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john roach

Bird population declines and species turnover are changing the acoustic properties of s... - 0 views

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    "Natural sounds, and bird song in particular, play a key role in building and maintaining our connection with nature, but widespread declines in bird populations mean that the acoustic properties of natural soundscapes may be changing. Using data-driven reconstructions of soundscapes in lieu of historical recordings, here we quantify changes in soundscape characteristics at more than 200,000 sites across North America and Europe. We integrate citizen science bird monitoring data with recordings of individual species to reveal a pervasive loss of acoustic diversity and intensity of soundscapes across both continents over the past 25 years, driven by changes in species richness and abundance. These results suggest that one of the fundamental pathways through which humans engage with nature is in chronic decline, with potentially widespread implications for human health and well-being. "
josieholtzman

francisco lópez [ essays // environmental sound matter ] - 0 views

  • The birdsong we hear in the forest is as much a consequence of the bird as of the trees or the forest floor. If we are really listening, the topography, the degree of humidity of the air or the type of materials in the topsoil are as essential and definitory as the sound-producing animals that inhabit a certain space.
  • B. Krause to the proposal of a 'niche hypothesis' (3, 4, 5) in which different aural niches are basically defined in terms of frequency bands of the sound spectrum that are occupied by different species.
  • upon the explicit intention of expanding classical bioacoustics from an auto-ecological (single-species) to a more systemic perspective, considering assemblages of sound-producing animal species at an ecosystem level.
  • ...31 more annotations...
  • appraisal of other -sonic- components that are not reductible to the former. As soon as the call is in the air, it doesn't belong to the frog that produced it anymore.
  • No matter how good they can be, recordings cannot replace the 'real' experience.
  • Different microphones 'hear' so differently that they can be considered as a first transformational step with more dramatic consequences than, for example, a further re-equalization of the recordings in the studio. Even although we don't substract or add anything we cannot avoid having a version of what we consider as reality.
  • Although I appreciate very much the multitude of new sound nuances and the 'spaceness' provided by these technological developments, I don't have a special interest in pursuing 'realism'. Moreover, I believe these techniques actually work through hyper-realism
  • Now that we have digital recording technology (with all its concomitant sound quality improvements) we can realize more straightforwardly that the microphones are -they always have been- our basic interfaces in our attempt at aprehending the sonic world around us, and also that they are non-neutral interfaces.
  • the armchair environmental movement'
  • There is another seemingly unavoidable obstacle in this attempt at portraying aural reality: sound editing. Whereas the 'microphone interface' transfigures the spatial and material characteristics of sound, editing affects its temporality.
  • As I see it, this is a futile attempt to reproduce the world, that tends to become a kind of commodity directed to sofisticated entertainment or other forms of pragmatism. In its essence, a modern consequence of the same kind of mentality that long ago led to the creation of zoos.
  • We are much less inert for transciption and reproduction than the machines we have supposedly invented for these purposes. Compared to a microphone, we can either have a much more striking perception of such a human sonic intrusion or not perceive it at all.
  • Do we always realize that there's some distant traffic noise when our perception is focused on an insect call?
  • I don't believe in such a thing as an 'objective' aprehension of the sonic realiy
  • Not only do different people listen differently, but also the very temporality of our presence in a place is a form of editing.
  • Our idea of the sonic realiy, even our fantasy about it, is the sonic reality each one of us has.
  • I claim for the right to be 'unrealistic'
  • In the case of the 'Acoustic Ecology movement', although the scope of its activities is larger and there is a greater focus on descriptive aspects of sound itself (see, e.g., ref. 18), its approach essentially relies upon a representational / relational conception, sometimes also leading to 'encourage listeners to visit the place' (19).
  • I'm thus straightforwardly attaching to the original 'sound object' concept of P. Schaeffer and his idea of 'reduced listening'
  • The richness of this sound matter in nature is astonishing, but to appreciate it in depth we have to face the challenge of profound listening. We have to shift the focus of our attention and understanding from representation to being
  • When the representational / relational level is emphasized, sounds acquire a restricted meaning or a goal, and this inner world is dissipated.
  • Environmental acousmatics. The hidden cicada paradox Acousmatics, or the rupture of the visual cause-effect connection between the sound sources and the sounds themselves (22), can contribute significantly to the 'blindness' of profound listening. La Selva, as most tropical rain forests, constitutes a strong paradigm of something we could call 'environmental acousmatics'.
  • What I find remarkably striking is how the comprehension of virtually all approaches to nature sound recording is so rarely referred to the sonic matter they are supposedly dealing with, but rather to whatever other non-sonic elements of the experience of the -thus documented- place.
  • In my conception, the essence of sound recording is not that of documenting or representing a much richer and more significant world, but a way to focus on and access the inner world of sounds.
  • What I'm defending here is the transcendental dimension of the sound matter by itself.
  • A non-bucolic broad-band world Another widespread conception about nature sound environments regards them as 'quiet places', peaceful islands of quietude in a sea of rushing, noisy man-driven habitats.
  • As I see it, this certainly contributes to expand our aural understanding of nature, not denying quietude, but embracing a more complete conception
  • when our listening move away from any pragmatic representational 'use', and I claim for the right to do so with freedom (28).
  • I also defend the preservation and enhancement of the diversity of man-made sound environments and devices. The value we assign to sound environments is a complex issue we shouldn't simplify; under some circumstances, nature can also be considered as an intrusion in environments dominated by man-made sounds. In this sense, my approach is as futurist as it is environmentalist, or, in broader terms, independent of these categorizations.
  • I think it's a sad simplification to restrict ourselves to this traditional concept to 'find' music in nature.
  • I don't subscribe the coupling of nature to these schemes, by way of -for example- a search for melodic patterns, comparisons between animal sounds and musical instruments, or 'complementing' nature sounds with 'musical' ones (5, 25, 26). To me, a waterfall is as musical as a birdsong.
  • music is an aesthetic (in its widest sense) perception / understanding / conception of sound. It's our decision -subjective, intentional, non-universal, not necessarily permanent- what converts nature sounds into music.
  • sonic homogeneization, thus pursuing the conservation of sound diversity in the world.
  • To me, attaining this musical state requires a profound listening, an immersion into the inside of the sound matter.
john roach

Supplemental Shrubbery Sound Source - 0 views

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    "n array of motion sensitive modules is installed along a section of the trail. When someone walks past, the modules emit sounds which supplement the sounds occurring naturally in the environment. The sound samples are arranged along the path in a sequence which proceeds from the most "natural" to the most "man-made". The effect varies depending upon which way one happens to be moving along the path. At the "natural" end, it is not clear whether what one is hearing is part of the installation or part of the (natural) landscape."
john roach

A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national par... - 0 views

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    "This study examines evidence of the health benefits of natural soundscapes and quantifies the prevalence of restorative acoustic environments in national parks across the United States. The results affirm that natural sounds improve health, increase positive affect, and lower stress and annoyance. Also, analyses reveal many national park sites with a high abundance of natural sound and low anthropogenic sound"
john roach

Ariel Guzik | Arts Catalyst - 0 views

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    "Ariel Guzik designs and produces mechanisms and instruments to enquire into the various languages of nature. He is also a musician, draftsman and illustrator. He is the director of the Nature Expression and Resonance Research Laboratory in Mexico (Laboratorio Plasmaht de Investigación en Resonancia y Expresión de la Naturaleza, Asociación Civil), an organisation which explores natural resonance, mechanics, electricity and magnetism and how these phenomena can be applied to music and sound experiments."
john roach

An Acoustic Ecologist Has Recreated the Sounds of John Muir's World - 1 views

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    "Gordon Hempton is the type of person who gets into something and doesn't let it go. As an acoustic ecologist, most of his obsessions are sounds. Specifically, natural ones. Hempton's been on a crusade for years to highlight the sonic beauty of the natural world, and draw attention to the fact that we're slowly letting that beauty disappear in a sea of noise pollution. Along the way, he picked up a mentor who has helped inspire him and open his ears to nature: naturalist Jon Muir. Though he's been dead for more than 103 years, Muir has helped guide Hempton, who has walked in his steps literally and figuratively."
john roach

13 - Back To Nature (Recording) by Sound Matters - 1 views

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    ""We bombard ourselves with sound and music… it's everywhere." So says musician, artist and nature recordist Chris Watson who has captured sounds for numerous wildlife TV shows, including Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth series on the BBC among many others. In this episode our ever-intrepid host Tim Hinman points his microphone at, well… microphones, speaking with Watson and sound artist Jana Winderen about our ever-fascinating natural world and the jungle of sounds it makes."
john roach

How can art (in all its forms), exhibits, installations and provocations be a... - 0 views

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    "How can art (in all its forms), exhibits, installations and provocations be a better catalyst to raise awareness, support and momentum for urban nature and green spaces? "
john roach

Science is making it possible to 'hear' nature. It does more talking than we knew | Kar... - 0 views

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    "Scientists have recently made some remarkable discoveries about non-human sounds. With the aid of digital bioacoustics - tiny, portable digital recorders similar to those found in your smartphone - researchers are documenting the universal importance of sound to life on Earth. By placing these digital microphones all over Earth, from the depths of the ocean to the Arctic and the Amazon, scientists are discovering the hidden sounds of nature, many of which occur at ultrasonic or infrasonic frequencies, above or below human hearing range. Non-humans are in continuous conversation, much of which the naked human ear cannot hear. But digital bioacoustics helps us hear these sounds, by functioning as a planetary-scale hearing aid and enabling humans to record nature's sounds beyond the limits of our sensory capacities. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), researchers are now decoding complex communication in other species."
john roach

The Man Who Recorded, Tamed and Then Sold Nature Sounds to America | Atlas Obscura - 1 views

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    "If you flip on a waterfall to fall asleep, if you keep rainymood.com in your bookmarks, if you associate well-being with the sound of streams and crickets or wonder why the beach never quite sounds as tranquil as you imagine, it's because of Teibel. New York's least likely media mogul was the mastermind behind Environments, a series of records he swore were "The Future of Music." From 1969 to 1979, he took the best parts of nature, turned them up to 11, engraved them on 12-inch records, and sold them back to us by the millions. He had a musician's ear, an artist's heart, and a salesman's tongue, and his work lives on in yoga studios, Skymall catalogs, and the sea-blue eyes of Brian Eno. If you haven't heard of him, it's only because he designed his own legacy to be invisible. "
john roach

Noise pollution is making us oblivious to the sound of nature, says researcher | Scienc... - 0 views

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    "The tranquil chorus of the natural world is in danger of being lost to today's generation as people screen out the noises that surround them, a senior US researcher warns. Rising levels of background noise in some areas threaten to make people oblivious to the uplifting sounds of birdsong, trickling water, and trees rustling in the wind, which can often be heard even in urban centres, said Kurt Fristrup, a senior scientist at the US National Park Service"
john roach

Seeing the sounds of nature: How colorful spectograms identify species - Washington Post - 0 views

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    "Vivid images used by scientists capture sounds that soothe and nurture us - and some that jar the natural soundscape"
john roach

Henrik Håkansson | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - 0 views

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    "Henrik Håkansson (b. 1968 Sweden) devotes his work to studying the complex connections between humans and nature. He carefully constructs environmental experiments that ask participants to explore their impact on the environment that surrounds them, such as in the installation Frog For e.s.t. (eternal sonic trance) (1995). This piece consisted of a room filled with inflatable pools, humidifiers, insects, frogs, strobe lights, and a DJ mixing techno music on site. Projects like Frog For e.s.t. examine the intrusion of human artifice on the environment: what happens when we attempt to recreate delicate ecological systems? What are the effects of human-made sounds replacing the natural soundscape?"
john roach

FORA.tv - Dr. Bernie Krause: The Great Animal Orchestra - 0 views

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    Dr. Bernie Krause, creator of Wild Sanctuary, demonstrates that every living organism produces sound. This presentation focuses on the symbiotic ways in which the sounds of one organism affect and interrelate with other organisms, local and regional, within a given habitat. Learn about unusual soundscapes and their relevance to preserving natural sounds worldwide. Biophony--the notion that all sounds in undisturbed natural habitats fit into unique niches--will be used to illustrate the ways in which animals taught humans to dance and sing.
john roach

SOUNDWALK.COM/BLOG › EDITIONS - 0 views

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    "Soundwalk Editions features artists and composers who use environmental field recordings as a point of departure in their work. By recording sounds outside of the conventional studio you are in the act field recording, audibly engaged with ears that gradually refine a sonic experience, like the eye looking through a camera lens. Field recording is often synonymous with phonography, in which sound takes the place of image in documenting a location, physical act, or a natural occurrence. Drawing attention to the quality and experiential nature that can exist in the soundscapes of our environment, these works allow the viewer to have an intimate experience with the various compositional approaches practiced by each individual artist. Through listening to these recordings we have the opportunity to become aware of the various dialects that can exist in the language of field recording compositions."
john roach

Need More Nature? Listen to 12 Essential Field Recordings - The New York Times - 0 views

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    "The world of "field recordings" is cinéma vérité for the ear: the sounds of natural phenomenon, occasionally from far-flung places, documenting the unreachable, the unexpected and the heretofore inaudible. Listening to these recordings of chattering animals, bustling ecosystems and roaring weather systems can be an experience that blurs the boundaries of music and chance, documentary and art, new age and noise, the real and the imaginary."
john roach

▶︎ Stine Janvin - 0 views

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    Vocalist, performer and sound artist Stine Janvin works with the extensive flexibility of her instrument of the voice, and the ways in which it can be disconnected from its natural, human connotations. Created for variable spaces from theatres, to clubs and galleries, the backbone of Janvin's projects focus on the physical aspects of sound, and potential dualities of the natural versus artificial, organic/synthetic, and minimal/dramatic.
john roach

Kathy Hinde - Audio-Visual Artist - Inspired by behaviours and phenomena found in natur... - 0 views

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    Kathy Hinde is an audiovisual artist inspired by behaviours and phenomena found in nature and the everyday expressed through audiovisual installations and performances that combine sound, sculpture, image and light. Composed of hand-made objects, electronics and a blend of digital and analogue systems, her work represents a cross between kinetic sound sculptures and newly invented instruments. She frequently works in collaboration with other practitioners and scientists and often actively involves the audience in the creative process.
john roach

Where the sound of nature is too quiet - 0 views

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    "When species disappear, so do their sounds. But scientists are exploring new techniques to use recordings of these very sounds to bring nature back"
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