Matthew McConway

• Peter Cusack explains ‘sonic-journalism’ as “journalism of and for the ear – the sound equivalent of photo journalism. Sound, whether based on speech or not, gives information about places and events that perhaps differ to visual images.
• Cusack highlights the importance of field recordings, in both their use as a factual work, and source material for creative manipulation.
• Cusack explains the power field recording has to portray more than factual information, shining in their ability to portray a sense of spatiality, atmosphere and timing.

By recording the soundscape of urban parks, I am effectively capturing a sonic imagine of space and time. These images, like they would be in a photobook, are examined one after the other. Each recording is a sonic image of that park, looked at naked, in its totality, before it is examined on a deeper level by ‘zooming into the sound’.

In this short piece, Andra McCartney plays a ten second clip of a streetcar turning, which she then manipulates by slowing the speed of the recording down. Through this manipulation, McCartney uses the sound as an instrument. Rather than considering the screech of the streetcar as “noise”, she deliberately draws attention to it, exploiting its aesthetic and textural qualities. 

Contemplating McCartney’s stylistic decision, I began to think of how I could incorporate this technique in my own work. In what ways can I draw attention to urban noise without the use of narration. Although the urban soundscape is already a juxtaposition to that of a natural setting, selecting a sound in a recording to manipulate, and shift perspective on could be a effective tool. Perhaps experimenting with the use of pitch, distortion and delays could be a useful way to emphasise the omnipresence of noise in the city’s soundscape.

Andra McCartney further explains the idea of manipulating recordings in ‘Marianopolis Lecture Series’, stating ‘there’s a lot of experimenting with sound, always my intention is to reveal something more about it. I don’t really want to change it into something else.’

“When you hear a bus breaking to a stop, what you’re hearing is the gesture of the driver.”

‘By stating the initial recording first, then transforming it, the listener has a better understanding of the process.’ I think this could prove effective in emphasising and drawing attention to a sound.

McCartney likens the speed changing, to an extreme close up in photography. I think this technique could be ideal in shifting the focus from the somewhat ‘natural ‘soundscape’, of a city park, to hone in on the invading sound of noise pollution. 

With this sonic urban piercing, I hope to represent the breaking of the serenity of a green space in a city. The urban park is designed to be a zone of escape, though it is a victim the sonic marauder, noise. However, I understand that through manipulating these unwanted sounds in order to draw attention to them, in accordance to Max Neuhaus philosophy of the urban sounds as ‘beautiful’ sounds, I am acknowledging the aesthetic potential of noise, perhaps questioning my definition within the context of the audio piece.

Through sound, I would like to draw attention the ever-present issue of noise pollution in London. Through researching the works of acoustic ecologists such as Hildegard Westerkamp and Andra McCartney.

In Westerkamp’s “Kit Beach Soundwalk”, she guides the listener through the composition. Through the means of narration, she is able to shift the listeners perspective and guide them into their own subjective analysis. However, I do not wish to use narration in my audio work, instead I am opting for a complete re-shift in focus, to the undesirable sounds while in a park, through the means of sound manipulation.

-“In densely packed urban environments, narrow streets amplified sound. Mechanical noises contributed to and in some cases dominated, the sounds of nature.”

-“Unlike earlier periods, soundscapes were now so varied as to defy the traditional experience of sound”

-“Foreground sonic events, especially those having symbolic meaning, are more apparent when they appear against a background of relative silence.”

-“Industrial sounds become so dominant that they become the sonic background rather than isolated foreground sonic events.”Today, urban noise as the ‘backdrop’ is the norm, with the natural sounds of a space becoming the foreground effects.

-The authors argue that through the rise of industrial noise, ‘public acoustic arenas’ which serve the role of facilitating social cohesion, shrank as noise overpowered them. The shrinking of this ‘acoustic arena’ is exactly the issue I am choosing to emphasise in this piece. Through the composition and manipulation of field recordings, I wish to portray the City Park as a space in which natural sounds are trapped. Caged and suppressed by the noise pollution of the city. These urban green spaces are fighting the same battle to escape its sonic oppressor as the people who live their lives in the city.

Parks play a crucial role in urban life. Examples of the benefits of green urban spaces include; increased biodiversity and air quality improvement, provide a public space that promotes cultural and social cohesion, as well as physical and mental health benefits. Urban parks offer city dwellers a natural environment that provides respite from the city, allowing relaxation and mental rejuvenation. Sound plays a key role in this, as the natural sounds of birdsong, rustling trees, flowing water etc. have been shown reduce stress and provide a sonic escape from the noise polluted urban environment. However, a 2018 study by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) shows that around a third of London’s parks are severely impacted by traffic noise, meaning 50-100% of the park is affected by traffic noise louder than 55db. This is clearly problematic. While reading a study from a group of architects in Korea, I discovered that “congruence between sound and visual images influence the perception of environmental quality in urban green space;” 

Because of this, I think parks in the centre of London would be the optimal location for my field recordings as this environment can easily show the contrasts of the natural and urban, providing material to expose the invasion of ever-present urban noise.

-What is a sound walk? – Anytime one chooses to consciously listen to a space as they move through it.

-A soundwalk is fruitful place for interactions between people for environmental awareness.

-When we think of listening, its in terms of gathering information of our surroundings, or musical listening. However, when leading a sound walk, Andra McCartney practices ‘Historical Listening’ and ‘Ecological Listening’.

– The framing and context is important. Location, Location, Location.

– The possibilities of understanding a place becomes deeper, as walks can be repeated.

-While recording, McCartney writes sound journals, records audio and captures still photography.

-McCartney speaks on focusing on one location, creating a meditative piece that ‘stay very slowly in one place’

-Soundwalks create possibilities for dialogue, therefore opening up discussion around the environment.