The topic for the month is LoFi and I'm just having my morning coffee. Before taking this further, it would probably be worthwhile to define LoFi. HiFi is high fidelity and LoFi is low fidelity. A quick google search for the definition of fidelity, and I came up with “the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced”, while dictionary.com had a … [Read more...]
Rio – Tokyo: sound installations within the city
Thinking how to address this month's topic about sound installations, it occurred to me to write about a subject that is often neglected: the place that reproduced sounds has in the contemporary urban soundscape. Sounds generated by PA systems, sound alerts, radio, television, cellphones… These are all sounds that aren't necessarily produced at the place where … [Read more...]
Sound with Benefits: A Look at Sounds that Hurt and Help our Health
As members of the audio industry, sound is our livelihood. Whether we’re cutting dialog, recording, editing, composing, or engaging in any other part of our field, we expose ourselves to sound everyday. And while sound is informative and emotionally moving, it is nevertheless a fatiguing experience for our body. Most of us have heard at one point or another the concept of … [Read more...]
Sonic interactions with the world: an interview with Hildegard Westerkamp
Thoughts on sound interactivity on different kinds of media should perhaps be accompanied by thoughts on how we relate to our daily sonic environment. Roughly speaking, the world we live in is actually the first and most important interface we have to deal with and sound plays a big part in that relationship whether we take it for granted or not. Internationally acclaimed … [Read more...]
A few places for recorded sound
Picture by T. Rider This article is intended as a small reflection about the place of recorded sounds in three artistic domains that use it as a working material: film sound, concrete music and sound arts related to the soundscape approach. Recorded sound is analyzed here over two main aspects: causality and context. Hopefully, these brief words will serve as an introduction … [Read more...]
Turbocharging and its effect on our soundscape
Guest Contribution by David Nichols An engine is, in essence, an air pump. Air comes in, gets mixed with fuel, goes bang, and leaves again. When talking about ways to make more power, the most obvious is to make a bigger bang. However, gasoline works best at a very specific ratio of fuel to air, which is roughly 14:1. So, if you want to make a bigger bang, you need 14 times … [Read more...]
Silence is the Sound of Listening
"One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing" - Marcel Duchamp As you may know, silence is the topic chosen for this month here at Designing Sound. One may think silence is not existent if we value it as an absolute sonic absence, but here I'm going to examine its role and possibility towards the act of listening to sound, silencing, not as that state of complete sonic … [Read more...]