Tag Archives: Secret Soundtrack

Wednesday 29th August 2012 – Sound for Events – Enriching Experience

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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!

Thursday 26th July 2012 – Deptford X Contemporary Arts Festival – London Sound Art.

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YSecret Soundtrack - London Sound Art - Jay Harrisou may remember that when I planned my work of London sound art, Secret Soundtrack, Paul who runs Arch Materials suggested that I enter the project to be included in the Deptford X Contemporary Arts Festival. Needless to say, I entered and was lucky enough to be included!

The Festival is explained perfectly on the blog ‘Crosswhatfields?‘:

“Deptford’s annual contemporary visual arts festival kicks off this Friday to run concurrently with the Olympics until 12th August.

There is so much to go and see it’s too big a job for us to pick out what may be the highlights – so have a look at the website at www.deptfordx.org.

Apart from some big names invited by the lead curators Hew Locke & Indra Khanna, and work commissioned by Lewisham Council, there are over 50 fringe artists or projects popping up all over the place in shops and on the sides of buildings, in the streets and other more unusual places, plus gallery shows, open studios, events and performances.

There’s a free printed map to tell you where everything is, which you can pick up in various venues. To find out more about the actual work on show, download the brochure from the website or buy one for a quid at Creekside Cafe (on Creekside) and Arch Materials (in Resolution Way). The map can also be downloaded. Both are indispensible if you want to know what’s going on. There are also walking and cycling tours to help you navigate your way around and not miss the best stuff.

The curators’ theme for the festival centres on “the decorative”: “Surrender to the pleasure of the decorative. Revel in the excessive, embrace it and be dazzled…But… Layers of decoration contain levels of meaning, messages and codes – symbols of power, conspicuous consumption, signals of elitist knowledge, patterns of control and signs of social belonging…” All that glitters is not gold, perhaps?”

About Secret Soundtrack:

Secret Soundtrack is a work of sound where the recordings used are taken from the local environment and ordered in such a way as to create a performance. Mysterious, decorative posters will be located at Deli X cafe, the Deptford Lounge library and The Deptford Project Cafe. Each poster contains a QR Code and it is this that you scan with your QR Code reader on your smartphone. You then plug in your headphones and listen while exploring Deptford High Street, allowing the natural sound to compliment the recordings you are hearing to produce one immersive semi-live, semi-recorded performance.

So, what are you waiting for?? Download the festival guide here and the trail map here!

Thursday 31st May 2012 – Follow the Smart Trail along Deptford’s Secret Soundtrack – London Sound Art

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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.

Thursday 19th April 2012 – Self-Sufficiency and Honesty in Your Work

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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’.

Tuesday 3rd April 2012 – Secret Soundtrack

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Central to my interest in composing, soundscape and sound design is the creation of all-immersive atmosphere that gets to the very core of the subject that is being displayed. Music, my main love, can be inadequate at conveying information as it is so reliant on the audience being fully tuned into what the creator is saying. This leads to a partitioning of the audience into a group that understands, a group that doesn’t understand and a group that draws it’s own conclusions. In my opinion, this leads to elitism and snobbery as the ‘understanders’ and ‘think-they-understanders’ want to bolster their egos by letting the world know how clever they are because they can understand the vague messages. Music, so often touted as the voice of the people, then becomes a voice of people in a select crowd of accepted personalities, ironically mirroring the elitist groups of business people and cultural directors that are providing the force against which these ‘artists’ usually want to rebel.

Of course, music still is my main love and the intricacies that can be created and used to work with as well as against emotion have the potential for extreme beauty. However, as mentioned, music is not always the best way to convey ideas, and this is where a branch of my interest comes to light.

I wanted to create some work that is all-inclusive and able to communicate an experience without it being only understood by musicians, music fans, or artists, etc, etc. I wanted to create an experience or atmosphere that anybody could take part in but would still communicate a specific message. This all-inclusive ideology goes hand-in-hand with the notion of community, and coupled with the fondness I have of my local area I saw an idea forming.  Also, I’ve always had a need to promote diversity and not let the unconventional be dominated by mainstream notions.

This is where the idea for Secret Soundtrack came from. Secret Soundtrack is a hidden experience that you can immerse yourself in and be a part of at any time that suits you. Also, no single performance is ever the same although it’s basic thread will always be present no matter when you experience it. Secret Soundtrack isn’t music, but it is the creation of an atmosphere or show that you are a part of. It creates rhythm, melody and progression similar to what you might expect from music but it challenges your perception of the use of sound in atmosphere and it makes you focus on your surroundings whilst allowing you to get lost in a fantasy world. The aim of the project is to bring attention to a specific area and to allow an audience to get acquainted with a culture. Familiarity is a precursor to fondness, which then leads to more positive word-of-mouth. This should develop more positive attention, which should increase affluence on an area’s own terms. The dull British suburban high street hasn’t been able to achieve this and you can see this just be wondering around them and seeing the domination of big business. This has made so many high streets all look the same. In my opinion, this is both boring and stifling to innovation and on a more sinister note people will be less familiar with the concept of diversity and therefore naturally suspicious and negative towards it.

Secret Soundtrack is almost finished and I aim to bring it to Deptford, south-east London this summer. I am currently drumming up interest from local business so they may be a part of this project. It doesn’t cost anything to take part, so if you represent a business along Deptford High Street and you like this idea please do get in touch for more information. For everyone else, I’ll divulge more specific information as the project progresses…