Research: Biophone Observatory

Biophone Observatory (9:57) Biophones serves as an environmental measuring device and also trains the human ear to notice the subtle nuances in our soundscapes. It connects people to the natural habitat through sound as animal calls become an indicator of environmental health. Biophones trains people to be advocates of natural soundscape awareness and preservation by teaching observers how to listen. ASU Undergraduate Architecture Studio IV Project by Nicholas Glover (Click4Project Details)

Soundscape: Russian Bells

Russian Bells (3:49) Dr. Carol Reynolds explores the importance of church bells in the development of Russian music and the changes brought about when the Soviets attempted to eradicate Christianity by silencing the bells. Source: Vimeo

Soundscape: Grist Mill

Grist Mill (8:02) George Washington's grist mill at Mount Vernon is the perfect place to consider how the American soundscape has changed. Mill sounds inspired songs and poetry. Hosted by Dr. Carol Reynolds who was Associate Professor of Music History at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  Source: Vimeo.

Soundwalk: Amherst College Sanctuary

Sights and Sounds of the Amherst College Wildlife Sanctuary (6:49) "The Sanctuary celebrates its 80th anniversary in the spring of 2013. It was created during the Great Depression to provide jobs for students, who worked three afternoons each week, and town residents, who were designated by Amherst's Emergency Welfare Committee, according to a May 20, 1933 story from the Springfield Union and Republican newspaper. Together, they cut more than 60 cords of wood and reforested the current preserve with more than 4000 native saplings. It has become a valuable space for the flourishing of plants and wildlife, personal reflection, exercise and research." Click4Information about the sanctuary and network of trails. Source: Amherst College and YouTube.

Soundscape: The Hum of Holland

The Hum of Holland (1:12) "What does the Netherlands sound like? Do we still take the time to listen carefully to the sounds around us? Or is the soundscape so satiated that we prefer to seclude ourselves? What does all this sound do to us? Is there a place left in the Netherlands that is really quiet? And what does this sound like, real silence?

With these questions in mind, Stella van Voorst van Beest leads us through the Netherlands and makes us experience extraordinary and everyday sounds, reveals how sound is visible in the Dutch landscape and searches and finds silence in occasionally unexpected places." Source: Vimeo

Project: Understand Music

Understand Music (2:12) Although not specific to the study of acoustic-ecology, music is an element within the human-made soundscape and this short animated video is excellent at looking at the complexity of organizing sound and how that sound is experienced within various contexts. Produced by finally a "young, ambitious, creative studio based in Mainz, Germany. Source: Vimeo

Phonography: A Sonic Statement by Binaural/Nodar

A Sonic Statement (13:42) Piccolo Teatro Sonoro is an aesthetical statement by Binaural/Nodar for Sounds of Europe project. Binaural/Nodar is a sound art cultural organization working in the Portuguese mountain area of Gralheira mountain range, where its Nodar Rural Art Lab is located (see films description for full details). Source: Vimeo.

Soundscape: Summer's End - Japan

Summer's End (1:30) The sound of late summer in Japan when the cicadas form a sonic background to the landscape. Source: YouTube.

Soundscape: The Piano Staircase

Piano Staircase (1:47) Take a subway staircase in Stockholm and modify it into a piano keyboard and how does human behavior change? Watch what happens when people are given the choice of use a long staircase converted to a piano keyboard with a moving escalator right next to it. At first no one takes the stairs; almost 97% of the people take the escalator.  Discovering the "fun" of taking the stairway some 66% of the people eventually started using the stairway.  See also: Funtheory an initiative of Volkswagen. Source: YouTube

Noise Issues: Whales and Sonar

Hard of Hearing (1:21) The U.S. Navy, in 2008, asked the Supreme Court to toss out a ruling that restricts their use of sonar during training. As this video illustrates, the sonar noise can act as a severe detriment to whales. Source: CBS News

Follow-up: US Supreme Court invalidated two court-imposed restrictions aimed at protecting whales and other marine mammals from powerful Navy sonars during anti-submarine warfare training off the southern California coast.

Phonography: Joey Huertas - Hurricane "Sandy"

Sandy Soundscape Project (1:10) The recent hurricane named "Sandy" struck the NE region of the United States costing both lives and extreme destruction of property. Phonographer Joey Huertas captured some of sound during the height of the storm as it moved in land. Huertas, an avant-garde film artist, will use these recordings in a soundscape work. Source: YouTube

Phonography: Rui Chaves

Statement (4:12) Phonographer Rui Chaves  presents a sound work in which he shares his views about field recording as a means of sharing the sense of place with the listener. Source: YouTube

Soundscape: Lamenting Staten Island's Dead

Lamentation (3:02 )The wind blowing through the metal frame work of an unfinished building on New York's Staten Island creates a wailing soundscape seemingly to mourn the passing of those on that perished on the island in the recent hurricane. Source: Vimeo

Phonography: Uses and Abuses of Field Recording

This is a series of short videos titled The Uses and Abuses of Field Recording. It features presentations by Viv Corringham, Peter Cusack, Felicity Ford, Michael Gallagher, Ruth Hawkins, Bill Thomspon, Salome Voegelin, and Mark Peter Wright. The event was coordinated by CRiSAP (Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice) London, UK on June 9th, 2011 and follows the PechaKucha 20x20 format which is a simple presentation where presenters show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and the speaker talks along with the images.

Presenters:

- Viv Corringham

- Peter Cusack

- Felicity Ford

- Michael Gallagher

- Ruth Hawkins

- Bill Thomspon

- Salome Voegelin

- Mark Peter Wright

Soundscape: If These Walls Could Talk

Talking Walls (1:58) This video by Tommi Rautio asks the questions, what would the walls of this hotel restaurant say if they could talk.  This small hotel restaurant in Joensuu, Finland will close at the end of December 2012 leaving behind an empty building that has been around since 1934. A city council meeting will determine the historical fate of the venue. Source: YouTube

Soundscape: Urban Bike Race

First Person Perspective (4:36) A helmet mounted camera provides a rider's point of view in this amazing downhill bike race in an undisclosed city in Chile. The passing soundscape and the sound of the rider's breathing  as he leaps down this race course is a bit breathtaking. Source: YouTube

Education: Science of Sound

What is Sound? (5:05) The science of sound is explored in this NASA Connect education segment  for kids that explains the basics of sound including how it works, how it travels, and how we hear sound. Source: YouTube

Phonographer: Nature Recording Workshop

Nature Recording Workshop (3:25) This short documentary by Martyn Stewart presents an example of an annual nature recording workshop available in the Seattle area. Beginners and advanced recordists meet up and learn various crafts in the field coupled with the art of filtering and editing. Details can be found at www.naturesound.org. Source: YouTube

Soundwalk: Grand Central Terminal NYC

Soundwalk: Grand Central Terminal (4:05) This is an audio soundwalk by Carlin M. Wragg through New York City's Grand Central Terminal. It was recorded on February 3, 2011 as an exercise for Sound and The City, a course taught by Daniel Perlin for NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Sound was recorded as a 48 kHz / 24-bit stereo .WAV file and edited in Audacity. Still images were added in Final Cut Studio 7. Source: Vimeo

Soundscape: Evening Tide 2012

Evening Tide (3:08) This is a multi-image program with footage shot in north and south Brittany and Denmark. Produced by Anne-Sophie Maignant.

Project: SoundStage

SoundStage (1:27) NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program major Brett Murphy demonstrates an interactive sound mixer prototype for his thesis project. He notes, "SoundStage is a tabletop surround sound mixer with a tangible interface that allows children to explore immersive audio through interactive storytelling, and most importantly play.

The idea was to create an ambisonic surround sound mixer easy enough for a three year old to use. By moving “sound objects” around the table, users are able to pan audio around the room and immerse themselves within a soundscape of their own creation. For example, take a classic like Old MacDonald’s Farm. Depending on where children place a cow on the table, they can make a “moo-moo here, a moo-moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo!”. Source: Vimeo

Project: Sound/Pressure Walk

Sound/Pressure Walk (2:13) Tish School of the Arts (New York City) student Brett Murphy explains to participants his soundwalk project at a 2010 exhibit of student work. Click on the next clip to view his video.

Pressure Walk (5:03) A soundwalk across the Brooklyn Bridge starting at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Recorded with cameras attached to his shoes and pressure sensors in his insoles to control the opacity of the image. The audio is Binaural and headphones are best used to hear this project.

Phonography: Field Recording for Film Scoring

Field Recordings for Looper Film Score (5:08) Composer Nathan Johnson discusses the field recordings he and his team used to create a musical rhythmic and atmospheric fabric for director Rian Johnson's film Looper. Source: Vimeo

Interview: R. Murray Schafer

Murray Schafer (11:51) Composer Rafel de Oliveria interviews  R. Murray Schafer, a founding member of the acoustic-ecology movement. The interview took place at the 2011 World Forum for Acoustic Ecology Conference held in Corfu, Greece.  In the  interview Schafer discusses his perception of soundscape research today; his thoughts about the artistic side of studying the soundscape; how his own music composition has been changed through his study of the soundscape; and he concludes by suggesting how new researchers might begin their study of today's soundscape. Production: Rafael de Oliveria, Patricia Lima, and Alexsander Duarte. Source: Vimeo.

Soundwalk: Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge (3:41) A short sound-slide by Doubledomiant video of a soundwalk across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. This is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States that was completed in 1883. Best to listen to this with headphones. Click2hear a higher quality sound recording. Source: YouTube

Soundwalk: Times Square New York

Soundwalk in Times Square (3:08) This is a "holophonic"  sound walk in Times Square, the center of Manhattan recorded on ​​March 2, 2010, at 13:10). It is best to use headphones when listening to this image-sound presentation. Click2Hear a higher quality online recording. Source: YouTube

Click2See other Soundscape Explorations Times Square during the seasons videos.

Soundscape: Pachinko Parlor

Pachinko (:52) This short video by Tim Prebble illustrates the soundscape within and outside a Pachinko parlor. Pachinko is a mechanical game machine that is used for recreation and frequently for gambling in Japan. The soundscape within the parlor created by an array of of these machines is quite loud as is evident as the door of this venue opens and closes. Source: Vimeo.

According to Wikipedia, "A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but has no flippers and uses a large number of small balls. The player fires balls into the machine, which then cascade down through a dense forest of pins. If the balls go into certain locations, they may be captured and sequences of events may be triggered that result in more balls being released."

Soudscape: Shinkansen

Shinkansen (3:20) Experience the speed and sound of the Shinkansen in this short soundscape piece by Tim Prebble. The Shinkansen is also know as the "Bullet Train".

Phonography: Tim Prebble

Field Recording 2011 (2:52) Tim Prebble documents his field recording along the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Source: Vimeo

Research: Voices of Yellowstone

Voices of Yellowstone (11:06) In this short documentary produced by the US National Park Service a bioacousticologist explains the acoustic monitoring of Yellowstone, US National park, which is not only rich in landscape features, but also a fascinating soundscape as well. This video provides some insight into the value of natural sounds in wild places and how the park is monitoring those sounds as well as the sounds created by humans. Source: YouTube

Soundscape Composition: Beach

Beach Soundscape (1:28) This video was part of a student assignment in which the question posed was what would a person sleeping on the beach hear within the first 30 seconds of waking up? To fulfill the task the students first had to learn to listen to the soundscape and discover the nuances of the acoustic scene and then compose a soundscape environment that would best answer the question. Source: YouTube

Sound Walk: Capturing industrial sounds

Voestalpine Soundwalk (6:07) This Sound Walk provides a unique opportunity to experience the soundscape, not with the eyes, but through listening. In this short document participants capture on-site sounds and then work with the recordings in a sound lab. For more info: http://www.aec.at/klangwolke/termine/  

Source: YouTube. (Language: German)

Soundscape Composition: Human Voice and Nature Sounds

Three short videos explore the human voice replicating nature sounds or interacting with other species. 

Rain Sound (1:49) This video segment  of a choir creating a rain storm soundscape.

Cordillera Soundscape (4:18) The Calasia Children's Chorus sings the "Cordillera Soundscape" composition by K. Benitez.

Nature Sound Ensemble (2:23) An "NBC Overnight" news program looks at the work of composer Kirk Nurock and his Natural Sound Ensemble at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

Source: YouTube

Soundscape: Colombo's Tuk Tuk

The Tuk Tuk is a three wheel  auto rickshaw that provides inexpensive transportation around the streets of Colombo, Sri Lanka. These open air vehicles offer a passenger the full acoustic experience of the complex mix of traffic on the streets of this capitol city. Source: YouTube. Click2Read more about this unique form of open air transportation

Tuk Tuks (0:54) Small noisy, and polluting personal cabs provide an interesting acoustical experience in Colombo.

Tuk Tuk Ride (2:49) The soundscape experience of riding inside a Tuk Tuk through the streets of Colombo.

Noise Pollution: California Dreaming

This report includes four short news videos about noise issues in the state of California where mechanized sound has become a soundscape issue:

Anti-Noise Day ( 2:06) In an effort to raise awareness about the damage loud sounds can cause to our ears, the state of California observed "International Noise Awareness Day. This short piece was aired on April 29, 2010. Source: CBS News.

Helicopter Noise: Los Angeles (2:36) The noise pollution created by low-flying helicopters that frequent the skies of Los Angeles is infuriating residents. CBS reporter Hattie Kaufman reports that Angelinos may get help from Congress.

Motorcycles in San Francisco (1:54) A short story about San Francisco enforcement of loud motorcycles. Listed are the health effects that cycle noise have on riders and others. Source: You Tube

Police Curb Loud Mufflers (2:37) A related video about 2009 efforts in San Francisco to address motorcycle muffler sound pollution. Source: Current.com

Soundscape Installation: Weather Systems Composition

Variable 4 (6:22) This is a documentary short about a generative outdoor sound installation based on translating weather patterns into musical patterns in real time, by James Bulley and Daniel Jones. With the use of meteorological sensors connected to a custom software environment, the weather itself acts as conductor, navigating through a map of 24 specifically-written movements.

Every aspect of the piece, from broad harmonic progressions down to individual notes and timbres, is influenced by changes in the environment: wind speed, rainfall, solar radiation, humidity, tropospheric variance, temperature, and more. The resultant composition is performed over a 24 hour duration through a field of 8 speakers integrated into the landscape."

For more information please see: variable4.org.uk. Video footage: Drew Cox (drewcox.co.uk) Source: Vimeo.

Lecture: Your Brain on Sound

Your Brain On Sound (5:17) Jack Moffitt reveals how the brain hears sound and how what you think you hear isn't always what's really there. Moffitt explores aural illusions, psychoacoustics, and how sound can be compressed in MP3 recordings. This is a presentation of Ignite New Mexico 5! Source: YouTube.

Noise Issues: What is Noise?

What is Noise? (7:53) Host Mo Rocca of the CBS program "The Tomorrow Show" addresses the future of noise in our complex modern culture. He notes that whereas the future is often represented as a place of quiet, as in Science Fiction films, it seems that we are becoming nosier. Noise is wasted energy and quiet machinery and appliances are much more efficient. He then asks, can things get too quiet.  Source: CBS News.

Education: Teen Hearing Loss

Teen Hear Loss On The Rise. Will young people be able to clearly hear the soundscape around them as they age? A stunning number of teens have lost a little bit of their hearing - nearly one in five - and the problem has increased substantially in recent years, a new national study has found. Some experts are urging teenagers to turn down the volume on their digital music players, suggesting loud music through earbuds may be to blame - although hard evidence is lacking. They warn that slight hearing loss can cause problems in school and set the stage for hearing aids in later life. Click2Read related article.  Source: CBS News

Research: Sound of Grieving Beavers

Sound of Grieving Beavers (2:44) Dr. Bernie Krause has traveled the world recording and archiving the sounds of creatures and environments large and small. Many of his sound recordings are from habitats that no longer exist. One of his most disturbing recordings happened after wild life management officials dropped dynamite into a beaver’s home killing the mother and babies. The male beaver was wounded, and this is the sound he made later that night traveling alone across a lake. Source: FORA-TV

Project: Mapping Architectural and Urban Spaces

Klando (1:08) 'New Maps of Time' is a project and workshop about mapping architectural and urban spaces using sound and site-specific activity. The workshop was held in Prague and Kladno, October 9-13, 2009 and was made in collaboration with FAMU, Four Days in Motion festival and International Biennial Vestiges of Industry. Kladno is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. This project was coordinated by Milos Vojtechovsky and led by John Grzinich.

Soundscape: Times Square, Weather & Acoustics

Times Square is the center of New York City and it is a soundscape that is full of life all day and night. The acoustic environment is modified, in part, by the weather as is illustrated in these three videos: sunny day, rainy night, and snow storm.

Times Square (2:27) Known as the "cross roads of the world" is the heart of a continually active acoustic environment. On a bright sunny day the street activity reverberates throughout the canyon of buildings.

Rainy Times Square (2:55) A March 2011 rain storm changes the sound characteristics of the street scene.

Snowstorm in Times Square (1:28) A 2009 December snow storm softens the acoustic environment of time square.

Video Source YouTube

Research: Soundscape change at Samford

Listening to the Soundscape (6:04) Automated recordings of soundscape changes during a day at the Samford Queensland Ecological Research Facility, Site SA01, 18 November 2010. See also the Real Lab website at: http://real.msu.edu.

Soundscape Installation: Marc Behrens

Sound Embracing Context (3:40) Artist Marc Behrens speaks about his work at Futureplaces 2012. Behrens works on several cerebral and physical levels. His works mainly consist of concrete electronic music, installations, the occasional photograph or video. Recent activities include field recording trips to remote western China and the Amazon rainforest.

Behrens has performed and exhibited extensively across Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, North America, and East Asia, and developed collaborations with Achim Wollscheid, Bernhard Günter, Francisco López, Jeremy Bernstein, Nikolaus Heyduck and Paulo Raposo, among others.

Soundscape: Final Arrival - The Princess Marguerite II

Final Arrival (19:35) The Princess Marguerite II was a 373 foot long steamship that provided daily service between Seattle, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. This sound-image production captures the soundscape of the steamship's final arrival in Seattle and the waterfront salute it received on the evening of September 17, 1989.

Soundscape: An Amazon Night

Amazon Night Scene (:37) This short video by Ian Reilly doesn't show much visually. It was recorded to illustrate the night soundscape of the Amazon rainforest at a jungle lodge near Puerto Maldonado. The videographer notes, "I'm a very visual person, but I found the sounds of the Amazon were almost as overwhelming as the sights...at times, the jungle was so loud as to be almost unbearable. Falling asleep to thousands of noisy insects is about as good as it gets for me."

Lecture: Susan Parks and Right Whale Acoustics

Right Whale Acoustics (5:52) Bioacoustics researcher Susan Parks discusses the challenges that right whales face in trying to communicate with each other in an increasingly noisy ocean, at the November 17, 2012 at Penn State's Research Unplugged. Click2Read additional information. Source YouTube

Phonography: First Recorded Sound

First Recorded Sound (:10) The 10-second recording by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, is   of a singer crooning the folk song “Au Clair de la Lune”. It was discovered  in a Paris archive by a group of American audio historians. It was made, the researchers say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph recording, or phonautogram, was made playable — converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. Source: NY Times and YouTube

Soundscape Composition: Urban London

Recording the Urban Soundscape (2:33) In this short documentary a City Music student explains her love of cycling around London and recording the rich urban soundscape, including the sounds of the River Thames. Her objective is to use the recordings in a composition on which she is working.

Soundscapes: Austin, Texas

Soundscapes (1:39:02) This YouTub page organized by Alive Arkhive contains 21 soundscapes averaging a little over a minute each apparently filmed in the Austin, Texas area. Most of the videos focus on natural acoustic events such as bird song, thunderstorms and rain fall. Source: YouTube.