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".