Documentary: Touch the Sound

Touch The Sound (1:39) This feature documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer follows Evelyn Glennie, a profoundly deaf musician, in her efforts to find new ways of making sound. "It's a spacious, hauntingly meditative film that thankfully does not dwell on the implications of Glennie's deafness; rather, it admires her achievements and interprets them for new listeners and delightfully shatters the way we think about sound."

The starting point for Evelyn's journey is the sounds and rhythms that surround us in everyday life. And from there, the path delves deeper - sculpting the nature of sound itself, discovering its genesis and how the universe depends upon it.

Accompanying Evelyn on her journey is filmmaker Thomas Reiedelsheimer - winner of the 2001 German cinematography prize, the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize in San Francisco (2002), the Grand Prix Montreal (2002) and two German Film Prizes (best Camera, Best Documentary) in 2003. Video source: Hulu.

For more about Evelyn Glennie, view Lecture Evelyn Glennie: How To listen  (32:12) 

Lecture: Mini Series On Ocean Acoustics

The ocean covers most of the earth's surface and is geologically diverse and biologically alive with a variety of life. In the darkness of the deep sea most ocean animals use sound for calling, sensing, navigating, locating prey, and avoiding being prey. Sound making is critical to under ocean survival.

This is a series of mini-lectures on bio-acoustics produced by Ocean Conservation Research - a non-profit organization that is developing understanding and seeking solutions to the growing problem of human generated noise pollution in the ocean.

There are currently four short videos in this series hosted by Michael Stocker:

Introduction to OCR's Mini-Series  (1:21) 

Sea of Sounds (2:47)

How Fish Hear (4:56)

Human Generated Noise in the Ocean (3:25)

Michael Stocker is an acoustician and naturalist by trade and a musician by avocation, he has written and spoken about ocean bio-acoustics since 1992, presenting in national and regional hearings, national and international television, radio and news publications, and museums, schools and universities. His understanding of both physics and biology has proven invaluable in court testimony and legal briefs, defending the environment against the dangers of human generated noise in the sea. Source: Ocean Conservation Research.

Noise Issues: The Future of Noise

Noise (7:53) This CBS program segment hosted by Mo Rocca looks at the future of noise. Where science fiction foresees the future soundscape as an oasis of quiet, the reality today, this video suggests, is one in which the world is becoming noisier.  

At one time, humans depended on the sense of hearing for survival, but with the coming of the industrial age and the growing domination of the soundscape by noise people began to avoid attentive listening. 

Sound artist Bruce Odland notes that noise is the result of wasted energy and that quiet machines are more efficient. However, quiet machines are an acoustic problem for some - such as the electric car that it can be upon one unexpectedly because of its quietness. Source: CBS News. The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca and featuring sound artists Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger.

Soundwalk: Ciudad de Lugo (City of Lugo)

Ciudad de Lugo   (10:12). The Spanish city of Lugo's soundscape is explored in this soundwalk down its dark streets at 21:30 on Saturday, April 17th, 2010.

Soundscape: Guanajuato City of Light and Sound

Paisaje Sonoro de Guanajuato  (3:02) Francisco Garcia Ledesma documents  a night before the day of the Virgen de Guadalupe (December 11, 2009, 23:00 hours). In this soundscape one hears the drums and cornets played by participating church members in this Catholic festival.  Video by Rodrigo Garcia Moran Source: YouTube

Research: Acoustic Communication - Humans and Dogs

Can humans recognize barking signals (4:06) This PBS video segment examines the question as to if humans can understand the sounds dogs make as if those sounds are a form of language. Ádám Miklosi, Head of the Department of Ethology at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary,  is examining this concept. Given that animal communication is so much a part of the soundscape, this short work is included in this collection. Source KCET Los Angeles.

Project: Blindfold - Sound Navigation

Blindfold (2:37) This is a virtual and interactive sound installation by Jens Fische in which the user can experience the situation of a blind person navigating through a soundscape. Source: Vimeo 

Soundscape Composition: Sonic Sidewalk

Sonic Sidewalk (10:19) This video documents a Softday Mobile Philharmonic project in which participants used low-cost equipment and shareware/open source tools to first record sounds and then use those sounds to create cell phone ring tones. These tones were then combined in a public improvised sidewalk performance of their soundscape composition at Frenchs Cafe on Catherine Street in Limerick City (Ireland) on Saturday May 8th, 2010. Source: YouTube

Project: Interactive Sound Walk

Interactive Sound Walk (:58) During the last week of November 2001, escoitar.org went to Mexico City with the goal of creating an interactive installation for the opening event of the Fonoteca Nacional de México .

The installation was an interactive map that is manipulated by the user selecting a location and listening to the soundscapes from that spot. The map included the 31 States of México and México D.F. Each one of these states included several representative soundscapes.

The installation was divided into two parts. First, the user could manipulate a physical table on which the map of México has been printed. When the user pressed on the top of one states or locations the sound from that area could be heard. Second, the user could watch a video projection of the same map that moves according to the user interaction, and shows information about the soundscape that is playing. Click2Read about the project.  

Soundscape Composition: Audio Graffiti with Hidden Mother

Audio Graffiti  Inspired by street art's attempts to change the urban environment by expressing itself in it, Hidden Mother launches the project "Audio Graffiti". A series of improvised performances that examine and comment on the acoustic environment of Stockholm. There are currently 8 videos in this series. Source: YouTube

Project: The Gaits - A High Line Soundwalk

The Gaits (2:07) Composers Lainie Fefferman, Jascha Narveson, and Cameron Britt have created a free iPhone application that uses the phone’s accelerometer to turn footsteps into twinkling metallic sounds, electric guitar chords, dulcimer notes, water splashes, car horns, and applause. By connecting them to small, wearable speakers, iPhones become instruments effortlessly played by strolling, sauntering, or sprinting down the High Line in New York City.  Click2Read more about the project. Source: YouTube.

Lecture: Auditory Perception and Listening Challenges

Lecture: What in the world do we hear? (8:52) By Brian Roberts.  This lecture explores what perceptual research tells us about how our auditory system and its ability to overcome the challenges arising from everyday listening conditions.  Brian Roberts is Professor of Auditory Perception at Aston University. Note: This informative presentation is incomplete, and the viewer is referred to the Aston University web site where the complete video is apparently no longer available.

Soundscape: Palm Sunday Procession

Palm Sunday (3:53) This short video captures the vibrant soundscape of a 2007 religious Palm Sunday street procession in São João del Rei, Brazil.  

Domingo de Ramos, 2007, em São João del Rei. Procissão que parte da Igreja do Rosário em direção à Catedral Basílica do Pilar.

Project: Soundscape Art Project

Soundscape (3:37) Hugo Solis is a University of Washington graduate student in the Digital Arts and Experimental Media program. In this video he describes his art piece that will use sounds collected on ship, in the water, and on the Enlighten 2010 cruise. Source: Vimeo

Project: Sons do Arco Ribeirinho Sul

Sons do Arco Ribeirinho Sul (2:20) This project by Portuguese artist Luis Antero began last October following the 8th edition of OUT.FEST-Festival Internacional de Música Exploratória do Barreiro. It intends, through an artistic approach based on sound recordings, to facilitate the awareness and preservation of forests, marshlands and riverfront of this region in Portugal. Click2Read about this project in Portuguese or Google English translation.  Source: Vimeo


Related links:
www.luisantero.yolasite.com
www.sonsdealvoco.yolasite.com
www.luisantero.bandcamp.com

Project: SoundLife London

SoundLife London in Leicester Square Gardens was the first exclusively sound-based public art work of this scale in the UK.

It is a unique hour long sound composition created especially for Leicester Square Gardens by sound artist and musician Martyn Ware, which reveals the 3-dimensional sound world that surrounds us at all times in the most fascinating and diverse city in the world. It is a composed 'soundscape' of looped and mixed found and collected sounds with an ambient musical composition. It aims to augment the everyday background noise of Leicester Square with a distilled ‘sonic essence’ of London – a dynamic soundscape of familiar places and feelings associated with Westminster and beyond A variety of sonic themes are introduced at ten minute intervals each hour throughout the day. The installation played from 9am until 7pm every day from 4 to 14 June 2009. Source: VIMEO

There are three videos:

SoundLife London Lecture (35:40) 

Launch of the project (17:49) 

Trailer (3:07)

Soundscape: Antarctica

Antarctic Sights and Sounds (4:15) This is a beautifully shot film by Jim Napoli that brings the sights and soundscape of Antarctic alive. Source YouTube

Noise Issues: Orcas and Shipping

Into the Waves with Orcas (4:30 ). Orcas use sound to navigate, find food and communicate. But underwater noise is making it more difficult. We explore, in this slideshow, how scientists use hydrophones to track noise from ships and boats to discover what affect noise pollution really has on orcas. Source: KQED public television.

Documentary: John Cage, "I have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying it"

John Cage (56:03)  For composer John Cage (1912-1992), one sound, or noise, was as useful as another. Is the sound of a moving truck musical, he says, then adds with characteristic impishness, ''Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?  John Cage was well known for his interest in the soundscape beyond that of traditional musical forms. Source: American Masters (1990)

Soundscape Installation: Music from Earthquakes

Tectonic (4:03) Tectonic is a sound sculpture created in real time by earthquakes as they occur across the globe. A tightly integrated system between Max/MSP, Google Earth and Ableton Live processes a stream of real-time data that is translated into synthesis and sample playback parameters. 

When an earthquake occurs, seismic data is relayed to the system, sound is produced and Google Earth immediately flies to the coordinates of the latest earthquake giving us a visual representation of the newest developments. As multiple earthquakes occur daily, the sculpture builds, enmeshing itself in a complex soundscape of textures and tones - every second, different from the last and never repeating the same stage twice. Source: Vimeo

Lecture: Daniel Levitin - Evolutionary origins of music

How the Brain Evolved to Play and Listen To Music (1:02) This video examines the evolution of human sound making and understanding. Daniel Levitin visits Google's San Francisco, CA office to discuss his book "The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature." This event took place on August 22, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. An unprecedented blend of science and art, Daniel Levitin's debut, This Is Your Brain on Music, was an extraordinary success. Now in what is being called a tour de force by his peers, he showcases his audacious theory of "six songs," illuminating how the brain evolved to play and listen to music in six fundamental forms—for friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love. Source: Authors@Google series.

Research: Studying Sounds to Learn About Ecosystem Change

Feeling Lost Sounds (2:07) Landscape ecologists are studying what sounds can tell them about a specific ecosystem. Researchers have found that certain sounds or lack thereof can be an important indicator of environmental changes. By recording the sounds in a particular area, scientists can track the typical patterns and note any changes and investigate the causes. Source: American Institute of Physics.

Soundscape: Chaitén

Chaitén (3:11)  The town of Chaitén, Chile, was evacuated in May, 2008 when the long dormant Chaiten Volcano erupted about 10 kilometers from the town located in the Chilean Patagonia. This video visits the soundscape of an abandon cabin now void of human habitation and sitting within the shadow of the mountain. This is an audiovisual essay produced for Forks Magazine. Source: YouTube

Research: Boat Alarm and Manatees

Boat Alarm Could Save Manatees (4:33) Manatees can't hear the low sounds of boat engines, which is why the animals are frequently injured, a researcher says. A high-pitched alarm could solve the problem as demonstrated in this Wild Chronicle segment from the National Geographc Missions Program. Source: National Geographic Videos.

Phonographer: Chris Watson Underwater Recording

Chris Watson Records Underwater (4:38) In this short spot sound recordist Chris Watson documents his efforts to record underwater sounds that will become a part of an installation for London Wild Bird Watch, which will take at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's London Wetland Centre, 20-22 April 2012. See also: Chris Watson: Phonographer, Source: YouTube

Noise Issues: Copenhagen

Noisiest Pollution in  Copenhagen (4:55) This short TV-story explores the issues of noise pollution in Copenhagen and Denmark, which the program identifies as the noisiest nation within Scandinavian region. Source: YouTube

Soundscape: The Forest Awakens

Forest Awakens. (5:44) This video, filmed by nature photographer Craig Blacklock provides an audio-visual experience of a northern Minnesota forest as spring arrives. The production, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality & Healing, is designed as a take "5" from the stress of daily life. Source: YouTube

Interview: Carlos Alberto Augusto - Sound, Theater and Acoustic Space

Sound, Theater, and Acoustic Space (10:21) Composer and acoustic communication specialist Carlos Alberto Augusto talks to Raquel Santos about sound, space and theatre (in Portuguese). This is an excerpt of an interview for the program “Entre Nós”, Universidade Aberta - RTP2, 2007.  

Carlos Alberto Augusto spent over 15 years in noise pollution control, research and regulation with the Portuguese environmental authority and then went on to study with two great Canadian composers and teachers R. Murray Schafer and Barry Truax. He completed his M.A. at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) under Truax's supervision. Source: Vimeo.

Soundscape Composition: A Day in the Park Parts 1-3

A day in the park is a soundscape composition commissioned by Hilary Phillips AVDC Biodiversity Birthday Project coordinator.  The guidelines for the piece were to make a soundscape composition made from sounds recorded in three green spaces in Aylesbury, the idea being to highlight the biodiversity of the Aylesbury Parks (UK). The project was developed by Lawrence Fernando with I-Van Multi Media Project and area youth. There are three videos in this series: Part 1 (9:43), Part 2 (6:52) and Part 3 (4:31). Source: YouTube.

Lecture: Barry Truax - Acoustic Space and Soundscape Composition

Acoustic Space and Soundscape Composition (1:02)  Professor Barry Truax, Simon Fraser University, was one of the members of the World Soundscape Project at SFU when it pioneered the study of acoustic environments and published the Vancouver Soundscape recordings and booklet. Since then this work has achieved an international profile through the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. Truax’ artistic work has included the creation of soundscape compositions that create musical pieces using environmental sounds. Barry traces this history and plays examples.  As a composer, Truax is best known for his work with the PODX computer music system. He also developed the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis, in 1986. This lecture was recorded at Sonic Acts XIII 2010. Source Vimeo.

Soundscape: Communal Acclamation

Communal  Acclamation (2:01) Have you ever heard a city cheering?  This short video provides an interesting example of a communal event amongst dwellers in the high rise Yaletown district of Vancouver, B.C.  The cheering was the result of the Vancouver Canucks defeating the San Jose Sharks in a hockey game opening the way for the Canucks to play in the prestigious Stanley Cup competition. The video demonstrates the power of sound to go beyond the constraints of sight and be shared by a whole community. 

Vancouver has one of the fastest-growing residential downtown areas in North America: nearly 40,000 people have moved downtown in the last 10 years. Nowhere is this urban renaissance more apparent than in the densely packed high-rise condos and converted warehouses of Yaletown now home to many of the city’s trendiest restaurants, bars and night spots, hip shopping boutiques, and celebrity haunts. Source: YouTube.