The notion that cinema is able to deliver “real” sounds is an extension of that powerful Western episteme, extending from Plato to Hélène Cixous, which identifies the voice with proximity and the here and now—of a metaphysical tradition which defines speech as the very essence of presence. (p.43) fetishistic value which a surprising number of… Continue reading The Acoustic Mirror, Kaja Silverman
Author: Maria Grigoriu
Composing with Absent Sound
Otoacoustic emissions are something I have been interested in for a long time, ever since discovering the work of Maryanne Amacher. Engaging the ear in such a way that it starts producing its’ own music is something that would suit the theme of embodiment I am looking into these days. It also interests me from… Continue reading Composing with Absent Sound
The Mastery of Movement, Rudolf Laban
‘High economy of effort makes movement look almost effortless. This applies also to voice-producing movements, heard but not seen.’ (p.6)
Voice for Performance
A few weeks ago I joined an evening class at the Royal School for Speech and Drama, Voice for Performance. For many reasons. Recalling last year’s experience with the radio element assignment where recording ourselves was required and what a struggle that turned out to be, I wish for this year’s audio paper to be… Continue reading Voice for Performance
Florian Hecker
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43832507?searchText=surround+sound+psychoacoustics&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dsurround%2Bsound%2Bpsychoacoustics&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A94eda45343339fcc07b612c6031b4946&seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents Weighty questions are implied: how do we perceive sound differently in different physical contexts? How do we understand a text differently when we read it, read it aloud, or when it is read to us? What effects do the narrator’s accent, tone of voice and choices of emphasis have? What does the process of… Continue reading Florian Hecker
Surround Mixing Tips
A few tips I found useful and would like to return to next time I enter the Composition Room. ‘DON’T ever send signal to multiple channels at equal level One guaranteed way to ruin your surround mix is to send signals to multiple channels – especially adjacent channels such as the center, front left, and… Continue reading Surround Mixing Tips
Entangled, by Chris Salter
In this post I will gather a few fun facts from the chapter titled Sound. Luigi Russolo Cahill’s Telharmonium (1896) inspired by the work of Hermann von Helmholtz and Fourier ‘used Fourier’s principle of additive synthesis: more complex, polyphonic tones could be built up from the manipulation of simple frequencies or individual harmonic partials’ ‘the… Continue reading Entangled, by Chris Salter
The Nine Muses
Uses canonical texts over archival video to repurpose meaning, destabilising received histories. The Nine Muses is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together, they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of the Homeric epic (The Odyssey).… Continue reading The Nine Muses
Language (English) as Fetish?
Few months ago I stumbled upon this paragraph in Olga Tokarciuk’s Flights: The Tongue Is the Strongest Muscle There are countries out there where people speak English. But not like us – we have our own languages hidden in our carry-on luggage, in our cosmetics bags, only ever using English when we travel, and then… Continue reading Language (English) as Fetish?
Robert Bresson: Off-Screen Sound, Voice, Rhythm
Robert Bresson is known as one of the first film makers to really focus on the use of sound. Writings on the subject are many and I will be referencing a series of essays from the book Robert Bresson, edited by James Quandt, as well as Notes on the Cinematographer, by the director himself. Sound… Continue reading Robert Bresson: Off-Screen Sound, Voice, Rhythm