Perceiving Environments through Acoustic Events

Lately, I have been referencing John Hull’s book “Touching the Rock: An Experience of Blindness” and I will again today as it presents a plethora of observations on the nature of perceiving the world through senses other than sight. At one point, Hull describes the experience of crossing a busy intersection and the confidence with which he is able to navigate the situation due to the pattern of acoustic cues that are present at the site.

“The noise of the traffic, coming from either direction, was full and rich, the peripheral sounds made by people walking on the footpath, louder on this side of the road, fainter on the other side, and all of the other echos and contours made up that acoustic shape which I call the Bristol Road. In a few moments the noise of the traffic would change. Instead of the present movement of approaching and departing rushes of sound there would be the purring of engines idling on either side. Between would be a silent space.” Hull, pg 149

A couple years ago I made a recording at a T-shaped intersection in Cambridge, MA. I was fascinated by the amount of information that was embedded within the recording itself regarding speed, direction of turns, relationship to my recording position, and of course, a documentation of the events that occurred. The recording communicates an environment of sweeping movement and dynamic fluidity.  Listen below:


The increased importance of movement and event in the constructed understanding of one’s surrounding landscape is later addressed by Hull.

“I can tell when things are moving by the sounds they make. Cars swish past, feet patter along, leaves rustle, but a silent nature is immobile. So it is that, for me, the clouds do not move; the world outside the car window or the window of the train is not moving. The countryside makes no noise as the train passes through it. The hills and fields are silent.” Hull, pg 179

The association of silence and static objects is somewhat straightforward, but by suggesting that static objects in the world in essence no longer exist since they are no longer present in one’s perception of the environment, presents opportunities for investigation and discovery. Imagine taking a photograph (or a video) and eliminating any element which does not move/make perceptible sound....how would the world be altered? 

Coming next: Projected Auscultation...linking public spaces with body sounds

 

RECAP #4 - "The Sound of Architecture" at Yale School of Architecture

Yale School of Architecture
"The Sound of Architecture"
October 5, 2012 4pm - 6pm

"If you see better, you think you can hear better"  - Liz Diller

I am happy to report that several of the afternoon lectures incorporated sound and/or video clips! Hurrah! I had been waiting for the “sound” in the “sound of architecture” to be put forth and explored, and while I may not have been completely satisfied by the content of the clips that made it in (always hoping that my particular interests might be addressed), I was nevertheless glad they were present as part of the discussion.

REPRESENTING ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS

Ingram Marshall “Alcatraz”
                With photos by Jim Bengston and a soundtrack by Marshall, “Alcatraz” creates a haunting visual and aural experience that projects the solidity, mournfulness, mystery, and history of the defunct prison island in San Francisco Bay. The piece is broken into several parts of which we listened/watched the following:

Introduction
The Approach
Inside
Rules and Regulations
Cell Doors
Solitary
Escape
End

In general I was more drawn to the soundtrack portion of the composition which incorporated recorded sound, composed sound and speech. Repetition and distortion were used to create rhythms and multiple layers occurring simultaneously created areas of richness and depth within the piece. While Marshall claimed otherwise, the photos had the effect of appearing as in a slideshow, and which I therefore found lacking intensity and relevance. Often there were moments where I was unable to discern the actual image that appeared due to the superimposition of two images, however I suspect that this inability to gain clarity and resolution was most likely part of the intention. Here is a clip on youtube of the sound (without images) of the last movement “End”. What do you think?

Jonathan Sterne “ Sampling Space: A Simple Theory of Convolution Reverb”
                Sterne, known for his books: “MP3: The Meaning of a Format” and “The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction” (neither of which I have read I must confess) presented a talk which was concerned with reverberation. More specifically, the process of coding acoustic qualities of physical space into virtual/digitally determined spaces, or convolution reverb. Convolution reverb basically uses the measured impulse response of a physical space and then overlays the resulting information on a digital signal in order to produce the effect of that signal occurring within the original physical environment. The process itself is fascinating and the concept poses questions of reality and artificiality within the realm of sound. Sterne clarifies that he is interested in the “acoustic representation of acoustic space” and the multiplicity of spaces that can be experienced through an audio signal augmented by convolution reverb. I was unable to determine (or decipher from my notes) what position Sterne was taking on the subject, but I can see the blending of spaces through sound leading to a wide range of explorations and proposals. You can visit Sterne’s website here: http://sterneworks.org/ to learn more about his essays, books, and courses.

Randolph Jordan "Constructing an Acoustic History of Vancouver on Film"
                Jordan, who’s “ongoing research explores the intersections between audiovisual media, sound studies, and urbanism” presented a talked that addressed the impact of film sound on soundscape research, specifically within the setting of Vancouver. He used clips of several movies including, “Madeline Is...”, “The Grey Fox” and the particularly intriguing “Hastings Street” which can be viewed on vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/19191802 as examples for the investigations. The filming for Hastings Street took place in 1962 while the post production was completed in 2007. This disjunction creates a false truth that, unnerving as it is, elicits a heightened response and sensitivity to contextual relationships and visual and aural alignments. I do believe that Jordan was the only speaker to address the significance of sound in films, yet clearly there is a rich history within this area of study. Jordan develops his research by focusing on the environmental conditions (as opposed to musical soundtrack) and in doing so brings together the dynamic qualities of video with the dynamic qualities of sound recording. I wish there had been a little more time spent discussing the topic in the broader sense before diving into the extremely site specific study of Vancouver.

Liz Diller “B+/A-”
                Diller’s lecture (for which I have copius notes, and to which I was attentively listening) was an honest, clearly structured explanation of three projects which differed widely in scale, construction, and intention and yet were similar in that they really did not have much to do with the topic of “sound and architecture” in the first place. I have to admit that I was disappointed about this, and found it curious that a symposium with such a specific theme, with such a wide range of possible topics within that theme, didn’t ask a lecturer that was more directly related to the practice of shaping spaces of sound or constructing sounds of space. What a missed opportunity to expand the horizons of the architectural world! Regardless, Liz Diller was a phenomenal speaker who managed to imbue her tone with the quality of familiarity and competence, and who spoke articulately (despite arriving 20 minutes late) and knowledgeably on an array of topics, though only addressing the relationship of sound and architecture peripherally at best. She herself acknowledged her lack of interest and expertise in the field and wondered how it came to be that she was the keynote speaker for such a symposium! In any case...
                Blur Building: The Blur building, which was constructed for the Swiss Expo of 2002 was an “attempt at creating pure atmosphere.” Diller and Scofidio were focused on creating a place where all visual and acoustic references were eliminated. This was achieved by pumping lake water through the “structure” of the building (essentially plumbing) and through high pressure spigots which created a fine mist. Despite the (what I think is magical in itself) “white noise” that was created by the spigots which spewed out the filtered lake watert, there was also a Christian Marclay sound piece (of mic’d dripping water) that was periodically perceptible within the “building”.
                Whitney Retrospective: Apparently distressed by the fact that they were asked to do a retrospective as if it was already time to sum up and look back on the work they had previously done (in 2003!), D&S instead conceived of an installation which simultaneously existed in the present and yet was increasing destroyed so as not to exist in the future. First a series of walls were erected to create areas of isolation, then, the mechanism with which they would be deconstructed was attached as robotic drills were mounted to tracks along the length of the walls. These drills would move from coordinate to coordinate and drill ½” holes through the wall structure leaving behind a hole until these holes became so dense that the wall could no longer support itself. Basically it became a 3 months drilling performance project where the wall competed for attention with the museum.
                  Alice Tully Hall: The title of the lecture comes from the acceptance that, from an acoustic standpoint, the original (pre renovation) Alice Tully Hall was a B+/A- hall which meant that is was a good multipurpose hall, but imperfect for all programs. Diller Scofidio & Renfro were tasked with improving the hall to make it a “great chamber music hall” which also worked for other programs while providing intimacy with the condition that they could not lose a single seat in the hall and were only able to change the interior cavity to a depth of 18” off the wall. Not only that, but they needed to reshape the walls in order redirect sound reflections to the center of the hall (at present they had the tendency to gather at the edges, a “gutterball” effect). At this point the analysis that dealt with the acoustical qualities of the space were left behind and the rest of the lecture recounted the EXTREMELY challenging process of developing wall panels that behaved appropriately acoustically and that had the quality of glowing from behind. The process was just SO involved and really a labor of love, determination, and might I add, willingness on the part of the client that I will refrain from repeating it here (not even sure if I could, it was quite a struggle really). It is amazing to me that DS&R were able to push this research and development intensive wall panel system through and ultimately install it in the final scheme particularly as it had to meet specific technical requirements (the necessary acoustic mass was achieved by laminating heat formed polyester resin with wood veneer as thin as paper), had to create the desired atmosphere (intimacy was achieved through lighting and material which were integrated into one system), and had to be constructed within an extremely short time-frame (16 months start to finish). Now that is was I call an accomplishment!

Cone Experiment 01

 

  

As you can see from the spectrum analysis of the clip above, the sound of the spoken poem and certain frequencies are amplified depending on the size and shape of the cone.  These frequencies are registered as the layered bands in the middle of the image.  

This test confirms the listening properties of the cone shape as well as the filtering quality it has.  In this experiment, the microphone/ear had to be right up against the small opening of the cone in order for the cone to have any noticeable effect. 

 

A walk around Woodside Church

Troy, NY

Fan Music @ CAC Woodside

Recordings of the overhead fans from 4 different positions within the two-story space

White noise?

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Leakage/Linkage @ CAC Woodside

Sonically connected physically disparate spaces:

The music that is playing is coming from a neighboring room as the sound travels through the plenum space above the ceiling and into my room via the large ornate grating above the bed.   The whirring of fans from the main studio space can also be heard though they are separated by several feet and partitions.

Sound in Time, Sound in Space: final

 Part 1

 

 

Part 2

Stairwells and Reflections: experiment #2

This is a continuation of experiment #1 using the same technique, but in another location.  The study was conducted at the Linden St. studios which are part of the department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  

This stairwell is only two floors as opposed to the previous site which was 5 floors.  Also, the materials in this stairwell are not nearly as uniform as those at the previous site.  Here the material is predominantly exposed brick.  The stairs are concrete filled metal pan construction.  Also, as you can see in the photos below, there are two walls interior to the building that are constructed of wallboard.  This contrasts with the monolithic construction of the previous site which was entirely concrete.

 

first recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

final recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

From the analysis above, it can be determined that the resonant frequency of this stairwell is somewhat lower than the stairwell in experiment #1.  This stairwell has a resonant frequency of about 160Hz compared to the 200Hz of the stairwell in experiment #1.

I am beginning to think of these studies as sonic descriptions of the volume of spaces through the medium of the natural resonant frequencies of that space.  In some ways, this starts to remind me of the large scale cast sculptural pieces by the artist Rachel Whiteread who reinterprets familiar objects and spaces by casting their negative and creating a positive.

Untitled (Stairs)  2001, Rachel Whiteread

Untitled (Domestic), 2002, Rachel Whiteread

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Stairwells and Reflections: experiment #1

inspiration:  

Alvin Lucier - "I Am Sitting in a Room" in which he reads the following text:

"I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have."

Original performance audio (1969) available here:

http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/sound/source/Lucier-Alvin_Sitting.mp3

reinterpretation:

GUND HALL north stair @ Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA in which I read the following text:

"Evacuation

If an alarm is sounded, or an announcement is made, proceed to the nearest stairwell or doorway and walk to the nearest exit and close doors as you proceed. Make sure that people around you are also leaving."

The following images are spectrograms of the first and final recordings in the "Evacuation" series.  In the first image (the original recording) you can see a number of the formants of my voice present as I read.  The second image shows how the resonant frequencies of the stairwell are reinforced until they completely dominate the spectrum.  From this spectral frequency display we can see that the resonant frequency of this particular stairwell is about 200Hz. 

first recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

final recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

Having performed this preliminary experiment, I would like to continue to develop my investigations around this idea of hearing the volumetric quality and natural resonance of stairwell spaces.  While in this first experiment I have used my voice as a way to excite the resonant frequencies of the space, I would like to continue doing some tests on whether solely the ambient sound present in a stairwell might be able to tease out the most essential qualities of the space.  

I would also like to pursue testing this technique in a number of other stairwells as a way to compare the acoustic characteristics of programmatically, and because of code restrictions, to some extent geometrically and materially, similar yet physically distinct stairwells. 

in each situation take note of:
     - dimensions (plan and section)
     - number of floors
     - materials  
     - adjacent spaces (machine room, cafe kitchen etc...)