environment that takes sound into account. A couple use fountains to put up a mask of ‘white noise’ (which contains sound from all frequencies- i.e. the ‘snow’ on blank analogue TV channels) to cover traffic noise; a classroom was also designed to reduce spill of outside noise whilst emphasising the frequencies that the human voice occupies; raised portions and physical barriers evade noise and different materials sound differently when walked on. Related to this, there are companies out there that design sound for business, taking every sound made within the company’s remit a part of their brand i.e. you wouldn’t use a noisy, clangy metallic floor in a shop that specialises in massage or meditation.
Of course, this is a two-way street as well. Musicians and sound recorders can learn from sound in the real world and architects can learn from musical idealism i.e. calming soundscapes may be used in a massage parlour so maybe the building can be constructed in a way to emphasises these sounds.
So, if you are a music fan see if these ideas change the way you listen to music; musicians out there, maybe try thinking about sound differently and see if it enhances your output; and if you are involved in any aspect of creation think about how sound is as much a part of experience as your chosen field is and how careful thought around it can enhance the end product.
This will be my last post for three weeks as I will be on a road-trip through Europe, down to Italy and back around to the UK via some friends’ wedding in the Czech Republic. With any luck I may get to write some thoughts down and make a post or two but I’ll see! While I’m away I hope to record any bits and pieces of sound that take my fancy so I can use them at a later date, and also take some much needed thinking time about my redundancy situation, as well as conjuring up ideas for new and exciting projects that come to mind!
With my current projects, the ambient London soundtrack is now completed and has been given the provisional name of ‘Some London Life’. A friend and talented artist has taken on the task of designing some artwork for it which I cannot wait to see! Then I’ll be seeing if anyone is interested in reviewing this little experiment of mine and I will be allowing free downloads of it from my website. Talking of websites, my new site is almost ready and once I am back and have ironed out the creases it will go live. My second Bedtime Nursery Rhymes CD is also going well, with five out of ten tracks pretty much finished barring some final tweaks here and there.
This week has also seen a start on my new journey of performing music with a laptop, synthesizers and guitars but it is too early to be performing with all this yet as the setup is much more complex than I’m used to. However, I am learning and figuring out the answers to problems that this new area presents. Oddly enough, it isn’t really the technology that is the main problem (although there is much to learn here) but it’s the actual logistics of what I’m playing and when, and how this all fits into a song or piece of music. It is complex but it is giving me many ideas for the future involving performance in any capacity inside or outside of a band… stay tuned for these ideas as they develop though…
Well, have a wonderful August and I shall be back in September with a new post (if I don’t get the opportunity to write whilst I’m away of course!)
Jay
Ok, I heard you snigger… apparently, this is what the Jacobites used to call William III but Wikipedia tells me that the nursery rhyme wasn’t a reference to this…
Anyway, after a wonderful week in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales with my family I have got straight back to work on this redundancy plan.
One of the important things about having this redundancy plan is that I have devised it to be realistic but also to get everything I want done; it’s no good working yourself too hard and I am already seeing that my productivity has increased very much. I recommend sorting a plan out if you are in a similar situation so please do get in touch if you need advice on that. I’m no expert but it’s working for me and I like to help! It’s far too easy to let your worries and emotions take over when in a bad situation but it doesn’t have to be like that….
Despite the alarm that redundancy can cause I have decided to keep my planned holidays and use them to unwind and think about my situation. A clear head is a fertile ground for great thoughts…. As well as doing a lot of beer testing and chilling out with the family in the Dales, I managed to record a fair bit of the sounds that were surrounding me: Waterfalls, streams, sheep, the ambience of the Dales, a country fair, etc. Some ideas of use have already hit me but I have the sounds now and will be able to use them for anything I please.
The two musical/sound parts of my plan that I am carrying out at the moment are an ‘ambient London’ project (see my last post) which is as yet un-named and a follow-up to my Bedtime Nursery Rhymes CD. At the moment, I have it so that the new BNR will be a sort-of prequel to the first and have taken feedback I have been lucky to gain into account… I’ll be working on the rhymes until mid September and should finish the ambient stuff by the time I go away to Italy for three weeks in August (may need to buy a bigger memory for my Roland R-09HR sound recorder for this one!).
Here is a draft of the second nursery rhyme I have worked on so far. As with the first BNR I have taken aspects and atmospheres from the words of the poem and tried to convey them with sound; some are quite abstract, others more obvious… There are a couple of aspects that I feel need a change or slight diversion but please do let me know what you think, there is no such thing as bad constructive criticism!
Wee Willie Winkie