Soundscape Composition

The soundscape composition is a form of electroacoustic music, developed at Simon Fraser University and elsewhere, characterized by the presence of recognizable environmental sounds and contexts, the purpose being to invoke the listener's associations, memories, and imagination related to the soundscape. It grew naturally out of the pedagogical intent of the World Soundscape Project to foster soundscape awareness. At first, the simple exercise of 'framing' environmental sound by taking it out of context, where often it is ignored, and directing the listener's attention to it in a publication or public presentation, meant that the compositional technique involved was minimal, involving only selection, transparent editing, and unobtrusive cross-fading. This 'neutral' use of the material established one end of the continuum occupied by soundscape compositions, namely those that are the closest to the original environment, or what might be called 'found compositions.' Others works use transformations of environmental sounds and here the full range of analog and digital studio techniques comes into play, with an inevitable increase in the level of abstraction. However, the intent is always to reveal a deeper level of signification inherent within the sound and to invoke the listener's semantic associations without obliterating the sound's recognizability.

Several recent soundscape compositions may be heard on the Soundscape Vancouver double CD, including Pacific Fanfare, and the CD Islands, including Dominion, Pendlerdrøm, La Sera di Benevento, and Island. Other Truax works in this genre are Pacific, Basilica, Temple, Prospero's Voyage, and Chalice Well, and those integrating text and soundscape material such as The Blind Man and Song of Songs. All of the works of Hildegard Westerkamp are excellent examples of this approach to composition. See her website: www.sfu.ca/~westerka/

The octophonic (8-channel) format with surround-sound speaker playback has proved particularly effective for soundscape compositions, given the immersive effect it creates. A list of works produced at SFU is available in our octophonic catalogue: www.sfu.ca/~truax/octo.html

 

SOUNDSCAPE COMPOSITION PRINCIPLES
 

RANGE OF APPROACHES

found sound <--------------> abstracted

FIXED PERSPECTIVE: emphasizing the flow of time, or a discrete series of fixed perspectives

Variants: time compression ; narrative ; oral history

Techniques:
- layering in stereo ; layering in octophonic

  Vancouver harbour ambience

  Copenhagen train station from Barry Truax's Pendlerdrøm

Barry Truax: Island (opening)

- found sound (with or without time compression)

 New Year's Eve, Vancouver harbour, 1980-81

12 midnight to 8 am, from Soundscapes of Canada

- narrative ; poetry ; oral history

 Hildegard Westerkamp, Whisper Study

 Barry Truax, Prospero's Voyage

 Bruce Davis, Bells of Percé (opening), from Soundscapes of Canada

- transitions between fixed perspectives

 Hildegard Westerkamp, Talking Rain (two transitions)

 

MOVING PERSPECTIVE: smoothly connected space/time flow; a journey

Variants: simulated motion ; real <-----> imaginary / remembered
Techniques:

- classical cross-fade and reverb

Entrance to the Harbour, from The Vancouver Soundscape

- parallel circuit cross-fade (i.e. mixing multiple copies of a sound with the original, each processed differently)
 Barry Truax, The Blind Man (transition from the Salzburg bells)

- layering part and whole
 Barry Truax: La Sera di Benevento
(guess which elements of the train sound were isolated and separately processed - there are two!)

- layering untransformed and transformed

 Barry Truax: Pendlerdrøm

 Anne Holmes: Wood on Wood on Water


VARIABLE PERSPECTIVE: discontinuous space/time flow

Variants: multiple or embedded perspectives ; abstracted / symbolic
Techniques:

- multi-track editing

- "schizophonic" embedding
- abstracted perspective
 The Music of Horns and Whistles, from The Vancouver Soundscape

 Barry Truax, Pacific Fanfare

 Claude Schryer, Fire, from Vancouver Soundscape Revisited

 Claude Schryer, Noise, from Vancouver Soundscape Revisited

 Hans Ulrich Werner, Vanscape Motion
 Barry Truax, Dominion (Atlantic region)

Note: the above examples are taken from Cambridge Street Records CD's and productions by the World Soundscape Project. Many other composers are also working in this genre and their works should be consulted.


COMPOSING WITH INNER AND OUTER COMPLEXITY

References:

B. Truax, "Soundscape, Acoustic Communication & Environmental Sound Composition," Contemporary Music Review, 15(1), 49-65, 1996. [theme issue devoted to the subject]

B. Truax, "The aesthetics of computer music: a questionable concept reconsidered," Organised Sound, 5(3), 119-126, 2000.

B. Truax, "Genres and techniques of soundscape composition as developed at Simon Fraser University," Organised Sound, 7(1), 5-14, 2002. [theme issue devoted to the subject]

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