Offnominal

Martin over at Traumwind has an interesting post regarding some sound theories that deserve further exploration.

• there are three layers of sound/music. Let’s say we have A for atmospheres, H for habitats and S for species.
• make three distinct kinds of each of these layers to three fixed themes (r relaxed, a active, e energetic)
• that gives nine (9) seperate tracks: Ar, Hr, Sr, Aa, Ha, Se, Ae, He, Se
• now combine all tracks in all possible combinations so we always have AxHxSx
• we should get 27 possible combinations if my math is cottent (3*3*3)

This is based on a Guardian Unlimited article about ex-Cabaret Voltaire and Hafler Trio member Chris Watson and his field/location recordings for television. It’s a great background on Watson, and he also provides some of his conceptual ideas that will resonate very deeply with many of you who follow this blog and the music it pertains to.

The operative quote that led to Martin’s idea is based on what Watson teaches during his Wildeye sound recording seminar he gives in Norfolk (Oh, how I’d love to attend THAT!):

… he introduces the three layers of sound: atmospheres, habitats and species. They are natural terms, but could just as easily apply to recording, say, a railway goods yard. Atmosphere is the unobtrusive bed of sound - perhaps the gentle noise of distant traffic, the hum of air conditioning, wind in the trees. A habitat could be the general sound of that railway goods yard. The species is the specific animal (or train, or voice) you want to feature.

There is also a related post over at the Trond Lossius’ Lostblog where he comments on the “Auditive Horizon” - the point where sounds fade into the background noise of an environment, as opposed to the very real silence (0db) common on most digital recordings.

I’ll be revisiting this in the near future, I believe.