Notes on Composition
Some Nouns and
Verbs:
Composition (SCA*):
electroacoustic music, sound art; primarily with aesthetic
purpose, but to 'com-pose' literally means to 'bring
together'
Sound Design (SIAT*): primarily a functional purpose, e.g.
sonification, industrial design, sonic architecture,
but good sound design usually
benefits from an aurally attractive perspective
Aural Communication (CMNS*): may involve
all of the above, but could be focussed on real-world
contexts,
e.g. soundscape composition,
text-sound and narrative, documentary
* these are the 3 main schools in SFU's Faculty of
Communication, Art and Technology
A consensus on terminology? Organized Sound
(see the UK journal Organised Sound)
Sounding Art (see the Routledge
Companion to Sounding Art)
Some Genres:
Acousmatic works: literally based
on sounds with no visible source and evaluated on their
own intrinsic characteristics
i.e. spectromorphological
qualities (literally 'sound shapes') with minimal
contextual references; abstract
ranges along a continuum of aural to mimetic discourse
(cf. Simon Emmerson, ed., The Language of
Electroacoustic Music, 1986)
Soundscape
compositions: often based on acoustic spaces, real
(phonography), simulated or imagined (virtual); WSP
with identifiable sounds and
maximum contextual references; abstracted (with
acousmatic style processing)
Text-based works: based on a wide range of
vocal material (found, improvised, scripted),
organized in a variety of
formats, e.g. documentary, narrative, poetry, oral
history, radio drama
with various digitally based processing
techniques
Leigh Landy, Understanding
the Art of Sound Organization, MIT
Press, 2007.
Andrew Hugill, The Digital Musician,
Routledge, 2012.
Some Common
Starting Points:
Which comes first: the Idea or
the Source Material? Top-down or bottom-up? Will both
start to dialogue with each other?
If the Idea dominates, is it
'composing with sound' and if the Source
Material dominates, is it 'composing through
sound'? How will this dialogue between them evolve over
time?
The Idea: is it ...
(a) practical (length,
resources, time)
(b) can it be made aurally interesting
(c) too conceptual (i.e. the listener
needs to be told what it's about!)
(d) could audio processing enhance the
content? (i.e. could the listener 'experience' the
idea?)
(e) is there a danger of 'forcing' materials into a
preconceived plan, instead of letting available
materials influence it?
The Source Material: is it ...
(a) good quality (or could it
be improved?)
(b) aurally evocative
(c) what does your contextual knowledge contribute to
its meaning?
(d) what do the sounds suggest to your imagination,
memory, mood or emotions
(e) what types of processing will make it more aurally
appealing and reflective of its meaning?
How to Structure a Work:
Some common structural issues:
(a) what guides the time flow?
a storyline or soundscape, a 'journey', a text, a series
of images, moods, energy levels?
(b) where does it start and where will it end?
(c) what are the foreground and background elements, and
are they balanced?
(d) are there natural sections and punctuating moments?
do the sections contrast each other?
(e) do any elements build tension, reach a climax, and
eventually resolve to a cadence?
(f) do all elements create a unity in the mix, even if
some appear to be outliers?
(g) is the pacing of events justified by the level of
perceptual interest in the materials?
(h) is the mix linear (i.e. one sound at a time) or is
there effective use of counterpoint, i.e. multiple
layers
Technical issues:
(a) mixing levels: are all
elements balanced for audibility and presence? is there
sufficient dynamic contrast?
(b) spectral balance: are all frequency ranges used?
(they don't need to be, but it's a resource for adding
layers/tension)
(c) timing issues: does the pacing maintain interest and
is there a satisfying trajectory to the piece?
Maximizing the process (friendly
advice):
(a) just get started! what
materials do you feel the strongest about (they may or
not be the eventual starting sequence)
(b) listen to your materials at every stage (including
when you get stuck)
(c) review your work between studio times (you'll get a
better impression of it when you're relaxed and not
dealing with technical issues)
(d) don't worry too much about perceived flaws (they
will either seem to get worse over time or disappear)
(e) play the work in progress for fellow students or in
class to get a fresh, less jaded set of reactions