Introduction to Field Recording and the Soundscape

Week 1 - Lecture – Listening, Context and History of the Soundscape. We will start by defining soundscape studies terms and methods and explore the difference between hearing and listening. We’ll look at the history of field recording, focusing on its early role in anthropological and ethnographic study, before looking more broadly at its use in documenting conflict and building nature sound archives, radio, film, music and art practices. We will listen to a wide range recordings and compositions by practitioners/artists Walter Ruttman, Ludwig Koch, Humphrey Jennings, Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, the World Soundscape Project, Bernie Krause and Chris Watson. Week 2 - Lecture / Soundwalk – Listening, Context and History of the Soundscape continued + Soundwalk. We will continue our exploration of soundscape studies so as to bring our understanding up to the present. We will focus on a range of ground breaking research initiatives and artistic projects that have come to underpin the field as we know it today. We will then consider soundwalking as a practice for site investigation and conclude the session by taking our senses and the new knowledge we have acquired on an exploratory tour of the Goldsmiths’ campus. Week 3 - Lecture / Workshop – Portable Digital Recorders, Microphones and Techniques. In the first of our practical sessions we will look at a range of recording equipment (both what is at the Goldsmiths for you to use and more generally), explore options, consider advantages and disadvantages in relation to purpose, price and practicality. We will learn the basic digital audio theory we will need to make proactive recording decisions and a range of techniques for using microphones and dealing with environmental factors such as wind. We will consider mono, stereo and binaural recording and listen to a range of recordings made with different equipment so as to gain an appreciation of different techniques and levels of sound quality. You will have hands-on time with the equipment to record and explore. Week 4 - Lecture / Workshop – Recording ‘hidden’ Sounds: Contact Mics, Coil Mics, Hydrophones and Ultrasound Detectors. This week we look at some of the more esoteric tools of the field recordists’ trade: those use for detecting sound hidden beneath surfaces and inside objects, under water, electromagnetic signals and ultrasound sources. We will look at different applications, listen to recordings and practically engage with all the tools and techniques. Week 5 - Lecture – Soundscape and the Socio-Political: Exploration of Arts Practices and Agendas + Preparation for the Field Trip. In this session we will look at ways different practitioners have used field recording to explore issues and agendas involving cultural, ecological, political and social themes. We will listen to work by Barry Truax, Hildegard Westerkamp, Luc Ferrari, David Dunn, Steven Feld, John Levack Drever, Annea Lockwood, Dallas Simpson, Jana Winderen, Francisco López, Emmanuel Spinelli and Marcus Leadley. Week 6 - Field Trip – on Sunday from 12-4pm. In place of our normal classroom session we will visit Greenwich and explore its many different sonic environments. You will be provided with field recording equipment (you can also bring your own if you wish) and the session will be facilitated/led by Dr. Marcus Leadley. Week 7 – Lecture / Lab – Field Trip De-brief + Group Listening to our Recordings. A fun and useful session where we discuss our different experiences of the field trip and listen to recordings – prior to uploading them the studio’s computers to use in the composition exercises of the next three weeks. Week 8 - Lecture / Lab – Introduction to Software and Soundscape Composition Basics: Importing Files and Editing Sound. Composing with sound in the studio. We will briefly look at the history of the digital audio Workstation (DAW) and consider the various software packages that are available. Pro Tools will be used in the class for examples concerning process (editing, lay-up etc) but you are welcome to use your own laptops to further explore alternative software if you wish. We will then start to explore sound from a compositional prospect through working in small groups in the studio environment. Week 9 - Lecture /Lab – Equalization, Effects and Processing Sound + Composing with Sound in the Studio. We will look at how tone control (EQ) can be used for managing sounds in relation to other sounds and create specific characters, explore compression, reverb and normalising and look at how software plug-ins can be used to change recordings in both subtle and radical ways. The session will also introduce the concept of track and plug-in automation: a valuable tool for creating variation and movement in programming and composition. Week 10 - lab – Composing with Sound in the Studio + Presenting Work and Feedback In the final session of the course you will have time to complete your group compositions and we will look at best practice for creating finished work. The second half of the session will focus of playing and discussion your work to this point.