Sound Research

"The mating call of the Brazilian white bellbird (Procnias albus) is now officially the loudest birdsong on record: averaging out at a peak of 125.4 decibels, it beats out rock concerts and chainsaws, and is way beyond the level (85 db) considered safe for human ears."

"In this article we look at how bass is felt rather than heard, and, after reviewing some of the research that has been done in this area, we investigate the points at which low frequencies go beyond sound and become a tactile sensation in an experiment of our own."

"There is a long line of theories claiming that we have reached the end of art, but they are forgetting something, writes Joanna Demers"

" Dreams of India & China, a survey of historical audio works by the artist, writer, performer, and editor, RIP Hayman, issued by Recital in late April. For decades, Hayman played a seminal role in the New York scene, but had, until the album's release, remained almost entirely unknown to the generations who have followed in his wake."

"Water dripping. A shovel scraping across rock. These sounds don't seem very musical. Yet new research at the University of Arkansas shows that repeating snippets of environmental sounds can make them sound like music."

"The Dunning Underwood Mammoth Beat Organ is a modular, mechanical music contraption by Sam Underwood and Graham Dunning. Designed as a two-player, semi-autonomous musical instrument, it plays unusual, sometimes erratic compositions drawing on drone music, minimalist repetition and fairground organ techniques. h"

"David Bobier is a self-identified hard of hearing media artist with a mental health diagnosis and is the parent of 2 deaf children. His work has been exhibited internationally and has been the focus of prominent touring exhibitions in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Bobier has received grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Grand NCE, Ontario Arts Council and New Brunswick Arts Council. "

"Having spent most of my childhood and all of my high school years (between 1987 and 2005) in São Paulo, I find myself looking back at my sensory experience of the city as one mediated by fear, segregation, and vigilance. I have become interested in Vincent Adrisani's (2015) idea of sonic citizenship-ordinary, everyday auditory interactions and experiences through which presence in and claim over public spaces is asserted."

"As someone who recently started a choir, even though I am terrified of singing, and as someone who leads teams, this article really spoke to me."

"One scientist is definitely listening."

Jen Kutler is a multidisciplinary artist and performer. She modifies found objects that are cultural signifiers of power, gender, queerness and intimacy to create atypical instruments and sculptures. Her performances feature many of her instruments incorporated with immersive field recordings to explore common and discrepant experiences of familiar social tones in immersive sound and media environments.

"The project - which involves large-scale noise monitoring - leverages the latest in machine learning technology, big data analysis, and citizen science reporting to more effectively monitor, analyze, and mitigate urban noise pollution. Known as Sounds of New York City (SONYC), this multi-year project has received a $4.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation and has the support of City health and environmental agencies."

"What role does ambient music have in society and in musical culture? A new book explores how the genre has developed over the last 40 years"

"A recent study provides intriguing insights into how we recognize the sound of everyday objects from the statistical properties of the textures they produce."

"The Listening Booth is a wooden structure that seats two and uses a directional speaker to play audio that only those within the booth can hear. It offers new and existing library goers, including visually impaired people, another way to engage with content in the library. "

"In case you haven't been tracking the progress of group exhibitions of sound art, a short history would be: they are generally a disaster, with many works either impossible to hear adequately in the situation or impossible not to hear while you are trying to listen to something else. "It is in sound's nature to be free and uncontrollable and to go through the cracks and to go places where it's not supposed to go," as the sound artist Christian Marclay said, in an interview, in 2005. Meanwhile, the institutions that are devoted to art exhibition-galleries, museums-are all about placing art works where they intend them to stay. "I think it's great that there is this interest in sound and music," Marclay said. "But the over-all art-world structures are not yet ready for that, because sound requires different technology and different architecture to be presented.""

The Ground: From the Land to the Sea" brings together some of the most important works by the sound artist, forming a musical and spatial composition in the gallery. For some video, go to this Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/B05G-URnJJ3/?igshid=ftwbbfdvvh4j

"While we often think of soundwalks as engines of knowledge production, we must also consider that they may simultaneously silence divergent worldviews and perspectives of space and place."

"Stonehenge was the ultimate venue for ceremonies and rituals when it was built more than 4000 years ago. But what did they sound like? Now a 1:12 scale model of the site, with the stones in their original positions, reveals the surprising acoustic qualities of the monument."