Hi Andrew,
Thanks for sharing your perspectives.
Having listened to a number of your recordings, it seems that we share a
similar approach to stereo compositions. It only takes two mics to record a
good stereo perspective.
A layering technique for recording ocean surf has been recommended by both
Bernie Krause and Chris Watson, so I am inclined to think it can work, and it
has worked, at least for them. I have tried both of those techniques, and what
I have decided is they do not necessarily make getting a good recording the
ocean surf any easier than using just two mics from only one perspective.
I do not have any fundamental objections to layering sounds, but I don't think
it offers any benefit unless that is the only way to make the recorded material
fit some set requirement for a commission or project. It may be a good learning
experience to those who try it.
I am not sure I understand your perspective on visual vs auditory senses. For
me, listening can be very much a visual experience as soundscape recordings
can evoke visual images of the imagined landscape.
John Hartog
rockscallop.org
--- In Andrew Skeoch <> wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I feel this thread touches upon a really important issue. In deciding
> appropriate technological approaches, we need to first be clear about why
> we're listening.
>
> It occurs to me that using multiple mic sources is actually an attempt to
> synthesize a soundscape that accords more to our visual sense than our
> auditory one. We are trying to hear the landscape the same way we see it -
> separating it into discreet objects and recombining. But listening is not
> seeing. Expansive listening gives us holistic information about what is
> around us, and our relationship to it. And this is referenced upon the
> human-scale listening experience of two ears hanging in the breeze.
>
> For me; I want to reawaken my listening from its post-industrial torpor, and
> enrich my relationship with the world around me. I utilise audio technology,
> taking that human-scale listening as my reference point.
>
> I could imagine an artistic agenda in exploring 'alternate sensory
> viewpoints' though mixing multiple sources, but I can't help feeling that
> there is nothing culturally radical in this, just an extension of our human
> fascination with how much we can abstract and manipulate nature. Legerdemain.
> How far can we go?
>
> Personally, I'm with you on this one Geoff :) Single point stereo; simple
> technology, coherent information, fieldcraft, personal presence in the
> landscape, deep listening (not to mention less time farting around in the
> studio afterwards!).
>
> To me, the important issue is not what I can DO with audio technology, but
> how it can help me BE in the world.
>
> Cheers,
> Andrew
>
>
> ------------------------------------
> Listening Earth
> Andrew Skeoch & Sarah Koschak
>
> http://www.listeningearth.com
>
> P.O. Box 188
> Castlemaine
> Victoria 3450
> Australia
>
> tel: +61 3 5476 2609
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
|