Sound Research

"Some of the hottest tracks on digital playlists: sounds of an oscillating fan, a waterfall and crickets. White noise and other soothing sounds, once mainly played on machines to aid nighttime sleep, are increasingly helping make daytime hours more serene. When played through headphones, the sounds help people tune out chatty co-workers, pounding jackhammers and the dentist's drill. "

"I just came back from New York City, a place with an overwhelming sound, everywhere you go. And each location in a city like that has its own resonance, its own sonic identity. That's hard to hear though if there is so much noise around it becomes a cacophony. But what if we could isolate this resonance and listen to the astonishing differences in the sound of urban spaces? Davide Tidoni did just that with A Balloon for Linz. Luckily Linz is not NYC, and he was able to find spots which were quiet enough to make a clear recording (using his nice helmet mount microphone). You might recognize the concept as Davide did something similar before."

There's a secret jazz seeping from Washington's aging Metro escalators - those anemic metal walkways that fill our transit system…they honk and bleat and squawk…why are you still wearing those earbuds?

The urban and the sound are very much one and the same. Noises and tweets, squeaks and bangs, whispers and rattle are constantly present and play an important part in the shaping of the environment. consciously or unconsciously we are attracted or repulsed by certain sounds in specific configurations. But how is it interlinked with time and space, how does it tie in with time and certainly space, the much talked focus in the urban discussion.

"Did you know there are audio recordings that predate Thomas Edison's phonograph by almost 20 years? The phonautogram was invented by a Frenchman named Éduoard Léon-Scott and patented in 1857, translating sound waves (shakily) onto sheets of paper. But for the last century, no one had been able to decode the information on Léon-Scott's sheets and listen, until a team of scientists and historians figured it out."

"Listen to the eerie sounds of "The Wandering Soul" - also known as "Ghost Tape Number 10" - that was broadcast by loudspeakers installed on Swifts and other units during "Chieu Hoi" and Psychological Warfare missions to "taunt" the enemy. { "So Moui" or "Numbah Ten" was a common slang term used by both Vietnamese and Americans, meaning it was "Really Bad" } "

"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."

"Rabbit Travelogue was originally initiated by Rita Hui and Edwin Lo. This project is an on-going dialogues and travelogues between the two artist (Rita on visual; Edwin on sound) about the changes and happenings in Hong Kong. Through the fictional character in the project, Rabbit, witnessing happenings and locating different scenes in Hong Kong, this project tries to articulate the two artists' discussion about the changes in cityscape, soundscape as well as questioning and exploring the essence of memories about the environments that we have been. Past and present; absent and present; the artists are still in adventure among these."

"Welcome to the community webspace of The WIRED Lab, a project focusing on Alan Lamb's work with The Wires. This *beta* site complements the WIRED project with an additional (to be launched!) website documenting Lamb's practice & other lab projects. "

"Like a 3-D take on Jackson Pollock, the latest work by the artist Martin Klimas begins with splatters of paint in fuchsia, teal and lime green, positioned on a scrim over the diaphragm of a speaker."

Very good blog collecting numerous examples of sound art, acoustic ecology, etc.

""I can hear with my knee better than with my calves." This statement made by Bernhard Leitner, which initially seems absurd, can be explained in light of an interest that he still pursues today with unbroken passion and meticulousness: the study of the relationship between sound, space, and body. Since the late 1960s, Bernhard Leitner has been working in the realm between architecture, sculpture, and music, conceiving of sounds as constructive material, as architectural elements that allow a space to emerge."

"The American Loren Chasse is one of the most important international artists, connected to the environment/sound relation. His abilities to listen and to transform the object in "musical instrument" are some of the most identifying features of his work. "