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Reflection

Semester 1 / Week 14


2025, to get cracking, I want to first consider what I actually want to make. The main points I want to follow are:


  • + Create a "living" digitally-powered creature.
  • + An environment to step into.
  • + Have it react to human presence, even negatively.
  • + Sound experience at the forefront.


Having thought about this studio project throughout my exploration on the ontology of sound in my DH&T essay, I do want to take things I have learnt writing the essay and apply them to my studio work.

There are different ways to create the parts that’ll make up the sound experience. I could decypher particular properties from experiences, such as the movement of a sound above me, I can then apply this movement to a different sound. I also want the sounds not to be of any particular “perfect nature” sort of interest. I want to capture sonic matter of the seemingly mundane, boring or brief and turn and use what I capture to turn it into a sonic experience that contributes to creature environment. Maybe it won’t inherit typical characteristics of life such as breathing, footsteps, etc, but be a creature in an environment sense. You could consider a random road somewhere a living creature.

I contacted Daniel Neil, a lecturer in sound here at GSA, about the ideas of tracking spatial sound objects in ambisonic recordings. This idea was briefly mentioned by Craig Wells, my DH&T supervisor and also a lecturer and sound artist here at GSA. The meeting I had with Daniel was very helpful and it put into perspective things that I should be focusing on. Ambisonic environments only really work when sitting in one place, which my project won’t be, so I shouldn’t try to represent it. Though, I can use ambisonic recordings to power the spatial quad environment I’ll probably use. He also mentioned to probably stick with Ableton for all of it and not use PureData. Initially I thought of PureData in a technical aspect as to be able to run on my existing portable PC hardware, but there are Mac Minis that I can use. Connecting Processing to Ableton can be done with MIDI and OSC so it isn’t too difficult.

At the end of the meeting, he gave me questions to answer that will give him an idea of what I want to accomplish. It’ll also give me a more clear idea. Thinking away from the technical aspect and more into the experience of what I want to do.


  Questions asked by Daniel Neil

  1. What is the intended experience to be for the audience? What ways are you dealing with the fabric of sound to create something that either experiments with the formal aspects, or experience of sound?

    I want the audience to experience the realisation that there is a big world of sonic experience that can be tuned into if we only try and listen. A realisation that we are not at the centre of everything, and things can go on with or without us there to experience it. I suppose a similar realisation to when I was researching my essay and this project. I’ve thought about this a lot. I want to capture sound almost like a floating ear that listens anywhere without bias for the typically interesting. This’ll be hard as I intend to capture the sounds myself and I’ll be the bias. Perhaps I can travel around cities and places and always record. Then I could use program to randomly capture segments/grains of recordings. These sounds could then add to the experience and influence other sounds and properties of the installation with their own sonic properties.

  2. In what order of importance is there in relation to the experience, tools, and outcomes?

    The most important will be the experience of the person there experiencing it. I want the installation to combat the anthropocentrism of experiences, so it feels like it counters that. I don’t want the experience to be given, I want the experience to be taken from it. I find it hard to explain. The second important will be the outcome. I want the outcome to be that people will listen to the world even when it seems mundane. In my essay, I say that this will increase our compassion and appreciation of the world. Maybe the outcome will be subconscious, but I want it to maintain after. The final will be the tools. I really like the technical side of the stuff I do, but this won’t really matter to the audience. It is important that the tools I use will be used with thought to achieve the experience and outcome I want. But in the view of the audience, it is least important.

  3. What is the process that people would go through when faced with this installation? Their user-journal for lack of a better term.

    They step into the installation, possibly initially confused of what is meant to be happening, but they’ll maybe realise that “huh, is it changing with me being here?”. I would hope then they’d think about the space and themselves in it, connecting and experiencing it. Sound would be coming from different directions, the textures warping and weaving. Maybe they’d stay still for 1 minute or so and the environment would open up. Then perhaps more people walk in and the experience will falter into a more reserved one. Maybe by this time they’d realise that their actions change the area.


Answering these questions have cleared my mind on what I want to accomplish in the Work In Progress (WiP) show. I’ll start development into these ideas.

I had a follow up meeting with Daniel, as explained in my WIP section of my learning journal.

January 2025