I planned to field record around Elephant and Castle, building a strong library of recordings to edit. The locations I recorded were from firstly the balcony of my home. Capturing sound from this height was an interesting process because the the way sound would travel in this environment. The buildings would reflect and reverberate high frequencies and the low frequencies would resonate. From this experimentation, I realised this recording technique captured the environment in recognition of size.

Unfortunately, recordings peeked and distorted from the way sound would travel and resonate from an altitude.

Behind The Scenes Video

Artist Research

I am inspired in my practice by sound artist, Anne Hardy. She specialises in insulation, field recording and foley which are the focus of my creative practice. Field recording is an interactive process between the environment and the recordist, you are capturing the unknown present moment creating a sense of alertness to the sonic environment, Anne Hardy relates to this when she said, “As soon as you put headphones when you’re recording you just hear so much stuff”. (Tate, 2019. 2:40). I was constantly analysing the sound in this present moment animistically. The ability to connect to the sonic environment is why field recording is for me enjoyable part of the process. Anne Hardy stated, “These places I really like the actual studio in terms of the thinking space and gathering space I suppose because they’re full of unexpected encounters or accidents or things that you don’t anticipate.” (Tate, 2019. 3:05). I agree, that participation in field recording and listening to the environment analytically causes a flow of creativity and thoughts and ideas will develop and evolve as a result.

I am inspired by her recording and editing techniques specifically her use of material used as instrumentation to capture specific sound for effect. This is a process I have not yet explored in my practice but this work has inspired me to implement the use of martial.

Jose specialises in performance-based sound art, composition and soundscape. Jose introduced us to his creative practice in a seminar called ‘Performance Sound’. I never performed sound before however, I found inspiring elements of his performance, for example, his use of materials. His recording techniques were similar to the production of Foley. I was very inspired by the use of the Thunder Drum. I am inspired to incorporate these elements of Foley into my composition for more impactful. His use of bodily sound, for example, the voice was truly transformative and sonically evoked a space inducing the altering of consciousness. I am inspired by his use of voice and plan to implement this element of recording into my practice.

Website:

The Body Is a Tomb

I am inspired by Jose Macabra’s work ‘The Body is a Tomb’. This performance is described as “delves into reincarnation and the transformation of the self, ultimately creating a new identity known as ‘Your Worst Nightmare.'”. The relationship of sound and Transformation is a theme I am inspired to explore in my piece. “This performance aims to explore the depths of the human psyche through the themes of burial and resurrection. Through sedative and meditative elements, it seeks to uncover humanity’s treasures and curses while giving birth to new creative concepts.”.

Julia Schauerman Website:

Compositions

Buzzing City:

Buzzing City is a compositional piece made from field recordings of vents and generators and city traffic ambience. These vibrations perfectly merge into each other encapsulating the concept ‘buzzing city’. This composition does very well to capture the vibrational soundscape of a modern post-industrial city. This concept is similar to mine in the way that the composition will capture the soundscape of the city of London in its present day. I am inspired by the beginning and how it smoothly sets the scene as well as the progression throughout the piece. The introduction of new elements retains attention very well. Within these layers of sound, I experienced the feeling of being lost which I would like to evoke in my work. This was done by the tonality of the drones and the fazing of various sound sources. Buzzing City was an inspiring piece for the development of my project.

MetalWorks:

MetalWorks is also a composition however, is conceptualised around transformation. This is an inspiring piece of work. The ambient and abstract tonalities encapture space where transformation in body and mind resonates.

In conclusion, these two inspiring works have developed ideas around the conceptualisation of my piece. I will encapture the feeling of transformation through ambient and abstract tonalities fazed with field recordings of London. London is a city that constantly transforming, the sonic space reflects this with constant destruction and construction of noise but a space for self-transformation is lost in this noise as the intensity of the buzzing of the city is too high. I want to invoke the feeling of self-transformation in a composition of the soundscape of London

---

Bibliography

Macabra, J. (2024). The Body Is a Tomb – Jose Macabra. [online] Josemacabra.com. Available at: https://josemacabra.com/2024/07/10/the-body-is-a-tomb/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2024].

Tate. Anne Hardy | Tate Britain. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/anne-hardy

Tate, 2019. Artist Anne Hardy – In the Studio and on the River | TateShots. 15 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVO60nSmHuI. (Accessed: 27 November 2024)