Noises of Oberlin Spring:
A Soundscape Composition
For ETHM 212, Spring 2019
ETHM final write up
“Noises of Oberlin Spring” is a soundscape composition and video that was created using original recordings from the area. Focusing on vocal bird populations, the piece used production techniques in Ableton Live, and was designed to highlight the prevalence of noise pollution in our everyday lives in the small town of Oberlin, Ohio. The town has a population of roughly 8,000 people, but the sounds of traffic remain prominent in the soundscape.
The project was inspired by the compositional works of Hildegard Westerkamp, who utilized sound production techniques in order to explore humans relationship to the sounds around them. The notable soundscape composer views the field of acoustic ecology or soundscape studies as being, “the study of the interrelationship between sound, nature and society,” and this was a key goal of the project (Westerkamp 51). “Noises of Oberlin Spring” contains a visual aspect as well: a full EQ chain that allows the viewer to see where signals, soundmarks, and keynotes exist in sonic frequencies.
Signals “clearly expressed thematic patterns of consonance or dissonance that evoke a wide range of emotional responses” - Bernie Krause
Soundmarks “the acoustic signature of a place” - R. Murray Schafer
Keynotes “note that defines the key or tonality of a particular composition” - R. Murray Schafer
I was also inspired by R. Murray Schafer’s ideas surrounding noise pollution. As Schafer puts it, “Noise pollution results when man does not listen carefully. Noises are the sounds we have learned to ignore” (Schafer 95). In line with Schafer’s notion, I designed the composition to give the viewer a sense of deliberate listening, in the sense that the EQ chain cuts, then returns, individual characters of the soundscape, as to simulate what we might do throughout our everyday listening.
“The soundwalk is an exploration of the soundscape of a given area using a score as a guide - drawing the listener’s attention to unusual sounds and ambiances to be heard along the way” - R. Murray Schafer
Why Care?
“Noise pollution is now a world problem. It would seem that the world soundscape has reached an apex of vulgarity - and many experts have predicted universal deafness as the ultimate consequence unless the problem can be brought quickly under control” (Schafer 95).
This project is meant to highlight issues with noise pollution, and raise the question: which sounds are worth preserving in our environment? By aesthetically emphasizing different elements of the soundscape, I want to instill within the viewer an affinity for acoustic design. Schafer defines acoustic design as being an, “interdiscipline in which musicians, acousticians, psychologists, Sociologists and others would study the world soundscape together in order to make intelligent recommendations for its improvement” (Schafer 96).
Oberlin is a small town, but the sounds of traffic still reach everywhere. More so, there is almost no outdoor location in which we can escape these sounds. The sonic individuality of an environment is worth preserving, but it is something that many people forget about when discussing conservation. This project was designed with the hope that listeners would become emotionally invested in the sounds that define the community, and then feel a desire to preserve them.
"American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
Feld, Steven. The Sound World of Bosavi. Steven Feld, 2001.
Keller, Marcello Sorce. "Zoomusicology and Ethnomusicology: a marriagE to cElEbratE in hEavEn." Yearbook for Traditional Music 44 (2012): 166-183.
Kolber, David. "Hildegard Westerkamp's Kits Beach Soundwalk: shifting perspectives in real world music." Organised Sound 7.1 (2002): 41-43.
Krause, Bernie. The great animal orchestra: finding the origins of music in the world's wild places. Little, Brown, 2012.
Martinelli, Dario. "Introduction (to the issue and to zoomusicology)." Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música 12 (2008).
McCARTNEY, ANDRA SHIRLEY JEAN. Sounding Places: Situated conversations through the soundscape compositions of Hildegard Westerkamp. Diss. Verlag nicht ermittelbar, 1999.
Rob't L. Baird. “Bird Migration at Oberlin, Ohio.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 17, no. 3, 1905, pp. 75–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4154027.
Schafer, R. Murray. The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Silvers, Michael B. Voices of Drought: The Politics of Music and Environment in Northeastern Brazil. University of Illinois Press, 2018.
Westerkamp, Hildegard. "Linking soundscape composition and acoustic ecology." Organised Sound 7.1 (2002): 51-56.
“Noises of Oberlin Spring” is a soundscape composition and video that was created using original recordings from the area. Focusing on vocal bird populations, the piece used production techniques in Ableton Live, and was designed to highlight the prevalence of noise pollution in our everyday lives in the small town of Oberlin, Ohio. The town has a population of roughly 8,000 people, but the sounds of traffic remain prominent in the soundscape.
The project was inspired by the compositional works of Hildegard Westerkamp, who utilized sound production techniques in order to explore humans relationship to the sounds around them. The notable soundscape composer views the field of acoustic ecology or soundscape studies as being, “the study of the interrelationship between sound, nature and society,” and this was a key goal of the project (Westerkamp 51). “Noises of Oberlin Spring” contains a visual aspect as well: a full EQ chain that allows the viewer to see where signals, soundmarks, and keynotes exist in sonic frequencies.
Signals “clearly expressed thematic patterns of consonance or dissonance that evoke a wide range of emotional responses” - Bernie Krause
Soundmarks “the acoustic signature of a place” - R. Murray Schafer
Keynotes “note that defines the key or tonality of a particular composition” - R. Murray Schafer
I was also inspired by R. Murray Schafer’s ideas surrounding noise pollution. As Schafer puts it, “Noise pollution results when man does not listen carefully. Noises are the sounds we have learned to ignore” (Schafer 95). In line with Schafer’s notion, I designed the composition to give the viewer a sense of deliberate listening, in the sense that the EQ chain cuts, then returns, individual characters of the soundscape, as to simulate what we might do throughout our everyday listening.
“The soundwalk is an exploration of the soundscape of a given area using a score as a guide - drawing the listener’s attention to unusual sounds and ambiances to be heard along the way” - R. Murray Schafer
Why Care?
“Noise pollution is now a world problem. It would seem that the world soundscape has reached an apex of vulgarity - and many experts have predicted universal deafness as the ultimate consequence unless the problem can be brought quickly under control” (Schafer 95).
This project is meant to highlight issues with noise pollution, and raise the question: which sounds are worth preserving in our environment? By aesthetically emphasizing different elements of the soundscape, I want to instill within the viewer an affinity for acoustic design. Schafer defines acoustic design as being an, “interdiscipline in which musicians, acousticians, psychologists, Sociologists and others would study the world soundscape together in order to make intelligent recommendations for its improvement” (Schafer 96).
Oberlin is a small town, but the sounds of traffic still reach everywhere. More so, there is almost no outdoor location in which we can escape these sounds. The sonic individuality of an environment is worth preserving, but it is something that many people forget about when discussing conservation. This project was designed with the hope that listeners would become emotionally invested in the sounds that define the community, and then feel a desire to preserve them.
Bibliography
"American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
Feld, Steven. The Sound World of Bosavi. Steven Feld, 2001.
Keller, Marcello Sorce. "Zoomusicology and Ethnomusicology: a marriagE to cElEbratE in hEavEn." Yearbook for Traditional Music 44 (2012): 166-183.
Kolber, David. "Hildegard Westerkamp's Kits Beach Soundwalk: shifting perspectives in real world music." Organised Sound 7.1 (2002): 41-43.
Krause, Bernie. The great animal orchestra: finding the origins of music in the world's wild places. Little, Brown, 2012.
Martinelli, Dario. "Introduction (to the issue and to zoomusicology)." Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música 12 (2008).
McCARTNEY, ANDRA SHIRLEY JEAN. Sounding Places: Situated conversations through the soundscape compositions of Hildegard Westerkamp. Diss. Verlag nicht ermittelbar, 1999.
Rob't L. Baird. “Bird Migration at Oberlin, Ohio.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 17, no. 3, 1905, pp. 75–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4154027.
Schafer, R. Murray. The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Silvers, Michael B. Voices of Drought: The Politics of Music and Environment in Northeastern Brazil. University of Illinois Press, 2018.
Westerkamp, Hildegard. "Linking soundscape composition and acoustic ecology." Organised Sound 7.1 (2002): 51-56.
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