The musical aspect of this project accompanies the Pd and circuitry work, integrating the piece as a sample into Pd and then using the LDRs in relation to the LED flicker, in order to modulate the amplitude of the sample during the rotation of the Zoetrope. I wanted to create a soundscape that represents each aspect of the project, creating an atmosphere that holds meaning both to myself and to each individual viewer. In order to achieve this affect I have used a range of sound sources including; wolf howls, a female speaking voice, my own singing, humming and whistling, guitar plucking and more.
Final Composition –
Because I was aware that the piece itself would have this modulation occurring whilst playing out, I didn’t want to create an overly complex soundscape that when modulated would just be too much sonically in comparison to the visuals. However, at the same time I didn’t want to create a boring piece that wouldn’t captivate the viewer. Overall, I feel I have managed to create a balanced piece that holds beauty and meaning without much complexity, hopefully reacting well to the modulation. The sources I have used are coherent enough to work well together, whilst still standing out from one another, you’re able to distinguish the different sounds of the wolf howling and the voice speaking for example, yet they also subconsciously merge into one harmonious sound.
The music/soundscape was the most underdeveloped part (in terms of planning) of this project, making music using a DAW is something I am pretty familiar with and so compared to the other aspects of this project, I felt most confident entering it without much prior thought as to how to make it. Previously, my projects in the first year were mainly audio file based and so the entirety of the project revolved around making a piece of sound work on my computer. I would put a lot of thought into the piece before starting it and found that this never really worked for me, often times, my expectations would not match the reality of the piece and this discouraged me from this form of sonic expression, feeling this way of working was not suited to me. However, since last year I have approached my practice with a different mindset, conforming less to this structured idea I had of working with sound and music, and allowing myself to explore freely, using the kind of mediums I am interested in. Intertwining each medium with another to create new work. And so, when it came to making the sound piece for this project, I had a vague idea of how I wanted it to sound, however I did not have a solid aim for the work. This approach worked incredibly well, I ended up making a piece that; suits the theme of the illustrations, works well as a loop, has a range of different but coherent sources, and only took me 2 days to make.
Composition In Progress –
For this composition I chose to only include sources that were made from a natural source, therefore no synthetic or computerised instruments were used to create this piece. The choice for these natural sounds arose from wanting an organic feel to emerge from the music and the visuals, to then contrast the rather inorganic, technical work that goes into the Pd and circuitry aspect. I wanted to create this contrasting relationship for a few reasons; first of all I was massively inspired by Milos work that I have previously mentioned, second of all, I wanted to represent the misinformed relationship humans have with animals. We, as humans, often separate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom due to lifestyle and the society we have evolved into, however at the root of it all, we are all just animals existing within the same world, together.
Each track involved with this piece, apart from the wolves howling and the speaking voices, were recorded in through my laptop microphone, which I then added effects to, the 3 main effects used were reverb, echo and delay. – Although I am aware of the low quality of a laptop microphone, it was a conscious choice as I found it worked well for this project, I was using other sources that were old, low quality recordings, and this meant that all the recordings worked well together and one did stood out from the other quality wise.
The most influential effect I used, that really shaped the whole piece, was the Delay Designer, an effect I haven’t previously used. Using this delay effect allowed me to manipulate sounds that were once very mono and boring and transform them into deeper, more complex sounding sources that took on new meaning. I was able to create these rather intense, actually inorganic sounding noises, by applying layers of delay onto one sound, gradually eroding it’s natural texture and creating a new sense of rhythm. Contrastingly, I was also able to transform particular sources to sound more organic and part of a natural soundscape that they have no distinct sonic correlation to. For example the drumming is the sound of my phone hitting the base of my guitar, in which through the delay, transformed into this rather tribal, ancient drum sound and rhythm.
Sound Sources –
The sound sources I used for the piece were very selective and specific for this work, once I began making the composition, I had this realisation that I wanted every source to be a natural, organic sound in which I then manipulated to my liking. This started as first I began singing tones into the microphone with this delay effect on and they sounded so dense, these really beautiful layers of harmonies and tones arose just from me singing one note. I played with a few different tones, seeing which worked together and then began making other noises like whistles and hums, all of which are included in the final piece. These sounds felt connected to the project due to the kind of fluidity they held, this piece works with movement, – the rotation of the cylinders, the flickering of the light, the modulation of the music. And so, these loose organic sounds felt right to accompany the visuals, the tones are constantly changing and moving due to the delay and this creates (along with the other aspects) a kinetic atmosphere. The other attraction to these tones is due to the similarities they have to the sound of howling. The layers make it sound as if there are multiple voices at once, each vocalising a slightly different tone that equates to this one connected sound.
The Tones –
I see this piece centred around communication, and the forms it takes throughout lives. This concept first came from thinking about the howl of a wolf, questioning it’s purpose and what the human equivalent is to a howl.
The howl is a collective form of communication used in a functional way to; assemble the pack, find a lost member and defend territories, however it is also used in a more emotional way to greet pack mates and mourn a lost member. The human equivalent is talking really, and although this takes it form in different ways for different effects, e.g shouting when angry or to be heard, this is our comparable form of communication. Therefore I thought it was important to include speech within my composition, to accompany the sounds of howling, which occur more in the background of the piece.
The sources I selected for the speech were from a childhood camera I recently found that had an array of recordings from around 2009/10. Using these recordings added another layer of nostalgia and relation to this project as they’re incredibly personal recordings.
The first voice you hear is actually my mother’s, talking to me as a child as I am trying to stroke some horses on a farm we used to go to a lot. I chose to include this specific recording as this whole project relates to my own memories of being a kid. As mentioned, wolves hold a significance to my younger self and so I felt it was important to portray this relation through the project, even if not noticeable to the viewer, it was important to me.
The second voice, that appears at the end is also from a recording on the camera, however it is a man voice coming from the radio of my parent’s car. The speaker of this sound has less importance than the last, instead it is more about what he is saying; “We live in a state of perpetual fear really.” My choice in this source relates to this idea of ‘fear’ and how my perception of the wolf began and influenced me. My fear of wolves was totally irrational, however, irrationality doesn’t really exist to a child and so to young me, it was a very real concern. All of which was caused by a 3 little pigs episode of Button Moon, a 80’s tv programme I loved as a kid.
My choice to repeat the phrase in the composition came from firstly, this idea of perpetual fear, as if it’s never ending, I wanted to create this brief effect of being stuck in a loop, sonically, to match the cyclical repetition of the zoetrope. The other reason I chose to repeat the voice was because as I started making this composition, thinking about my connection to it, I was reminded of a reoccurring nightmare I used to have when I was around 6 years old. A wolf would chase my down these incredibly long paths that were carved out into some kind of sandy soil, it was happening underground but my perspective was as if I could see all the elaborate channels and paths to take, like looking into an ant farm. I can’t remember if the wolf every did manage to catch me. But I felt it significant to represent this in the work.
There was on other source that I used from these found videos, it was of my sisters year 6 school disco, in which she had filmed a final dance battle between 2 kids and everyone was screaming. I took this scream and chose to include it in the composition as I wanted to include one more form of human communication, that wasn’t talking. I also thought that this collective scream felt similar to a howl, it is a community of emotion, being expressed through a form of communication that isn’t traditionally associated with fun. I first took this scream and put it in as a raw, unedited sound as I wanted it to be heard, however it stood out too much from the rest of the piece. Instead I chose to time stretch it and formed it into an entirely new sound that no longer appears to be screaming but still captures the kind of eery, atmospheric feeling that a scream does. This really helped in characterising a section of the piece, as to pair with this source I put in some guitar notes that sounded particular ominous. I wanted to create a part of the composition that felt more sinister and off putting to represent my fear once affiliated with wolves.
For the howling of the wolves I used recordings I found on Youtube, both from the ‘Wolf Conservation Center’ channel. I listened to quite a few different recordings that this channel had up, and these were the two I felt most drawn to.
The first one because it involves the howls of 25 wolves together and I felt this really highlighted the power in the collective use of the howl.
And the second because this very alluring, rather elegant symphony of howls occurred. I was also attracted to the bird sounds in the second one as well, as it just adds another layer of organic properties to the piece.
I found each recording to be different enough from the other, in order to hold their character in the composition whilst still sounding good together. The first recording has more lower end howls, where as the second has the higher pitch noises that both compliment each other and can be heard through the soundscape.
The sounds of the wolves sits more subtly in the background of the piece as I didn’t want it to be the main focus, this felt cliche and too obvious to me. I did however still want to include the sounds of howls to signify the sound itself and my choice of animal for the shadow puppets. Therefore I chose to have it as this background noise that fades in and out as other sections change in amplitude. I think this works really well as it focuses the listener in without spelling out exactly what they’re hearing.
Overall I am happy with how this composition came out, I think it accompanies the project as a whole really well, holding all the information I wanted it to. It is crucial in creating the atmosphere of this project and I think my choice of sounds help cause the effect I intended this piece to have on a listener. It feels emotional and evocative whilst having a good rhythm and including context to the visuals. The next step is to see how it reacts with the modulation from the light.