Overview

This portfolio is comprised of two contrasting electroacoustic works, entirely constructed from self-recorded materials, woven together using the contrast between work and leisure, the hectic rhythms and cycles of human industry and the restorative powers of nature and wildlife. The first piece is rooted in the energetic, non-pitched world of bar work; the second is comparatively much more pitch-based, utilising organic textures of water, wood and weather.  With inspirations tracing back to Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrète and objet sonore (1948), and whilst both are central reference points for the portfolio, neither piece uses the “reduced listening” exclusively. Throughout this portfolio, sounds are transformed beyond recognition, inviting purely abstract, acousmatic attention, even going as far as to imitate a different part of the same world the objet sonore occupies. Whilst at other times the causal identity of a sound (such as the sound of ice being stirred or the rustle of dried leaves) is intentionally preserved due to the everyday nature of the sound contributes either to the narrative or sense of place that the pieces construct respectively. This movement between these ideas is a defining feature of these pieces as it creates sound beyond the source material whilst still being grounded in their world’s, an acousmatic ambiguity.

Piece I: Behind the Bar

The first piece draws its sonic material from things you’d find in a bar – a cocktail set (comprised of a Two-Tin Shaker, jigger, bar spoon, mixing glass), canned drinks (both carbonated and still) and ice cubes; all in an effort to evoke my lived experience of working in bars. The piece is structured to emulate the escalating pressure of that environment, with passages of increasing rhythmic density and intensity which give way to brief moments of “quiet” before the next surge (or “rush”) begins. The primary compositional influence is Jonty Harrison’s Klang (1982), an electroacoustic work encountered at the beginning of the module, which made a lasting impression with its treatment of metallic, everyday objects as musical material.  A workshop where we used and manipulated casserole dish sounds – intentionally done after our look at Klang – gave me the practical confidence to utilise the metallic items of my cocktail set as well as the concept of sound collage (Schaeffer, 1948). The other main influence for this piece was Manuela Blackburn’s Ice Breaker (2015); her use of liquid over ice showed how “mundane” source material could underpin a coherent and compelling electroacoustic work.

All recordings were captured using a Zoom H5, in a quiet indoor space, in an attempt to provide a clean signal with minimal background noise and imported into Logic Pro. GRM BandPass and Reson were used to isolate specific frequency ranges in both the ice and metallic sounds, drawing out the appropriate frequency content to accentuate it. GRM Freeze allowed me to turn the sound of the two halves of the cocktail shaker coming together to create a drone that emulates the hums of various industrial sources, such as fridges, air compressors of the beer lines, as well as the ice machines and accentuates the monotony of the work as it occupies the majority of the piece. Through the use of volume automation, I allow it to become more prominent at times, further emulating what it’s like to work in a bar, where some sounds exist so frequently that it’s only when they aren’t there that you notice them. GRM Shuffle and Delay enabled me to create textural density in the more climactic sections, manipulating the opening of cans in an “echo” to emulate working with multiple people on the bar, as well as the pouring of liquid into jiggers. Furthermore, panning automation was used to move sounds across the stereo field – mimicking your movement as you worked in different parts of the same bar area.

Piece II: Into the Open

The idea of this piece originated as a way to contrast the first work, moving away from the enclosed, pressurised nature of the work and environment of a bar and toward the open world of nature. Whilst not being orientated around Western tempered pitch music, it is comparatively much more pitch orientated than Behind the Bar, with my water whistle acting as the central melodic voice. Drawing on soundscape compositional practices, the piece uses a limited set of recorded sources to construct an immersive environment, often transforming sounds beyond recognition whilst still maintaining a coherent sound.

GRM Freeze was again used to create the sustained drones from the water whistle, which acts as a harmonic bed for the evolving textures of this piece. The sound of me shuffling my feet through dried leaves during the field recording workshop was processed using both GRM Shuffle and BandPass, filtering both to produce close, tactile gestures that mimic moving through dense foliage, as well as different textures that evoke the wind, both of which blur the boundaries between gestures and the environments.

The water whistle material was extensively time-stretched and pitch-shifted numerous times, in numerous different ways, to create various animal-like calls. These were often arranged in call and response figures when close to the listener in the mix, whilst longer material was used further back and panned extremely on both sides in order to immerse the listener, creating spatial distance and interaction.

            Finally, the rain was created from a recording of a shower, adding to the acousmatic ambiguity that is present throughout, and the “thunder” was derived from a didgeridoo where the pitch was lowered extremely, before the application of heavy reverb, transforming it into a deep, rolling texture that you could never identify its origin. Compared to Behind the Bar, which uses fewer sound sources but explores them more extensively, creating a varied and immersive sonic environment.