Walter Murch

Sound Designer.

Gene Hackman’s ‘The Conversation’ was edited and mixed (sound) by Murch in 1974 for which he received an Academy Award. 

Murch and colleagues were accredited for the development of ‘surround sound’, also for ‘Apocalypse Now’ being the first multi-channel film to be mixed on a digital mixer.

Anthony Minghella’s ‘The English Patient’ was once again edited and mixed by Murch. Murch still today is the only person to have won an Oscar for both Editing and Sound Mixing.

Walter Murch was a sound designer who was an extremely active, perhaps not out of choice, since many technologies in 1970 were not very developed. Murch would actively go out and record sounds with the natural effect already present. For example if he needed a scene with sense of a large space he would take the actors to a basketball court in order to capture the sense of space. 

This pro-active behaviour is as inspiring as I see sound production as becoming, the idea of manipulating sound from a seat and a computer doesn’t exactly enthral me, but the idea of taking raw sound from an environment of your own choosing is very interesting and far more engaging. 

 

Gugliemo Marconi

At the age of twenty, Marconi had been experimenting with electronics and was able to ring a bell on the other side of the room with the push of a button.

In seeing this Marconi’s father gave him all of his money in order to pursue his experimentations.

In 1985, Marconi took his experiment to the outdoors and increased the size of the transmitter and antenna and was able to transmit over a small foot hill of a couple miles in distance.

Marconi realised its potential for personal, profitable and military use and took it to London.

Marconi’s work saw the first over sea communication in Wales from Flat Holm to Lavernock point just under ten miles.

On 17th December 1902, Marconi’s station in Glace Bay Canada broadcast a message to North America. The first transatlantic broadcast in history.

Marconi’s radio’s were aboard the Titanic and when she sank, survivors were saved by two ships that were notified of the disaster by the radio transmitters.

Marconi was offered a space on the Titanic but turned it down and took an earlier boat as he preferred the Stenographer aboard the alternate ship as he had paper work to do.

 

 

Chris Watson

A musician and wildlife sound recordist in later life.

Watson’s life in sound started with a bang, with the punk/techno group: Cabaret Voltaire.

Later in life he became a renowned wildlife sound recorder, the famous groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson’s words, “putting a microphone where you can’t put your ears”.

He has featured in many of David Attenborough’s renowned programs, and winning an award in ‘Frozen Planet’ for his recordings.

Sonic CIty

Brandon Labelle: Acoustic Territoires, Sound Culture and Everyday Life.

Labelle writes about the sidewalk as a metaphorical sound bridge, between the private and the public, and how the structures of society, be that of individuals, buildings or technology, are structured in our minds through the sights and sounds that we hear when walking down the street.

Labelle also writes that auditory features along the street like humming, whistling, singing, laughter and speech, are joined or “married” to, the gestures such as skipping, clapping, running etc. In this way, much like Sonnenschien’s ‘Referential Listening’ mode, these gestures and sounds come together to create the environment, it is why we associate auditory structures with specific places like, New York, an East London market, a farm or a patch of woods. 

Michel de Certeau:

“To walk is to lack a place. It is the indefinite process of being absent and in search of a proper” 

By walking around and immersing ourselves in the public space and outside environment, we are exposing our selves to more than if we were in a car or other mode of transport, we even distract from this “search”, when so many of us traipse around with our headphones plugged deep into our ears with our music blaring. This unnatural sound, takes away so much from our “process” and “search” upon the walk through the street. It creates a “fragmentation” and changes the natural pace of the sounds of the street since they have been muted by the over powering volume of the iPod. 

Where before society would have been far more socially active, the rise in popularity and affordability of the iPod, society has been pushed into a private sphere where people do not hear the birdsong, the man at the market touting for his produce, nor the vehicles or the children in the street playing. The iPod, although I am really not one to speak, has and is disrupting the natural auditory ‘flow’ of society, by muting everything around us, so that we can personalise our surroundings to our own choice. 

Labelle writes that the iPod actually adds a certain “bounce” and “rhythm”, enhancing the energy within a person and compliments the street’s aesthetic rhythms to accompany the walker.  

Labelle perfectly describes the sounds on the street as: “sonic choreography”. To which we absorb, repel, enjoy and resent, and yet all contribute to our perception of the world we are passing through.

The most interesting development in Labelle’s piece, was the introduction of ‘Sonic City’, which was a interactive Swedish sound design which allowed it’s user to listen to the sounds that were created by movement, heat, objects and sounds around them as they made their way down the street. 

Labelle’s ‘Acoustic Territories’ shows how the world we live in resonates more than just sound, but through sound explains many of the  aesthetics we are subject to on a daily basis, from buildings to people. 

 

 

 

Orson Welles: ‘War of the Worlds’

An adaptation of H. G. Wells’ ‘The War of the Worlds’ 1898.

Aired 30th October 1938 in the U.S over the Colombia Broadcasting System.

Caused public distress, although admittedly less than the media reported there to be after the broadcast had gathered such a news feature. Due to people tuning in at various points during the broadcast, and especially since the majority were listening to a comedy program presented by Edgar Bergen. It also ran for a whole hour without any pauses or breaks and therefore emphasised its realism further.

The program begins with an explanation of the drama, that is is an adaptation and it is set a year in advance in 1939. The drama then begins with a weather report being interrupted with an urgent news bulletin about explosions on the planet Mars. Then the plot develops with reports from various sources, stories of ray guns vaporising people on the streets, the program closes with the quote from a news reporter saying:

“2X2L calling CQ. Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there… anyone?”

Chilling to say the least.

 

David Sonnenschien: Chapter Four.

“From Sensation to Perception” 

Sonnenschien acknowledges Michel Chion who divides ‘listening’ into three modes: “…reduced, causal and semantic.” Sonnenschien then introduces his own fourth mode as “referential”.

‘Reduced listening’ is the acknowledgment of sound by its mere noise, i.e. when one has their eyes closed listening without needing to know the source of the sound.

‘Causal listening’ is the identification of the sound, i.e. the source is acknowledged through visual means, not necessarily literally, i.e. it can be from an abstract source, but it is none-the-less an aid in visualising the sound and lending said sound weight.

‘Semantic listening’ is an extended more developed mode of ‘Causal listening’, it encompasses linguistics and doesn’t have to involve visual mediums. Semantic listening allows us to determine the class, gender, sex, ethnic origin, all the elements that ‘make-up’ a person or the instigator of a sound. 

Sonnenschien’s fourth mode is ‘Referential listening’ which brings together ‘Causal’ and ‘Semantic’ and gives the listener a context for the sound, i.e. historical context: why we associate a crackling vinyl sound with something from a past by-gone era, or an engrained cultural sound like ‘MGM’s Lion’ roaring, an organ echoing is associated with a church etc. 

Sonnenschien notes that “Less is More”, writing that it is important to allow the audience to “…fill in the gaps…” and notes that Ben Burtt (Sound Designer in Star Wars) actually modified Darth Vader’s voice from originally being rather noisy and intrusive, to being full of gaps and interspaced to create a more sinister characterisation: silence is therefore as important as sound, but most must work in conduction with the other to create the best piece possible. 

Sonnenschien follows on from his explanation of ‘Semantic listening’, and writes about ‘Proximity and Similarity’ which allows the listener to group sounds i.e. “No please!” followed by a gunshot; the listener can then infer that the person was shot. 

Sonnenschien’s analysis and breakdown of sound will prove to be extremely useful when planning sounds to be placed around the interview and the arrangement of the sounds within the two minute video clip. 

The idea of silence being as important as sound is especially important when thinking about the use of such in film, as I hope to do in the future.

Hugo Zuccarelli

Best known for his invention and concept of Holophonics and the science of ‘hearing’.

Zuccarelli’s Holophonic idea is based on that of Stereo Sound and the way in which we, humans and all things that can hear, listen in stereo.

Herbert Morrison

An American reporter best known for his report on the Hindenberg disaster in 1937.

It was the sheer emotion of the reporting that managed to capture the intense nature of the disaster, emphasised by the shrill voice that he came across with over the radio.

Morrison usually had a much deeper voice, but because of his personal recorder running at a lower speed than usual, when played back on standard time, sped up the broadcast and thus gave way to a higher pitch than normal.

 

The Art of the Loop.

I recently listened to an extremely interesting programme entitled: “The Art of the Loop” on BBC Radio 4. The presenter of the programme; Matthew Herbert, has first hand knowledge of the art of ‘looping’ which is fundamental in a large proportion of music, popular and underground.

A ‘loop’ is a way of repeating a recording, usually a very short ‘sample’ that is repeated in order to create a beat. Hip-Hop music is famous for this, and the debate then rises that:

“Is it the producer who compiled the samples, placed them in an order and then a beat was made, or was it the individuals, who made the songs from which the samples and loops were taken that should be praised for the song in hand?”

I personally side with the fact that sampling and looping are actually creating new music and enable producers and disc-jockeys alike, to create something that is their own. However, there are cases in which this is flawed, for example Immortal Technique created this instrumental‘Dance with the Devil’, but in actual fact all they have done is taken Henry Mancini’s classical song ‘Love Story’ and placed a heavy drum track over the top. Is this creating music?

On the other hand The Avalanches created this masterful track ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ which uses nothing but samples and loops, but to me seems even more original that that of Immortal Technique’s ‘Dance with the Devil’ instrumental.