118 Panel 3 The Land of Isolation - a Soundscape Composition Originating in Northeast Malaysia. Yasuhiro Morinaga Introduction This paper describes the production of the soundscape The Land of Isolation. It describes the process of conceptualization, the creation of the work, and the relationship between the composition and the techniques of field sound recording. The idea for The Land of Isolation originated with the author s personal experiences of a large storm that followed earthquakes that reached a magnitude of 7.5 near Mentawai Island, Indonesia on October 25, 2010. The storm ranged across a wide distance, including Malaysia, Singapore and even the Philippines. It was an intense, aggressive and unforgettable natural phenomenon. It inspired the writer to create a soundscape to depict the event in a musical context. The resulting composition drew upon initial field recordings in Terrangano and Kota Baharu in northeastern Malaysia, near the Thailand border. Ambient materials were recorded from rainforest locations and at the ocean at Terrangano and Kota Baharu. Using different kinds of recording techniques and through layering, I created a composition of complex sonic structures presented in multi-surround sound diffusion. The sounds were categorized in colors to make a graphical score; Green: Rainforest Yellow: Wind (Forest) Orange: Wind (Seaside) Blue: Sea wave Red: Electronic sound Pink: Rain Light Blue: Thunder Image 1: Graphical score for Land of Isolation (using Nuendo software). The final work is a 20-minutestructured soundscape, using techniques such as mixing and layering, overlapping, filtering and equalizing, and designed to be performed as a concert. In order for the audience to experience the feeling of the storm as fully as possible, I created 10.2ch multi-surround sound. This was key to helping the audience to experience the storm environment and to understand the nature of the music.
MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA THE GLOBALIZATION OF ART, MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE 119 Image 2: Concert setting at Tempo Reale Music Center, Firenze, Italy 2011 the topic. Over the years, soundscapes have tended in large part to be about the creation of electro-acoustic music with the use of digital technology. Participants in the World Soundscape Project, including Barry Truax and Hildegaard Westerkamp, were primarily electro-acoustic composers. A notable soundscape released as a CD, The Vancouver Soundscape 1973 was based on recordings taken from around British Columbia but produced as a form of electro-acoustic music. In general, the issue of technique has received little attention in relation to soundscapes. By contrast, I foreground technique and process in both production of The Land of Isolation and in this discussion. 2. The definition of field recording Field recordings are one of the core elements of soundscape production. Field recordings have long played a role in both artistic production and in the fields of ethnomusicology and anthropology. In the digital era, field recordings are used in digital media art and in the composition of digital music. Digital equipment has enabled people to create soundscapes easily and economically, by simply pressing play and stop. In an earlier era, recordings were made on analog equipment such as magnetic tape recorders and were more difficult to do. Image 3: Graphical sound system for the concert. 10.2ch multisurround sound system setup. Soundscape composition and relation to field recording 1. Soundscape composition A soundscape is an organic or non-organic sound that enhances and deepens our sonic environment. The concept of soundscapes received wide attention with the work of Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, leader of Simon Fraser University s World Soundscape Project 1970s. 1 Since then, there has been an increase in both the number of soundscapes produced and in the number of publications and research devoted to However, in the digital age field recordings still rely greatly on factors such as skill, method and technique. Sound quality varies greatly depending on the choice of microphone and microphone position, and the choice of recording equipment and how it is used. For example, in the CD, The Vancouver Soundscape 1973 there is an impression that high and low frequencies within the materials was sometimes lost. The technical equipment for The Land of Isolation was chosen carefully. Shotgun type microphones which have a wide dynamic range and greater sound absorption were used for both monophonic and stereophonic sounds. Digital recording technology allows for recordings of up to 96kHz of sampling frequency, capturing more than magnetic tape, where frequency rates are from 20Hz to 20kHz. Although the sonic perception of human auditory rates are from 20Hz to 20kHz, with the use of digital technology, the listener s so-called alfa wave function is understood to be activated.
120 Panel 3 Field recording technique I focused on different recording techniques to depict the following three sound types; 1) atmospheric sound, 2) featured sound, 3) Mixture of atmospheric and featured sound. 1. Atmospheric sound Atmospheric sound is the sound of a given location or space. According to German philosopher Gernot Boehmes, the sound of atmosphere is the given placement of a particular location. 2 The appropriate technique to capture atmospheric sound is to place the microphones far from the sound source, according to British sound recordist, Chris Watson. 3 Depending on the choice of microphone, capturing stereophonic sounds through the M/S (middle and side sounds using a phasing reaction) and L/R (left and right sound allocation) are the techniques normally used. In order to capture the rich and subtle sound movement of waves and wind over a wide range and to depict this on a multi-surround sound system, I focused on using Image 4: Atmospheric sound: Sea waves The M/S recording technique. Stereophonic recording through the M/S technique creates richer and wider perspectives and a fuller sound. 2. Featured sound Sound recordist Chris Watson has said the featured sound is to be focused on the particular sound sources. 4 Examples of featured sound include the voices of humans, animals and other creatures, or moving items such as the sound of footsteps. Featured sound is often captured via monophonic recording, so that the sound remains isolated, and in order to provide the flexibility to place the sound in various locations on a computer-based composition. My composition contained the featured sound of fish underwater. A unique cracking noise consisting of fish in movement was captured with the use of an underwater monophonic microphone. Image 5: Featured sound hypobranchial muscular movement of fish underwater. Obviously, this is not a sound that is normally heard in daily life, it is a sound that only exists in the invisible sonic environment. In my composition, I mixed this sound with atmospheric sound in order to place it in a concrete environment and to enhance the sound of the atmosphere. 3. Mixture of atmospheric and featured sound Certain sounds are captured using a mixture of atmospheric and featured sound techniques. It is often difficult to divide atmospheric and featured sounds when recording in a particular environment. Most environments contain featured sounds which account for a large part of the atmosphere. According to sound artist Francisco Lopez, The sound of the environment we hear has two categorizations; one is the background sound and the other is foreground sound. 5 This statement also relates to methods of field sound recording. In general, and in a cinematic context, atmospheric sound is recognized as background sound and featured sound is a part of foreground sound. 6 In real environments, we hear these two sonic environments as one singular experience. However, there are always sounds that we do not hear in reality. Hearing sounds is a matter of perception. For example, at a cocktail party, the ear selects from a wide variety of sounds. And when recording bird sound, the results may differ depending on the conditions of the recording. A number of singular sounds, and a variety of techniques, were employed in The Land of Isolation in order to depict the rich complexity and depth of the storm. In particular, it was necessary to control and adjust sound levels, directions, movements and qualities. The following aspects were controlled by computer- based software. 1. Panning Panning means allocating selected sounds to speakers. The technique originated in the cinema, when the Walt Disney studio experimented with moving sounds between the left and right channels, even before the introduction of stereophonic technology.
MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA THE GLOBALIZATION OF ART, MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE 121 Panning is a significant aspect of my composition. In my soundscape, in order to allocate the different sounds to 10 different speakers, each sound had to be carefully balanced and automated. Below is a photographic image of the panning system for my soundscape. Image 6: Panning structure of The Land of Isolation. The image above depicts the movement of sound along different speakers. The movement is complex, in order that the experience of being in the midst of a storm would move through the audience. One challenge is that when sounds are panned through different speakers they may begin to mix accidentally, and to conflict with each other. Careful balancing and control of sound direction and volume is required to avoid this issue Most of the sound levels from different locations in Terrangano and Kota Baharu were fixed on -12db, so their qualities were relatively equal. However, for an audience to really understand the dynamics of the storm and of the recording, the different sounds from elements such as waves, forest, rain and wind needed to be layered and balanced slightly. Below is an illustration of the volume levels of different wind sound movements. By adjusting the level of each and allocating each a different speaker, there was no conflict between the different sounds. 2. Voluming Volume control is needed to balance the presentation of different sounds and to prevent unexpected sound mixtures. Image 7: Volume levels and automations, wind movements.
122 Panel 3 3. Equalizing In order for audiences to more easily differentiate different sound qualities, it is necessary to vary the sound frequency levels. Audiences gain perspective through changing and automating frequency rates, together with varying volume levels. For my composition, it was necessary to vary the frequency rates for the sound of wave and rain movement. Usually, when the sound of waves and rain is recorded, the sound of amplified air is also automatically captured, creating a sort of noise which can help create perspective. For example, sea waves are usually heard at a low frequency of 10Hz and 100Hz, creating a sound that gives the listener an impression of something approaching. When the low frequency is altered or includes the air amplified sound, from around 5kHz to over 10kHz, an illusion is created that the sound is closer. By automating the frequency levels and amounts on an equalizer, the texture of the sound as well as its qualities is altered. In The Land of Isolation, in which sounds emerge from different speakers, the role of equalizing techniques is very important so that the audience may experience the horizontal sound movements and perspectives as a mood or feeling, while also receiving illusional experiences. Conclusion With its strong focus on technique, The Land of Isolation takes a very different approach to the R. Murray Schafer composition, The Vancouver Soundscape 1973 and other soundscapes in which the focus is primarily on representation. My composition endeavors to communicate the experience of a huge storm to the audience in a way that allows them to understand the concepts and interpret the various sounds in detail in the context of an indoor concert. NOTES 1 2 For more information on the work of R. Murray Shafer, see The Turning of the World, R. Murray Shafer, Knopf, 1977. Gernot Bohme Aesthetics of Atmosphere 2006 please give full academic reference 3 Chris Watson Field Recording Workshop @ Tokyo University of the Arts 2009 please give full academic reference as per API guidelines 4 Please give full reference as above 5 Francisco Lopez Environmental Sound Matter 1998 please insert full Lopez reference as above 6 Tomlinson Holeman Sound of Film and Television 2000 REFERENCE Tsutomu Oohashi s Sound Ecology what is the context/ reference context for this?