out on a limb: soundscapes

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:17 pm

Hey, does anyone here have any experience with creating soundscapes?

Edited to finish my post, my laptop wigged out on me and sent before I was ready:

So, what I'm asking about is whether or not anyone has had any experience in creating soundscapes from ambient sound... recording the sounds and then creating a soundscape from those sounds. I've been wanting to try this, but really haven't a clue where to begin. Equipment needed, etc.

Any thoughts?

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:34 am

Interesting idea. I once recorde myself sternly shouting "KATRINA MARIE" and installed it on my daughters XP account as the exclamation sound. She said she jumped a mile when she heard it. That's sort of a soundscape.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:44 am

Ad,
This link takes you to an article from last Saturdays Guardian. I have not really looked into it but it may provide something of interest to you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/inte ... e_continue

Slan,
D.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:50 am

At the very least you need a stereo mic. and recorder for capturing the raw sounds, unless you're intending to use pre-recorded clips and stuff.

Then, a decent multitrack editor, software or hardware. Software: For PC, Cool Edit Pro is brilliant but not freeware.

Hardware, something like the Fostex MR-8 has a lot of flexibility, although you can get tape-based four-tracks for under a 100 dollars these days.

Post by **Dale** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:07 am

I've fooled around with this for awhile. I've never recorded any source material, though. I've been using a loop-based music program called ACID PRO for awhile. I like drones and repetitive sounds. What can I say? I have no idea why. Here's a piece I constructed with ACID. I wasn't ON acid, when I did it. The source material came from various loops that I manipulated with the program, shifting pitch and tempo and layering the sounds in different ways.

http://www.dalewisely.com/gamelon-om.mp3

Dale

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:13 am

Wow Dale. Extremelyl coolesque. I'll have to reinstall my Magix Music software and play with that concept.

Post by **Dale** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:26 am

Flyingcursor wrote:Wow Dale. Extremelyl coolesque. I'll have to reinstall my Magix Music software and play with that concept.

Thanks. Here's another. I should note, however, that this one is a much larger file--just short of 3,000 kb.

http://www.dalewisely.com/boohargh.mp3

Dale

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:34 am

I am alarmed by your gamelon-OM clip, Dale. I played it one time, and I drifted into a hypnotic trance, dreaming that I was a world famous virtuoso violinist. Now I don't know whether I have forgotten my earlier world travels as a violinist or whether I merely was imagining things. Are sure that there isn't a subliminal message hidden within the gongs?

What can I say?
No poetry today,
Happy birthday,
Anyway, anyway.

markv · Post by **markv** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:15 am

A great site I found a while back when I was looking for stuff to do with my minidisc recorder is http://www.quietamerican.org

He has a few complete CD's available for download or you can purchase copies for a few bucks or even barter recordings.

There is some great information on the site as well for how to get set up.

There are also some nice links to other sound artists as well.

The "one minute vacations" are fantastic for little glimpses of the world from an acoustic point of view. My kids love to try and figuer out what the sounds are or where they are from. My daughter has even made up stories to go with some of the recordings. Good clean fun.

Mark V.

Post by **Dale** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:56 am

Doug_Tipple wrote:I am alarmed by your gamelon-OM clip, Dale. I played it one time, and I drifted into a hypnotic trance, dreaming that I was a world famous virtuoso violinist. Now I don't know whether I have forgotten my earlier world travels as a violinist or whether I merely was imagining things. Are sure that there isn't a subliminal message hidden within the gongs?

vote democrat

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:19 pm

DaleWisely wrote:I've fooled around with this for awhile. I've never recorded any source material, though. I've been using a loop-based music program called ACID PRO for awhile. I like drones and repetitive sounds. What can I say? I have no idea why. Here's a piece I constructed with ACID. I wasn't ON acid, when I did it. The source material came from various loops that I manipulated with the program, shifting pitch and tempo and layering the sounds in different ways.

http://www.dalewisely.com/gamelon-om.mp3

Dale

Ooh, I loved this one... rather like overtone chanting. Way cool.

I'm wanting to record my own sounds, but I'm not sure what kind of portable recorder to get. I have Adobe Audition, so I'll be able to mix and loop and all that nifty stuff once I have the sounds, but I need something more portable than my laptop for recording. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be grateful for advice! It would need to be something that, once recorded, could be easily transferred to my laptop.

And does anyone know what to do to avoid having the hum of my laptop's cooling fan interfere with my recordings? Every time I go to record, I have that sound in the background and it's rather annoying. :roll:

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:43 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:Interesting idea. I once recorde myself sternly shouting "KATRINA MARIE" and installed it on my daughters XP account as the exclamation sound. She said she jumped a mile when she heard it. That's sort of a soundscape.

bwahahahahahahha.....oh that's just eeeeeeevil

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:52 pm

Markv, thanks for the link to Quiet American. The "one-minute vacations" are fascinating.

Soundscapes can be ambient environmental sounds, but they also can be musical, as well, it seems to me. Ravel's transcription of "Pictures at an Exhibition" is an excellent example of a composed musical soundscape. Interesting musical soundscapes can also be made by mixing unrelated musical tracks. Sometimes you may get cacophony, but the result may be interesting.

Sitting at my computer this afternoon, I recorded three one minute audio tracks completely independent of each other. On the first track I am striking a Tibetan bowl with a soft mallet. On the second track I am messing around on a goatskin frame drum. On the third track I am improvising on the Irish flute. Playing all of the tracks at the same time, here is what it sounds like (992 KB, mp3):
http://home.earthlink.net/~life2all/sit ... o_mix1.mp3

Dale, I knew that the hidden message had to be in there somewhere

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:58 pm

I've done a bit of stuff along these lines but nothing very adventurous when it comes to collecting sounds from interesting sources. I've done things like create eerie pitch shifting background sounds on synthesiser and play sparce, spikey piano and kinda lonely whistle over it. Not really ambient—decidedly uneasy listening. A bit like an alternative soundtrack to the shower scene in Psycho. I used a Fostex 16 track and a Kawai additive synth to do this in addition to the piano and whistle.

If you own a synth it's really hard not to get interested in soundtrack-type effects and to start compiling/composing things that utilise its resources.