listening and critique:similar & contrasting sounds (Project 1)

1. How aware were you of the sources of the sounds heard in the composition?

2. If you recognized the sound source, did it suggest a narrative or specific place in which you imagined the piece as a whole?

3. Did you feel that the sound combinations and pacing held your interest?

4. How did the piece affect your sense of time? (Did time seem to be moving quickly? Slowly? Both at the same time?)

Close your eyes. Listen.What are you hearing?

Stephen Vitiello• World Trade Center Recordings: Hurricane

Floyd, 1999

(recorded using contact microphones on the windows)

Microphone Types

Dynamic

Condensor

USB

Power Supply Polar PatternCardioid

Hyper-cardioidShotgun

BidirectionalOmnidirectional

Contact microphones (piezo disks)

Picking up vibrations in the air:

Picking up vibrations on a surface:

A)

B)

Cardioid mic:Heart-shapedPolar pattern

Frequency range:

Frequency Response

Microphones Available Through Video Equipment

Checkout

•Dynamic Cardiod: Shure SM57 (instrument), Shure SM58 (vocal)

•Condensor Cardioid: AKG C1000S

•Condensor Shotgun: Sennheiser K6

•Condensor Bi-directional: Sony (mini plug)

Stereo vs. MonoIn what situations might you want to record in mono?

Which situations would call for stereo recording?

Stereo Recording Techniques

AB Stereo Recording

(using 2 omni mics)

XY Coincidental Stereo

(using 2 directional mics)

More Stereo Techniques

M/S Stereo Recording:Bi-Directional and

Cardioid

Near-Coincident Stereo RecordingUsing 2 cardioids

Protecting Against Unwanted Sounds

Microphone withShock Mount

Microphone Blimp

Common Microphone Connectors

XLR

TRS(1/4” or 1/8” mini)

Web reading for next class:

Tones and noises: three kinds of soundscape, one music by Stefan Beyst

Additional Resource:

http://www.tape.com/resource/stereo_microphone_techniques.html

ambient soundscapes

ambient music listening list:

•Brian Eno•Steve Roach•Harold Budd•Vidna Obmana

Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations

#13 – Energy Changes (for Elaine Summers) –

Listen to the environment as a drone. Establish contact mentally with all of the continuous external sounds and include all of your own continuous internal sounds, such as blood pressure, heartbeat and nervous system. When you feel prepared, or when you are triggered by a random or intermittent sound from the external or internal environment, make any sound you like in one breath. When this sound, or a cycle of sounds, is completed re-establish mental connection with the drone, which you first established before making another sound or cycle of like sounds.

in-class work:• In the Brown Center stairwell, record a collective pool of

samples with a shotgun mic, pair of condensor cardioid mics, and Zoom H2 recorder: found objects & surfaces, bowed cymbal, accordion, melodica. Guideline for our improvisations: start simply, branch out. We will record 3 or 4 improvisations between 1-2 minutes each.

• Incorporate some portion of the collectively recorded samples into your ambient soundscape piece, but expand with other sounds (other samples, software instruments, or both).

• Transform audio with various forms of EQ, delay, resonators and other effects in Live.

• Find samples to fill out additional layers in the frequency spectrum. Aim to blend harmonically, match pitches where possible.

AMBIENT SOUNDSCAPEProject 2 criteria

• Compose a piece with at least 3 layers of sound, each given its own area of the frequency spectrum.

• Unfolding slowly, with subtle changes. Listening attention is focused on hearing each moment in multiple dimensions.

• Aim to suspend perception of forward-moving time.

• Focus on richness of texture, and giving each layer a distinct kind of rhythm (even if apparently beat-less).

• Incorporate your own field recording in some way.

• 1 - 2 minutes long.

journal #2:Describe your sound sources and

your approach to working with them.

What kind of an atmosphere were you aiming to create with this

project?