CD Companion Introduction

Interpreting the Soundscape

T he theme of LMJ16—-Noises Off: Sound Beyond Music—-maps out such a huge terri-
tory that it would be impossible to be representative here. So with apologies for the areas left out,
this CD has been curated around what, for me, is a vital subset of the terrain: interpretations of our
sonic environment and today’s soundscape.
Within the arts, field recording, phonography and sonification deal specifically with the sonic
environment. Soundscapes, however, generate interest from many other disciplines: animal com-
munications, military technology, the media, urban planning, education, community activism, envi-
ronmental monitoring, industrial design, noise and health, to name a few. For decades these fields
have had little contact with each other, but there are now signs of a change as the value of cross-
collaboration is increasingly appreciated. The LMJ16 CD brings together tracks by artists and others
whose work potentially connects to other disciplines and whose ideas of interpretation allow envi-
ronmental sounds to speak for themselves on the issues and locations being investigated.
Despite the slow global homogenization of the soundscape, many less-affected places still exhibit
an amazing sonic diversity. Wildlife recording can document this preeminently well. The sheer musi-
cality of insects, solo and en masse, is the subject of the tracks Blue Grass Music by Chris Watson and
Taiwanese Animal Phonography by Yannick Dauby.
The tracks Scotian Shelf 1 and Scotian Shelf 2 by Tonya Wimmer are more ambiguous. Beautiful but
eerie, these underwater recordings from the North Atlantic are the sonic environments of cetaceans
and other oceanic species. Faint whale communications are audible, but so are the gas gun explo-
sions of a geological survey. At this distance these too have aesthetic attractions, but close up they
are powerful enough to destroy the hearing upon which sea creatures depend. Such recordings can
monitor underwater sonic pollution.
Chris Watson’s second track, Ant-Steps, has a bizarre connection with military research. As Watson
explains, when he wanted to record deep inside ant nests, he borrowed an ultra-sensitive micro-
phone designed by the U.S. Army. It is capable of picking up the footsteps of a single ant. The mili-
tary purpose of the device remains a mystery. Watson was instructed never to look inside.
Sonification is usually understood as the translation of data into sound. Andrea Polli and Joe
Gilmore’s piece N. April 16, 2006, based on climate data from the North Pole, is a wonderful exam-
ple. It is beautiful to hear, but with an edge that comes from knowing we are listening in to the
processes, albeit interpreted, of our changing climate.
We live, for the most part unknowingly, in ever-present electromagnetic fields generated by our
electro-technology. Much of it—-from AC mains, TVs, microwaves, computers, lighting—-is the
by-product of other activities, but plenty is quite intentional. Security, communications and trans-
port systems make extensive use of electromagnetic signals and investigating them is part of the
sonification project. Christina Kubisch’s piece Magnetic Nets does just that. It is composed from elec-
tromagnetic recordings of anti-theft gates in major stores and is salutary. (Remember this on your
next shopping spree!)
In Möbius Fields, Charles Stankievech explores the parallel acoustic and electromagnetic worlds
of contemporary cities. We hear the two aspects of the same locations during an ordinary journey
on the Montreal metro. Familiar audible sounds were recorded on the way out and electromagnetic
“noises” on the return. In a nice detail, the fine three-note chord unique to the Montreal metro
is revealed to have both an acoustic and an electromagnetic component.
Bridge Vibrations by Rafal Flejter further reveals unheard sounds within the solid structures of St
Saviours Dock Bridge in the Pool of London. By means of a self-built contact microphone attached
to the bridge cables, vibrations created by the wind and passing footsteps are made audible.

©2006 ISAST LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, Vol. 16, pp. 69–70, 2006 69
 In a contrast to the quiet investigation of what is around us, Our Streets! by Chris DeLaurenti is a
participant’s ear on community politics. Recorded during the protests at the U.S. Republican Party
convention in New York in 2004, the piece graphically documents the gamut from angry confronta-
tion to supportive camaraderie from the center of the action. The immediacy of his approach to
recording is stunning.
Concert Room by Jacob Kirkegaard is multidimensional and atmospheric. Recorded in the concert
room of the deserted kindergarten of Pripyat in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, it speaks of abandon-
ment, absent children and the memories that we all have of the nuclear disaster. It also deals with
architectural space and with the qualities and dimensions of the room, increasingly focusing the
sound color as the piece progresses.
Sonic Postcards is a U.K.-wide educational project set up by the Sonic Arts Network. School stu-
dents explore their local sound environments through a whole range of projects, including field
recording, composition, creating images and writing poems/texts to sound or just discussing what
they hear. These three tracks are from primary schools; it is the first time most of the students have
used recording technology or thought about sound, rather than music, creatively. The CD booklet
includes images of students’ visual responses to sound [1].
Sound Massage by Pascal Battus raises issues of sonic health. Battus’s performance is a one-to-one
consultation (best heard on headphones). One sits down, is blindfolded and begins to hear small
quiet sounds around one’s head. Some sounds are inside the ear; during others the soundmaker
gently contacts one’s skin or hair. All reveal the intimate soundworlds of close proximity. One leaves
strangely refreshed.
I hope that listeners will enjoy these tracks and the various perspectives they give on today’s sound
environment. For me an interesting observation is that although many of the pieces have starting
points and connections “beyond music,” the end results show a high degree of musicality. Perhaps
that is just the bias of my curatorial choice, but maybe there is an inherent tendency in all of us to
search for the aesthetic in our everyday hearing.
PETER CUSACK
LMJ16 CD Curator
79 Maury Road
London N16 7BT
U.K.
E-mail: <pcusack@binternet.com>.

Note
1. A visit to the web site <www.sonicpostcards.org> is worthwhile.

Peter Cusack, based in London, works as a sound artist, musician and environmental recordist with a special interest in acoustic
ecology. Projects range from community arts to research into the contribution of sound to our senses of place to recordings that
document areas of special sonic interest, e.g. Lake Baikal, Siberia, the Chernobyl exclusion zone and Azerbaijan’s oil fields. He
was recently involved in the British Arts Council sound art project Sound & the City in Beijing in 2005. He initiated the
“Your Favourite London Sound” project, which aims to discover what Londoners find positive in their city’s soundscape, co-
produces the “Vermilion Sounds” monthly environmental sound program on ResonanceFM radio, London, and lectures on
Sound Arts & Design at the London College of Communication.

70 LMJ16 CD Companion Introduction