Thursday 20th September 2012 – Soundscapes – Rivers and People

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Jay

Last Sunday, in collaboration with Lewisham Council, the London Bubble Theatre Company put on a work of experiential theatre based around the Ladywell Fields park and the River Ravensbourne. The event took place outside around the river and involved artists of various decsiplines to create a magical journey centred around the naiad, or river spirit. Storytellers, poets, choirs, musicians, photographers, actors and various visual artists worked among eerie lights, prompting the audience to move from scene to scene. Various happenings took place along the route; some obvious, others not so obvious and at three points along this route the audience experienced different soundscape installations which I had been commissioned to provide:

The first soundscape was located in an area where artist Ian Simons installed flowers and insects made from bottles and other discarded packaging, made with the help of local children. They formed chandeliers that were hung from trees which created a natural tunnel along a part of the path. To go with this, I wanted to create a work of recycled ‘found sound’. I explored Ladywell Fields with my handheld recorder and captured lots of audio of the river, natural ambiences and of people using the park. With the thought of creating a magical forest ambience, I found different sounds that could be manipulated to sound like various occupants of this forest: bouncing tennis balls became woodpeckers, the noise of a cruising bicycle became the noise of crickets, pitched dog barks became far off birdcalls (as well as the sound of an ice-cream van’s music); the filtered sound of children playing became the noise of a morning chorus; the bubbling river flow and aeroplanes flying overhead were filtered to became noises of life emanating from within the depths of the forest . The main soundscape was placed over two main speakers. Other speakers were hidden in trees and contained variations of the main recording to produce the effect of forest life coming from all around. This soundscape can be played below.

The second soundscape was a whispering forest located in a small spinney along the path. This section lead to folk storyteller Richard Neville and was populated with eerie lights and decoration as well as a librarian reading a local story aloud. Again, I hid speakers in trees but this time they contained recordings of local librarians whispering stories based around rivers. The third soundscape installation contained recorded accounts of local people talking about their experiences of parks and Ladywell Fields in particular. These emanated from speakers hidden along a footbridge that crosses the river.

The event was a great success and provided a wonderful platform for me to further explore space as I have done in previous works such as Secret Soundtrack and Some London Life. In particular, with the ‘magical forest’, the darkness, lights, otherworldly plants and insects and my magical forest soundscape provided a wonderfully atmospheric space rooted in and working with real nature to create a unique, alien space. I feel the natural setting and natural noises of the area combined with our creations to produce something anchored in reality which made it all the more vivid and enveloping. People commented on not being able to tell if sounds in the area were natural or synthetic and it is this blurring of reality which I seek to achieve through my work to enhance the physical and mental envelopment of atmosphere

The whispering forest soundscape was located in a more enclosed space and allowed me to explore the use disembodied human voice and how it effects perception. It pretty much goes without saying that the effect was quite eerie!

This event excited me very much and was a fantastic way to explore my ideas on scale larger than I have previously worked with. Jonathan Petherbridge, creative director at London Bubble was the guiding force behind the event and moulded everything into such a fantastic performance. Go check out the London Bubble website here to see what else they are up to.

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

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Jay

Y Secret Soundtrack - London Sound Art - Jay Harris ou 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

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Jay

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.

Tuesday 3rd April 2012 – Secret Soundtrack

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Jay

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…

Thursday 9th February 2012 – The Amazing Binaural Audio

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jay

Binaural recording is an idea quite new to me. @TOther_Simon introduced me to it at the end of last year, and ever since I have been having quite a few thoughts about it’s potential. I have been making some exploratory recordings which have come out very well but to get a well-put-together experience of binaural recording put some headphones on and watch the video below:

Fast Tube by Casper

How Does it Work?

As you will be able to hear, binaural recording is a way to get what may be called 3D sound. Conventional two channel recording (stereo sound) is the product of trying to get realistic sense of space into recordings by working from the fact we have two ears. Different signals go to both the right and left speakers to enable a more realistic sound, meaning sounds can be positioned within the 180 degree arc between the speakers. Using reverberation (echo), we are also able to position the sounds up close or further away. However, stereo recording does not account for the physical intricacies of our hearing. As you know, we are able to place sounds from all around us without looking and stereo recording only allows this to happen in front of us (if we are facing speakers), or inside our heads (if we are listening to headphones). Our brain uses the fact that there is a certain distance between the two ears, as well as information about the very shape of our ears to allow us to pinpoint where in the world a sound is coming from; you can hear sounds from behind you as well as in front of you. Binaural recording, takes account of these facts to trick your brain into thinking that what you are listening to is actually occurring in the three dimensional space around you. Of course, our ears are on the sides of our heads and not on our faces so to get the full effect from a binaural recording, it is best to use headphones. The effect is more realistic on headphones that have a clear emission of sound from across the audio spectrum but it seems to work pretty well even when using the cheapest headphones. Achieving this is very simple: use a dummy head with realistic ears containing microphones or use tiny microphones that resemble earphones and be the dummy head yourself!

Where Would You Use Binaural Recording?

So, this is all interesting and gimmicky, but how can binaural recording be used? Well, as you will see from the above video, the guy who made it is promoting a video game that uses binaural recording to make the game experience more immersive. With the rise of portable entertainment with iPhones and iPads etc, the rise in use of headphones could really facilitate more widespread use of binaural audio. This technique could mean more realistic simulations for different kinds of training, or maybe use in film to place the audience in the same space as the actors. This technique has also been used to record bands too, and was apparently used as far back as the 60’s. Some test recordings I made of me playing my acoustic guitar got a very rich and full sound without having to mess around with mic placement at all. For me though, the most fantastic thing about binaural recording is the possibility to take an audience somewhere that would be totally impossible to go to, like the video game example. You could mix the real and the imagined and blur the line between them to get closer to the ultimate escapism.

Please do put ten minutes aside to listen to the example of an audio composition located at the bottom of this web page. It’s nothing to do with my own work but you wont regret it… very cool. I’m raring to go do some experimenting now…

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to add such ideas to your own projects.

Thursday 24th November 2011 – Sound, Architecture and Environment

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Jay

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…

http://youtu.be/Ve6PTrlLGOU

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.

Thursday 22nd September, 2011 – Colourscape at Clapham Common

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Jay

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of experiencing the Colourscape music festival (You Tube video below). For those that haven’t heard of it Colourscape is a giant tent of interconnected nodules of different colour that you can go inside of and explore. The different colours change the colour of the light coming into the structure, whether natural or otherwise. There is also a large silver-coloured chamber in the middle where music is performed, the speakers for which are located throughout the whole structure (although performers can also play on the move wondering around the structure). The idea is to use Colourscape’s unique environment to influence the performance and music to create a sensory experience that envelopes the audience. As my regular readers may have realised creating atmosphere is one of my main interests, so when I found out about Colourscape, I had to experience it. Click here to have a look at their website, which includes pictures of the set-up in case my explanation isnt clear enough!

As I entered, the vocal ensemble Juice performed some gorgeously atmospheric a cappella pieces full of luscious harmonies and a while later Consortium5 performed. If you have read my post on this year’s Truck festival you may notice that I saw Consortuim5 with a handful of other people whilst drinking some of a friend’s lethal home-made elderflower champaigne. They are a recorder quintet that play some very interesting experimental-type compositions. This time around, they started with some more traditional compostions and then ventured into their more modern approach; and later on performed avant garde pieces together with Juice.

Wondering around Colourscape does feel like an adventure; various coloured chambers beckon you from all directions with your current mood guiding your path. There are intense red, green, blue and yellow chambers as well as a couple of very dark black ones; each effecting you more intensely than you can imagine. Colours also spill out and mix together to form other colours, especially into the neutral silver chambers, leaving you with a surreal atmosphere that seems to heighten your senses as well as wash calm over you. The other people also inside become part of the atmosphere, wearing coloured capes provided by the staff, aimlessly wondering along with their excited chatter.

The experience of this is intensified and enriched by the music being played. At first, you cannot tell where the music is coming from; you wonder around in a colour-bathed daze whilst sound floats around you prompting exploration. This is the feeling most interesting to me: the space is enclosed and the surfaces are reverberant so voices, the sound of excited children and the music bounce around giving a very dream-like echoic experience; the more ethereal music works very well in this respect. The more interpretative sounds were more interesting though: certain colours jar your senses in varying degrees whilst others influence you to just sit down and stare; and the marriage of Juice and Consortium5 expressing these differences tied my senses together and put me on the road to total immersion.

The whole experience was quite indulgent but also I learned a lot about what can be done with space and control over an atmosphere. Ideas about what I could do with this spaces crept into my thoughts; ideas about creating a journey influenced by the different feelings inside of the chambers and disorienting the audience to such an extent that re-adjusting to the outside again may become just as shocking. Over time, I’ll have a deeper think about these ideas and may even approach the makers of Colourscape to compete for the yearly commission they give. I’ve got plenty to do as it is at the moment but I feel very excited about this prospect…

This year’s Colourscape music festival is running until 25th September on Clapham Common and costs £8 per person for an hour or so. It is well worth it so do go and experience it!

Fast Tube by Casper

Thursday 15th September 2011 – Some London Life

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Jay

Last week, I finally managed to get my new website up and running. This wasn’t without problems but that seems to be all part of experience when dealing with computers! As part of the new site I added the various pages that contain the different projects I am undertaking this year and the first of these to be completed is ‘Some London Life’ which I created over the summer (alongside some of the projects due to be finished). If you have read earlier posts about the creation of this you will already know a bit about it but I thought I’d introduce the finished collection and say a few more things about it and what I learned.

The collection ended up being five tracks that act as a sort-of fictional narrative based in reality. This narrative is based on the introduction, movement and passing of various spaces that I recorded in London and each one follows on from the previous. At the moment, I am thinking a lot about the importance of space in atmosphere and it’s manipulation. The use of artificial reverberation may seem to be the last word in this but for me it is so much more: A space is lived in (or otherwise) and is characterised but whatever is in that space, not just the sense of it having an echo etc.

As the idea behind the project was to present the fun side of London in response to hearing people complain about the city a lot I thought I’d use as little processing as possible. This was to intensify honesty which is needed in any good argument! I still used a bit when I thought it was necessary and ended up putting a slightly dark twist in at the end but I feel the essence of what I wanted to do remains and these little extras just enrich the project.

’Some London Life’ is my first experiment with ‘found sound’ and has really opened up my eyes with regard to what can be achieved with sound. An instrument or voice is a very expressive mode of communication but collected sounds can be arranged and manipulated to form something just as emotive or thought provoking. This may not be a big surprise to some of you but when you realise that something can be an integral extension of your work and not just an add-on, it is very empowering, opening up a brand-new and very powerful door. Such uses of sound have been eloquently used by artists (such as Janek Schaefer) and I can only hope to reach this level of experience and diction but it seems much of the time, when I’ve been exposed to such ideas used alongside more mainstream music, a sense of detachment between music and ‘effects’ usually prevails. This project has given me ideas and some insight to enable me to tackle this issue in my own way, and it is gratifying to feel that I may be able to put my own stamp on something this way in the future.

Head on over to ‘Some London Life’ to have a listen, download the audio as a single MP3 or download individual MP3 files. There is also a bit more information on the page including links to the articles I wrote when constructing the collection. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated; although I am showcasing my ideas, this is all exploratory work. It works in my head, and you could argue that this is all that matters, but the opinions of others will help me grow and improve.

Thursday 24th March 2011 – Music is all around us.

Posted on March 24, 2011 by transientmusic

Some music is created using ‘found sound’ rather than conventional instrumentation; sound that you can record at any point in your life. Such sounds could be street noises, birdsong, the wail of a siren, a crashing of pots and pans or anything else that you can think of. They can be used exclusively or they can be used in conjunction with sounds that resemble music in a more traditional sense. Such ideas are used in conventional music by the likes of Bjork and Aphex Twin but there are others that lean more towards sound art.

This week I would like to talk a bit about the work of Janek Schaefer who works on music/sound art that uses these environmental sounds. Co-incidentally enough, like Iannis Xenakis (see last week’s post), he trained as an architect. However, whereas Xenakis took influence from the mathematical side, Janek Schaefer tends to look at sound with relation to the environment it is created in. He works a lot with ‘found sound’ and also distorts these field recordings using the technology at his disposal. He also combines these recordings with other created sounds such as the application of his three-armed turn-table.

This environmental aspect of his work really interests me. To me, music is all about creating atmosphere and what better way to do that than to use atmospheres that appear in our every-day lives. In my opinion, this can give work a realistic grounding and relevance to the listener’s life. Also, I particularly really enjoy the fantastical element that can be created by adding another less familiar layer or element to familiar ideas or atmospheres. To me, this is pure audio escapism.

Anyway, Janek Sceafer’s first audio work was entitled Recorded Delivery and for this he sent a sound-activated dictaphone through the post. The record function of the dictaphone was triggered every time a loud enough sound was picked up. The project was created in this way to combat the fact that the artist was taking part in an exhibition centred around a self-storage centre but was told that he was unable to visit. He wondered how he would be able to create a work based around something he had never experienced before. In terms of sound, the resulting project recorded the secret life of a package travelling through the postal system in London. This project is obviously more of a piece of sound art but some of his other work blurs the boundary between art and music.

You can have a listen to a shortened version of ’Recorded Delivery’ here:

Fast Tube by Casper

I own two of Janek Schaefer’s CDs which blur these boundaries. I bought them at an exhibition at the Barbican, London entitled ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’. As you can see from the title, the exhibition focussed on Japanese fashion but Janek had created a soundtrack called ‘Unfolding’ to accompany it. From the exhibition’s webpage, it ‘…was inspired by the ephemeral unfurling fabric of fashion, viewed through the vertical veils of the Future Beauty exhibition. The composition is made from 4 x 44 minute shifting loops spread out across four pairs of speakers in the space, subtly shifting the sound textures and tones all around the different levels and zones of the show. It forms an underscore for the work on display, weaving them together and suspending them in a sense of unfolding wonder.’ A very inviting description. The veils mentioned were literally veils hanging from ceiling to floor and created see-through walls sectioning off different parts of the exhibition. These were located throughout the ground floor but the exhibition also took place on the next floor; a mezzanine level where the exhibits below were also visible from. The resulting spatial atmosphere was almost mystical and the sound that went along with it emphasised this wonderfully (although I would have asked for a private viewing without annoying public chatter… and with the sound turned up a little…).

One of the CDs I bought, entitled, ‘Migration’ looked at space in terms of a journey and was originally accompanied by a site-specific dance performed opposite Grand Central Station in New York. Many of the sounds used here were collected on Janek’s travels and a listen really does take you on a journey to differing soundscapes. I can only try to imagine what the whole experiencing was like in New York city but the compositions take you on an intense journey. From quiet moments of calm and contemplation to intense agitation and even paranoia, the journey moves your emotions along with imagined locations painted with the colours of the various sounds used. The other CD I bought at the exhibition is called ‘Pulled Under’ and the journey that this work takes you on seem to be more claustrophobic although nonetheless still magical in a pleasant way. The sounds here are also manipulated sounds taken from Janek’s travel’s.

I had already started thinking about such applications of sound when I had found out about the work of Janek Shaefer and had created my first contribution to the audio/visual project I am undertaking with Lesley Flower. However, I think Janek Shaefer’s work will probably influence me more as time goes on. The passion and wonder with which he describes his efforts are intoxicating and the resulting compositions brim with these factors making sure they drip with atmosphere. Of course, I don’t want to try to replicate anything created by some one else as I have my own things to say (In fact I’m unsure this is even possible!) but I think I have caught the bug that infects Janek Schaefer and will definitely explore the ideas put forward using my own context. I have various ideas at the back of my mind and thought of putting them into practice makes me very excited indeed… Initially, there is talk of including conceptual ideas in amongst the songs of the Lunar Rising set. Here, I can imagine a continuous stream of sound where soundscapes appear in between the songs to create an enveloping experience. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to combine this with visuals to create something to totally immerse the audience in. Also at a basic level, my upcoming Bedtime Nursery Rhymes project toys with these ideas. The music contains collected sound and synthetic sound to bring out the atmosphere of each piece with a general aim to provide something that progressively lulls the listener into peaceful slumber. It definitely works on me and some willing parents say it has the same effect on their little ones. More about this next week though…

So, in the context of my previous blog post, is this ‘shit’ music? Is it music at all? Well, yes it is music…You could say it is sound art but the compositions have the stories, atmospheres and movements that any piece of music has; and the fact that Janek Schaefer has been awarded with The British Composer of The Year Award for Sonic Art, 2008 and The Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers Prize is an indicator of his status and ability to make music. Is it ‘shit’ music..? Apart form the accolades, to my mind such an accusation would be ridiculous as this is some of the richest, imaginative use of sound to tell a story that I have ever heard…. I really recommend you check it out… and start off with Mr. Schaefer’s website at www.AudiOh.com…

Thursday 10th February 2011 – (An)Other Irish Cinema

Posted on February 10, 2011 by transientmusic

Last week, I attended a short-film event put on by James Devereaux for his Drifting Clouds Cinema Group. We had orginally talked about Lunar Rising playing an acoustic set at the event but unfortunately the bar hosting it doesn’t yet have a live music license.

Anyway, the event hosted a film-making trio that go by the name of (An)Other Irish Cinema. As I have talked about before, for the fringe arts to survive it is necessary to collaborate and combine numbers and strength, and this formed the basis of the trio getting together. In their own words: ”(Donal) Foreman, (Rouzbeh) Rashidi and (Maximilian) Le Cain formed as a platform for joint screenings, to showcase their work and, in so doing, to propose the possibility of an/other filmmaking culture in Ireland”

I am no film critic and do not pretend to have any knowledge about film, the proceses used or issues that film-makers care about. I do, however, like film. All the way from cheesy blockbusters to the deeply strange. Each film interests me in a different way and offers something, from gaining a few cheap laughs to something really profoundly effecting me. So, yeah, this isnt meant as a film review (I probably wont even mention film titles) but it is an explanation of what I took from the films in light of my interest in combining and gaining influence from seemingly unrelated walks of life.

From what James had told me, I was aware that the films being shown were avant garde. I’m not a fan of art that is elitist, or art that is so abstract you need a degree in art history to understand it so it may come as a bit of a surprise that I really enjoyed what was on show. As the trio of film-makers hinted in a ‘question-and-answer’ session afterward, the films weren’t designed to wrap up an idea in such a deep cloak of mystery that it will never be understood. Indeed, there may be nothing to actually understand. The works were based around the moment in which they were filmed and took influence from everything going on at the time of filming/editing. You could even say that the films are a film version of Jazz…. What results is a feast for the senses; The films effected me visually, and most crucially to me, aurally. The mix of these two mediums in the way presented, rather than being a narrative as such created an atmosphere that immersed me in something I had never experiecned before and also got my grey cells working. The great thing about such film is that every one takes you on a journey you have never expereicend before. In contrast, love stories etc take you on the same journey over and over again (which I think has it’s rightful place).

As some of you will know, the main focus of my musical interest is atmopshere. With Lunar Rising, very much like my bandmates I think, I aim my input to work towards an all-encompassing experience that will hold you for a duration of time and tell you a story without actually telling you anything; A sense of journey in emotion and immersive sound. Whether or not I ever achieve this is down to the listener of course! The lyrics do add a tale but combined with the ambiguity of the musical journey, I find the desired effect is intensified. With Henry Spencer Project, I aim to create a more physical atmosphere that picks up the listener in rhythmic movement. With the audio/visual project I am undertaking with Lesley Flower, we aim to make each aspect (audio and visual) mutually bolster the other to create an atmosphere that is intensified by their partnership.

It therefore follows that the main interest I took away from seeing these short-films are the atmospheres they created, how they did this plus how I might translate such ideas using the tools and knowledge available into my own work.

The use of space was very interesting. Open spaces were used but sounds were intense and right in your face. Visions of natural surroundings were used with heightened, intensified natural sounds. The distortion of sounds lent fairly normal images more depth and an altered sense of perception. Emotive sounds were used that worked in tandem with or against various images. Lots of contrast and lots harmony in so many different ways. Maybe I can use ‘normal’ sounds and songs but use anything I like to contrast or harmonise them aesthetically or theoretically with sound and/or image (or using any other of the senses for that matter…).

Also, I have been developing an interest in the sounds around us in our every day lives and how I can merge these to create something that is even more personal to me than the music I write/sounds I create. To my mind it follows that combining my instrumental self-expression with sounds that I am personally immersed in intensifies my own stamp. Therefore, the use of everday sounds (or ‘found sounds’) in the work of the films I saw really stood out and, for me, really made the experience complete in a practical sense once combined with my aforementioned thoughts.

Please do take the time to check out the film-maker’s and group’s links at the beginning of the article. Keep an open mind and expect something more than a film; indeed something very different. You wont regret it! If you are unfamiliar with my work then it would be great if you found time to check out the links to Lunar Rising and Henry Spencer Project. As always, I really am very grateful for any kind of feedback you can offer at all!

Jay