Sound Project Lesson 1 - Introduction to Sound

For this sound project we have to create a 1-2 minute soundscape which is based on an artwork from the list given to us. To begin to get us involved in sound we began in this first lesson by looking into pieces which has very inspiring and interesting sound to them. Here is what we looked at and what I observed:


'Eraserhead' Director: David Lynch (1977)


I found with this piece there were a lot of sudden changes from non-diegetic sound to diegetic which help it really create an impact and make us pay attention to the sound a lot more. It was however majority non-diegetic sound which at points made myself feel slightly uncomfortable. There was also a score/music all the way through which became slightly irritating after a long amount of time however it is what helps to drive the film along. The sound keeps you drawn in with anticipation waiting to see but also hear what else is to come. There was a particular noise I picked up on which was a consistent hum/drone almost sounding like factory ventilation, wind going through a tunnel and also dense metallic chimes which made the whole piece seem much more industrialized. I found this piece began with low frequencies primarily then it began to introduce higher frequencies in which kept it unpredictable and again more uncomfortable which fitted the eerie style. I feel like this piece was deliberately meant to be uncomfortable whilst watching it.



'Sound of Noise - Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers' Director: Ola Simonsson and

Johannes Stjärne Nilsson (2001)

I find with this piece that if you just listened to it without visuals it would come across as some unique music and you wouldn't realize how its actually made straight away. However since this was released this style has become so overused in the media that you now in a current audience can probably guess after a while what is happening if you were to just listen. These sounds wouldn't have been recorded live whilst doing the visuals because you can tell that it would need post production on a lot of it to play with things like the volumes of certain noises and the sounds were far too consistent to be done live. Also you can hear that a lot of the sounds were quite over exaggerated but this just added to the fun off the piece and I really liked it.



'Duet for Leaves and Turntable' Diego Stocco (2013)


I find this piece really interesting because its made in such an interesting way using leaves on a turntable to create different frequencies and pitches which have then been edited into a very interesting music track. It gives me a lot of inspiration on how you can create sounds creatively through objects you may have never thought to use like that before hand. I feel like this piece was enhanced a lot in post production to enhance the sounds and distort them to create solid beats for the music.




'Solar Rework' Flight 404 (2010)

Solar rework from flight404 on Vimeo.
I really like how this is an interesting approach to combining science and art together and the sounds really help to make an impact on this. I like the use of a script having talking on it because they have made the visuals match up with this really well and also placed more interesting non-diegetic noises on top of this. The extra sounds metaphorically mimic what is being said in the script and this ties all of the elements together. I really like the abstract nature of this piece and the way all the sounds have been distorted to add more atmosphere to it.



'140 db' Tadas Svilainis (2011)

This piece creates a really powerful meaning through the sound and I really appreciate how technically amazing it is not only through but also through visuals. It is very electronic sounding creating the feel of the atmosphere of the space and air. I also like the large variations and changes in the levels and volume which keeps it constantly moving and very interesting. It is using such a dynamic range of tones to take you through this journey of sound and how it can be used adding and informational level to this piece.

'Unnamed Sound Sculpture' Onformative (2013)



The sounds used in this piece remind me personally of the crackling of fire which becomes very distorted at points. I can also hear a few instruments used almost like a piano and guitar. I like how there are harsher electronic abstract sounds integrated in which create a strong contrast against the musical instruments.Some of the sounds were made even more abstract and distorted by being played backwards. I feel like the static electronic sound that you could hear was to represent the grains/pixels but then the musical instruments were used to represent the human side of the piece when the figure becomes more visible and is dancing. The sound piece creates such an amazing atmosphere with the visuals that I was shocked when I found out the sound wasn't made for this because they go so well together.


'20hz' Semiconductor (2011)


I found this piece almost relaxing after listening to it for a prolonged amount of time because it became quite therapeutic to the ears. It seems to be composed of all sounds from a storm like wind, thunder and rain etc. All these sounds were pieced together really well. It is lots of natural elements put together in this way to make this digital piece. I also thought the visuals worked really well matching what was going on in the storm/sound and they also became very calming to watch as well.

This first lesson has really helped me become inspired by sound pieces and sound-scapes. I am very excited to start learning how to produce my own sound scape for one of the art works.