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See also:  -[Sound Design (S/D) notes]-  (my original doc on this expanded)
     -[Sound]- (as art material)

Note: Tthe original version of this 
file is stored in DOC format via:  -[a href="https://www.angelfire.com/art3/pkda2001/sd/sd-final-paper-v-1-1.doc" target="_blank">pdka2001]- as part of my studies at UT Dallas.

Sound Design Doc (S/D)

Being a forward-looking backward glance at concepts 
in both sound design and sound composition.

On this page:  {Intro and Basic Concepts}
               {Project: The Dream of the SurReal}
               {Project: Das Berlin.}
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{
Intro and Basic Concepts

One of the most important lessons that
I have learned this semester is the
idea about the space into which sound
is actually introduced. The idea of
simply entering into a space and listening
to the space had not occurred to me
previously. Also, the idea of “testing”
the space was of great interest. I have
already had a chance to put to good
use these ideas. (These will be outlined
in the “Theatre-X” project outlined
in Section 4, below.
     
An important aspect of sound is of course
not just volume, but pitch (frequency).
In general, high pitches (treble) are
more directionally sensitive than low
frequencies (bass). For example, if
high pitches (treble) come from a DVD
speaker, and they hit a hard surface
(eg, a table top, a hard-wood floor,
a smooth concrete wall), then they are
reflected with much of their original
signal strength (volume) intact. For
low frequency (bass) the exact opposite
is true, bass tends to “fill the space”.
Also note, that if a rough surface that
scatters sound in general is present
(eg, a rug, a rough brick wall, humans,
cloth-covered chairs (as in a theatre),
etc), then base sound will still “somehow”
get through, but in many cases the treble
sound is completely absorbed and thus
lost. This “skews” the way that the
sound is heard. Also note that bass
sounds are felt more with the body (especially
the stomach and gut), while treble sounds
are much more heard in the ears, rather
than felt by the body. It is interesting
to note, that very low frequencies (around
20-30 hz) actually can cause a person
to become sick to the stomach – since
these frequencies can actually interfere
with the normal operation of the digestive
system.
     
     
      
  

Project: The Dream of the SurReal
            
     
The primary focus of this work was in
the consideration of contrasts as well
as the concept of “breaking expectations”.
On the one hand, if we hear a piece
of thematic music, we expect a certain
progression of the songs; ie, a progression
of the narrative – a beginning, middle,
and end (and with a climax or two thrown
in there somewhere for good measure).
A good example of this is the 1812 Overture
by Chaikovski. However, the focus of
this work actually was intended to go
against the expectations – especially
the expectations of a thematic work.
As such, it sets up an expectation of
a rather benign bit of fluff, and then
comes the intruding work from Viktor
Pendereski’s “Threnody for the Victims
of Hiroshima”, thus intending at this
early stage in the work to raise the
question in the listener’s mind “What’s
going on here?”. Admittedly the piece
“should” be longer, but given the time
constraints of having so many projects
going on at the same time, the solution
of substituting brevity for sacrificing
quality was well given (I would hope).
     
The next major part of the work is the
intent of creating a very irritating
repetition of a phrase that would really
grate on the listener’s nerves. Note
that this section is only about 40 seconds
long, ideally in a longer work, this
segment could be drawn out longer. There
is a story in theatre of a performance
where the tour d’force ??sp?? was clearly
a single sentence. The narrative of
the scene builds up to that one sentence.
In the performance, the actor delays
speaking the sentence. The audience
is literally on the edge of their seats
waiting for the line – which does not
come; very much like the hope in “Waiting
for Godot” that Godot will eventually
appear (he never does). In the case
of one performance of the play, the
actor was able to delay speaking the
resolving sentence for 18 minutes! Note
that much of music is built around this
concept: Relaxation vs. Tension. That
is, the music leads further and further
into more and more complex arrangements,
building the tension as it goes. The
“satisfaction” comes from the release
of this tension (relaxation) with the
“fanfare” or more often the re-statement
of the main theme, but then carrying
it to an exalted height un-visited at
any point prior in the work.
     
In the case of “Dream of the SurReal”,
the tension is built up by playing the
same few chords of Ravel’s “Bolero”
and denying the listener the satisfaction
of the next phrase that supplies the
relaxation for that bit of the over-all
song. Then, finally (again the interval
of tension-building going far beyond
the bearable level) the phrase is allowed
to finish – to be resolved and hence
provide the relaxation. The piece concludes
by simply re-creating the “feel” for
the first few moments of the work. At
best (if the piece is “working” properly),
the listener leaves a bit irritated
but able accept what they have heard
as a (hopefully) “interesting” piece.
     
     

 

Project: Das Berlin.
     
         
The goal of the music for this work
was to create musically the feel of
a train ride. There are always many
different ways of creating the mood
of a piece of film. For example, if
we take the Kubric film “A Clockwork
Orange” (based fairly accurately on
Anthony Burgess’ novel of the same name),
we see how the last scene where it is
clear that young Mr. Alex has been driven
insane by all of the supposedly well-intensioned
people. Kubric uses the finale from
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to juxtapose
the image of extreme violence with the
supposedly fixed mind of Alex. That
is, the juxtaposition of extreme violence
as contrasting music that should bring
Alex piece of mind. Further examples
of the mood of a moment being created
include so-called pastoral works (eg,
Beethoven’s 6th, much of the work of
Jules Massinet ??sp??, Ralph Vaughn
Williams’ “Green Sleeves”, etc), fanfares
(marches, operatic fanfares, presto-allegro
pieces, etc), and so forth.
     
     
     
The way in which the work (in this case
a train) is approached is important
as well. Trying to break with the “film”
trend so common these days in Hollywood
of what I would refer to as “over-thinking”
the film. Sound effects, and even the
visuals, action lines, language, is
usually so high-paced, that the viewer
is swept up and carried along as if
in maelstrom. A few films have occasional
moments when they simply let the music
tell the story, or when there is literally
no spoken sound or music at all. A good
example of this is “Koyaanisqatsi” (literally
“Life out of balance” in the Hopi language)
directed by Godfrey Reggio, produced
by Francis Ford Coppola, with music
by Philip Glass and “The Good, The Bad,
and The Ugly” directed by Sergio Leone,
respectively.
     
     
     
The way that I would like to see the
film “Das Berlin” “told” would be to
use only music with no real articulate
speech. The opening shot of the train
would be a slow fade in Shostakovich’s
8th Symphony. In several of the movements,
he creates the idea of a train chuffing
along – at one point the orchestra comes
as close as possible to creating an
actually sound-effect of a steam-powered
train. These elements would establish
the basic “train-ness” of the over-all
work. And while it is tempting to find
music that is similar to the sound a
train makes whenever it crosses over
a switch track or the rhythmic sound
that a train makes as it passes over
each gap in the rails, I would avoid
this. I would want to make the implication
of a train but again avoid the literalness
of anything that specifically is train-like.
The introductory phrase with the Shosty
piece so clearly train-like is a bit
of poetic license (I would be the first
to admit). However, the idea is to clearly
establish an expectation of the train-journey.
Thus, this sets up a very specific and
strong expectation in the listener’s
mind. This is intentionally mis-leading
(the last thing that I want to be is
predictable; ie, boring). The expectation
is that we never begin with a climactic
moment: We build towards it. A good
example of breaking the “rule” in in
the first of the “Indiana Jones” movies
(directed by Steven Spielberg, written
by George Lucas (with Philip Kaufman
and Lawrence Kasdan), and staring Harrison
Ford). In this case, the film literally
picks up at the climax of the end of
(supposed) previous episode film; ie,
in the nature of the old “serials” which
end the each segment on a “cliff hanger”
moment. Thus, the only climax in the
sound for my version of Das Berlin occurs
at the very beginning. This is not to
say that I wish to disappoint the listener
– the magician may make it look easy
s/he does not disappoint the audience:
Simply leaves them wanting more.
     
     
     
The next segment (the middle) is essentially
the journey of the train past various
surroundings. Clearly the fields that
the train passes would tempt one to
use pastoral scenery, and this is really
only “natural” course to follow (unless
we attempt to be iconoclastic just for
the sake of being iconoclastic). Rather
than rely upon the old chestnut of Beethoven’s
6th Symphony – used with great effect
in the Walt Disney Film “Fantasia”,
we strike out into new territory. In
the middle part of the film, we can
draw upon a great number of works that
have a pastoral feel. But we must remember
that we need to have some feel of the
train motion itself (ie, crossing a
switch track, bridge, etc). As such,
the music should be mixed from a few
sources. For the pastoral feel any of
the (quite literally pastoral) works
of Jules Massinet ??sp?? – especially
the “Scenes and Pictures” series with
which the general public is probably
not too aware of since his works are
considered a bit “watery”. Speaking
of “watery”, we can always rely on Alexander
Glassinov for his “Seasons” for that.
(The term watery was how Schoenberg
described all of Glassnov’s works. A
proper response to which I have always
thought: Better to be surrounded by
water than the bleak desert of atonality-for-atonalities
sake alone, but these things can always
be debated). Another and some-what un-expected
source for the ideas of pastoralness
comes from the unlikely source of Rickard
Strauss’ “Salome” suite. This provides
a variety of differently paced pieces
of music that can be mixed and matched
to mirror the (apparent) speed of the
train. It should be remembered that
even if the train is traveling along
at a constant speed, this speed (on
film) can be made to appear faster by
moving the camera closer (or even filming
from the train objects near by) and
to appear slower by moving the camera
further away (or even filming on a train
moving along side the Berlin in the
same direction). Oddly enough for the
mechanical train sounds the second movement
of John Cage’s “The Seasons” contains
much that could be used; these are part
of his “tuned piano” series. One final
bit is the idea of the train bell –
which has all but disappeared (replaced
as it is by a klaxon-type horn). For
that effect, I would insert the song
“Ringa-dinga-ding-ding-ding” as not
only implying the bell ringing (especially
at railroad crossings), but as a bit
of visual/auditory pun; well, at least
it a pun of the benign type. Note too
that this would be the only spoken words
in the film, but they essentially mean
nothing – they exist only for the sound
of the words – not the meaning. We attach
meaning to them by including them into
the visual context of the film, and
then comes the “art moment”, when the
listener (hopefully) “gets it”.
     
     
     
At last we come to the end of our brief
train ride. What to do? We can surely
find music at least as powerful as the
opening part (Shosty’s 8th) – but should
we? In psychology, it is well known
that when people “learn” something they
remember most vividly the first and
last thing during any given session.
As such, we need to make a “big splash”
here. My contribution of film literature
is a horrible pun (play on words, visually/auditorially
speaking). When the train at last pulls
into the train station, I was immediate
struck with the idea of the train going
into a tunnel. Mainly this is based
on all of the lattice work around it
in the station/round-house. And what
better way to end than with the Beatles’
song “Yellow Submarine”. This also makes
great “exit” music so that all who see
this beautiful little film will always
come to associate it with one of the
Beatles’ last work as a group. Depending
upon the length of the closing credits,
it might be possible to fade the “Yellow
Submarine” out and briefly bring the
original Shosty #8 back up. And then
of course “fade to silence”.
     
     
     
4. Project: Theatre-X (SouthSide on
Lamar, Dallas, Terra).
     
     
     
Note: I had the opportunity to participate
in two separate events this semester
(which would explain probably why I’m
so exhausted ;). The first of these
was a role that I played in the experimental
theatre piece called “There is Never
a Reference Point” (referred to henceforth
as NARP). The second even was a live
performance/installation project as
part of Dr. Thomas Riccio’s on-going
efforts as part of UTD’s Story Lab.
Now follows a brief background explanation
of these events.
     
     
     
UTD’s Story Lab project is an on-going
effort to explore the concepts of narrative
in all of is possible meanings. By on-going
is meant that the participants will
continue to contribute to the project
even if they are not currently enrolled
in a specific course. This is in keeping
with the ATEC (Arts & Technologies)
idea of establishing a pool of Subject-Matter
Experts from which different expertises
can be drawn to enhance the various
projects underway.
     
     
     
NARP was an experimental form of participatory
theatre which consisted of “stations”
installed into a space (eg, a traditional
theatre stage), then various actors
portray their parts, and spectators
are given the opportunity to interact
directly with the actors. In the specific
case of NARP, the narrative/text/script
was based on the real-life experiences
of Jamie Dekas ??sp?? and her journals.
Ms. Dekas suffers from multiple-personality
disorder. The journals consisted of
e-mails (memos) sent to Dr. Thomas Riccio
with whom she had studied theatre while
in Alaska. The journals were adapted
by Dr. Riccio into a series off “scrip-lets”
(loops) which each actor would perform.
This allowed the various actors to act
out in various parts of a character
and to be able to modify the part as
required to interact with the other
actors as well as the public. Note that
the “audience” can sit over to the side
(in keeping with the traditional form
of theatre (ie, viewer/performer). However,
several of the characters are charged
with the task of getting these people
to get up walk around and directly interact
with the actors as well as the space
itself.
     
     
     
The second event was part of a specific
course taught by Dr. Riccio in performance/installation
art. This consisted of exploring several
rooms in the SouthSide on Lamar main
residential building, part of the basement
of which has been set aside as an art/theatre
area. In addition other areas near-by
were available to explore in terms of
their potential for performance/installation.
The primary space was in the area commonly
called “The Dungeon”, but more formally
known as “Theatre-X”. This leads to
some confusion since part the on-going
project (hosted by the Urban Arts Centre
and the SouthSide on Lamar renovation
project is referred to as Project-X
and the theatre portion of its activities
is referred to as Theatre-X; ie, the
project, as well as a specific location
are both referred to as Theatre-X.
     
     
     
The specific event was held on Saturday,
2006.04.22 and Sunday, 2006.04.23 during
the day. The event consisted of about
10 individual areas that the audience
could walk through or simply watch.
     
     
     
     
     
Exploring the “sound of a space”.
     
     
     
In the case of NARP, there were two
separate performance areas: A traditional
theatre stage (the UTD Theatre), and
the Theatre-X space (SouthSide on Lamar).
In the first case (UTD), the sound was
much less “live”. That is, there was
little if any echo other than from the
hard-wood floor. Part of this was due
to the fact that the vast audience area
had the traditional cloth-covered folding
seats. The other (more-important) factor
was the presence of a very thick back-drop
curtain which absorbed almost all sound
sent toward it. As part of the exploration
of the space, each of us took turns
taking a partner (with eyes closed)
around the space and mainly listening
to the space. When I took my partner
around, I led her on a “sound journey”.
I took her by the curtain (her eyes
closed) and let her simply be aware
of the sound of my voice and how it
reflected (or rather didn’t) off the
curtain. I used a variety sounds; eg,
singing low or high pitched, clicks
and pops made with my tongue, loud whispering
noises, fingers snapping, etc. Later
I took her (eyes still closed) into
areas where the floor was either hard-wood,
or close-knit carpeting. We also walked
along a hallway with storage lockers
the doors of which were metal grills,
I strummed these as if they were a guitar.
Other spaces included a piano, music
stands, the open area in front of elevators.
Again, all during the first part of
the journey her eyes were closed and
I didn’t allow her to touch the things
which were making the sounds. As part
of the return part of the journey, I
guided her hand to touch the various
sound-producing objects/surfaces. Unfortunately,
due to time constraints, we were not
able to perform this exploration exercise
at the SouthSide Theatre-X location.
However, I did explore the space using
the “simply stand quietly and listen
to the ambient sound of the space”,
as well as using the hand-clapping method,
as well as using my usual repertoire
of sounds. It should be noted that I
would not have even have thought to
do this before taking the sound design
class.
     
     
     
One notable item concerning the Theater-X
space was the liveness of it; ie, the
large amount of echo off the concrete
walls and floor. Additionally, the space
was much, much larger. As a result of
this, we had to project our voices much
more than in the UTD space. Also, many
of the actors had to consciously clip
their voices to get their voice to carry
across the space; ie, to shorten their
words, chopping off the end of each
word in a quite hard and forced manner.
     
     
     
     
     
Sounds in conflict.
     
     
     
As can be imagined in the two events
had totally different sound concerns.
In the case of NARP, the main problem
was that of not “talking over each other’s
lines”. The b/g sounds (all canned music
on DVD’s) had been installed and “calibrated”
by setting the volumes and then walking
around and checking that they didn’t
intrude into the “space” of the other
DVD’s – each “station” had either its
own music and/or video to set the tone
of the piece being performed there.
However, in many cases the action would
shift from one of the various stations
to another one – often clear across
the performance space. The sound problem
was actually easier to control at the
SouthSide Theatre-X location, simply
because the space was larger, and the
sound from a DVD system falls off more
rapidly – specifically because we could
control the bass and treble.
     
     
     
In the case of the Theatre-X event,
the sounds involved were much more varied
and there were more of them. In the
case of NARP, essentially only one person
was talking at one time – and these
were carefully choreographed. (Later
in the performance, when the audience
was encouraged to walk around and talk/interact
with the various actors at the various
stations, the same problems occurred
as with the Theatre-X event). In the
case of the Theatre-X event, each “station”
had a completely different look and
feel – and in many cases the sub-events
going on at each station was in no way
compatible with the sub-event that might
be going on right next door. Thus, the
problem of conflict was much more of
a problem in the Theatre-X event. In
the case where I was working (my project
was called “Is that Jazz?”), I had sound
on three different sides (front, right,
and left). As my project dealt directly
with music, sound was essential. To
say the least, the reproductive quality
of the sound that I was able to provide
to the listener was less than ideal
– this ain’t no Carnegie Hall!
     
     
     
In front of my station, one performer
essentially roller-skated around while
making indecipherable “chirping” sounds.
Behind her was a rough concrete wall;
the floor was smooth concrete. Thus,
some of the sound that normally would
have been reflected from the wall were
thus abated to some extent. This is
important since the height of here mouth
(the sound source) determines how far
the sound can travel before hitting
any objects on the floor (chairs, tables,
etc). The performer is already quite
tall, and the roller-blades gave her
extra height as well: This would tend
to help the sounds carry further in
the space. Note that the sounds that
she was making were essential to her
project and it simply would be in-appropriate
to ask her to be quiet; ie, it would
very much lessen the impact of her project.
     
     
     
Another source of interference came
from “stage right” (to the left from
the POV of a listener stopping by my
station). This consisted of a woman
playing an electronic keyboard with
b/g recorded music. Again, these sounds
were essential to the success/impact
of the project. To help decrease the
impact, two panels were installed behind
her, against the wall. These panels
consisted of open-faced fibre-glass
insulation (as used in the walls and
ceilings of houses to help insulate
them) with a cloth covering them. Thus,
the appearance of a “backdrop” of these
two large black panels was in fact more
then “just” window-dressing. They significantly
reduced echo for her own work, as well
as limited the reflection of sound that
would have poured directly (in addition
to the direct-source sound of the keyboard’s
speakers) into my space.
     
     
     
The work to “stage left” (to the right
from the POV of a listener at my station),
did not present any problem since it
didn’t involve sound. The only consideration
was that my sound (jazz music, very
modern) would interfere with the project
going on there. Their piece consisted
of a kind of totem pole and was of a
much more spiritual/tribal nature than
mine – the contrast could not have been
greater. This problem was addressed
by my keeping in mind how loud the music
that I was playing was at all times.
     
     
     
Is that Jazz? (a live performance/installation).
     
     
     
The basic idea of this piece is this:
We sit and listen to some Jazz, talk
about music, art, philosophy, history,
etc – and we do some collage art work.
That’s it. Nothing complicated!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
5. Bonus Track: Is that Jazz?
     
     
     
Actually there’s more to the “Is that
Jazz?” story. First off it’s really
the brain child of fellow artist and
friend David McCullough (also in the
ATEC program). And is based on a song
by Gil Scott Heron. The main words of
the song are the punch-line: “Is that
Jazz?” This is an on-going project that
we have been working on outside of class
and consists of playing jazz pieces,
doing readings over them (eg, Thomas
Merton, Alan Ginsberg, writings of various
artists, musicians, philosophers, historians,
etc). We also have started doing this
as a video as well which includes various
activities; eg, David (as “Lightening
Man” ) doing his shaman act, me (as
“Shadow Man”) doing my “shadow dances”,
and just often the two of sitting and
talking about, about, about … well you
know: Jazz, history, philosophy, art,
the life, universe, and pretty much
everything! And remember folks: Jazz
isn’t just for breakfast anymore!
     
     
     
6. Conclusions.
     
     
     
This course has been very enlightening
(or should I say en-sounding?). It has
been particularly transcendent for me
since my b/g already included a lot
of things inspired by music (all kinds:
From Bach to Pop, From Techno to Jazz,
From Rap to Country Western – it’s all
good!). And having already been exposed
to a very varied b/g of music (eg, John
Cage, Phillip Glass, Black Star, and
of course Ludwig van), it supplied many
elements of not only knowledge but appreciation
of not just music, but sound. It is
almost a fore-gone conclusion the that
the work will have an impact on my musical
arrangements/collages (alas, the only
music that I can play is on a boom box
;), as well as my stomp and other performance
work. On a scale of 1-to-10, I’d have
to give it a 14 (that’s 6/8 time, ya’ll).
     
     
     
-- Frank Leeding, 2006.05-01.