ELEC/ACOU – Task 4
The objective for this task was to use regular sounds and transform them.
A well known composer I was inspired by is Jonty Harrison after listening to ‘Klang’. I liked the way he used a simple sound of bowls with lids to create such tonal and reverberant harmonics and how they became so different through manipulation. I chose a similar approach by using a regular phone ringing and applying effects which gradually fade the original sound away to something different. I wanted quite a haunting effect so didn’t completely distort the original so you could still relate to what it was. This sound is also quite irritating as you know someone would be trying to get hold of you and you feel it has to be answered, so by adding some loops with effects creates a nightmarish or dream feel, like when you are asleep and can’t wake up enough to get the phone. I have used panning for the dreamy effect too, so it feels like it is everywhere and not coming from just one point.
An audio technique I applied that I hand’t before was to stick to one sample of sound only and see what I could release from it. This sound was also quite useful and effective for this, especially as you know it will ring after a certain amount of wait time, which is where the loop and different times the manipulated rings come in to throw the listener off a bit which is quite discomforting, adding to the haunting effect of an everyday noise.
Musically, I learnt about the use of regular wait time/beats where I can throw the listener off and use panning more effectively to add more direction to the overall feel.
This is an example of practice as research because I thought about the way Harrison has manipulated is sounds and what effect they can have on a listener, so I took this on board and tried to think of a theme and what kind of sound I could imagine Harrison using to create an effective piece.
Jonty Harrison (2000) Klang, Canada: Empreintes DIGITALes. IMED 0052. CD, 9:00.
