When it comes to linking the theme of heritage to the composition of the sound for this project, I thought of including hints to Norwegian music and sounds. However I was initially unsure on how to execute this idea. It was actually during a group crit in one of my collaborating sessions that the concept of using Radio Aporee to source sounds from specific locations was mentioned to me. Although I was previously aware of the website, it was an idea I hadn’t thought to use before.
The exact location of where my family was from is a place called Bergen, Norways second largest city, a historic coastal hub known as the “Gateway to the Fjords”. When looking on the map of Radio Aporee, there were a number of recordings from different locations in Bergen.
Here is a list of recordings I thought would work well for this composition:
- https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=40186
- https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=26488
- https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=26483
- https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=26488
- https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=26487
These sounds attracted me each for particular reasons, some because I thought they would create great atmospheric depth to the piece, being that they are lower pitched and bass heavy, supplying the audio with a contextual depth. Two of the selected sources are semi-musical, one being an organ practice and the other church bells. I thought it could be fun to take these sounds and sample them into the music for the piece, creating something new from the existing recordings recordings, whilst still paying homage to the area of Bergen and the raw sounds themselves.
Some of the recordings also have voice in which I particularly liked as the animation has this connection to the theme of the Huldra, therefore I feel there needs to be this spoken, human like aspect to the audio. And because they’re speaking Norwegian it is accurately representative of our family roots, and the forgotten aspects of it.
These sound sources supply the locational field recordings that I would otherwise be unable to obtain. They provide context to the work as a whole, which although unaware to the watcher, the relevance lies within the creation, knowing that we have used sources that are accurate to our subject matter.
Although at this point in time I have not started the final composition of the audio, I have been experimenting with different sounds, wanting to create a balance between musical aspects and field recordings/foley to match the visual movements. This concept of assigning physical motion with corresponding sound is something I have done before when making short films. I really enjoy this process of editing as I find it very satisfying, and it combines my interest in both sound and film. Because of this prior experience, I feel confident in producing a sonic piece that will represent the visuals well. This is actually an aspect of sound that professionally intrigues me, sound editing on visual media is a job I feel enthusiastic to explore.
With all that being said, I am very aware of timing on this project, and with not long until the deadline I need to refocus on the sonic composition itself. Because in this project I am involved, to an extent, in both the visual and sonic elements, it has become important to know how to balance my priorities within the project. By using Radio Aporee it gives me a selection of varied sources which I am free to use however I like, therefore making the sourcing process easier and the exploration of sound expansive. Beyond this project, within the series of work my sister and I aim to create, Radio Aporee may continue to supply situational sound material from around the world, allowing us to sonically access areas of out heritage that we cannot do in person.