We recently took a class trip to Otherworld VR in Hackney in what I found to be a really fun and informative experience, the décor was layed out in a stereotypical sci-fi aesthetic and it was hard to not feel like I was in a black mirror episode or something from minority report.
I think this was part of the experience though. While technically the experience itself begins when you enter the pod and put the headset on, the setup and lead into the VR experience is very important. In a VR storytelling workshop with the National Youth Theatre a few years ago, the people running it stressed that the onboarding and off boarding of the experience was very important for the immersion and comfort of the user. And so this sci-fi aesthetic was important to putting us in the right frame of mind.
I had a really interesting experience, doing some multiplayer and some singleplayer, the movement in the overworld was quite jarring however once I entered the games it became a lot less nauseous. The heaters and fans in the pods we entered initially felt like a gimmick. However, in one game I found myself swinging from tree to tree and when I picked up enough speed the fans turned on to simulate the wind in my face which most certainly aided in the feeling that I was moving quickly.
There were a few issues that broke my immersion, there wasn’t any time that I fully forgot I was in the VR world however at points the tracking would mess up, or I would hit the side of the pod, or the headset would move a few centimeters and ruin the view coming through it. These are all factors of the technology and not the medium itself and eventually they feel like they will become non-issues as the technology advances.
I slightly feel that this is a better way to experience VR, its a space dedicated to it which allows you to change your state of mind to better immerse yourself, the pods themselves feel safer and easier to setup in as you don’t have you worry about accidentally clearing a shelf or stepping on a pet during your experience. And its more accessible than a headset + computer able to run VR (unless you’re using the Quest) + the cost of the games. This way you can have a quick, low cost, low hassle dip into Virtual Reality.
For my creative sound work I have decided to go quite literal in combining my interests of oral storytelling in the context of welsh traditions and Audio Drama podcasts. My piece will be a recording of me performing a translation of Cad Goddeu, a welsh medieval poem about a battle where the wizard Gwydion caused the trees of a forest to come to life and fight on his side. I recorded myself actually performing if I was doing a poem recitation with reverb, background noises and the sounds of my own movements totally left in. Over this recording I will treat it as if it was narration in an audio drama, bringing the two worlds together, so instead of this ephemeral sourceless voice as the narration as is the standard in audio drama, it’s very clear the performer exists in a space, joining welsh oral tradition to modern AD techniques. However I will not be doing conventions and standards, instead I will try to make it as Avant Garde as the poem deserves, looking back on it the whole text comes off as quite abstract, the two filters of time and translation make it very unusual and so I am going to attempt to try and push myself away from what I would normally do for audio fiction sound design.
Recently I’ve had a few thoughts going around in my head about noise music, my own sound art practice and how this informs/will inform/has informed sound design in CoB and other projects I’ve worked on and so to solidify them I’ve decided to write about it here
Noise music, in the way that I use the term, is the composition of sounds and aural textures into sonic pieces that often hold a similar place to abstract visual art in that it leans into a form of unrestricted expression, freeing itself from the boundaries of genre and musical standards. A good example of noise artists would be Toshimaru Nakamura, Cut Hands or Merzbow, each have their own distinct styles of noise music and not all stay within the genre all the time (Cut Hands being a prime example). For some reason many of the artists I find inspiration from and try to emulate happen to come from Japan (Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, and my main influence Toshimaru Nakamura) I find the approach from the Onkyo scene to be particularly interesting and much of the work from it is enthralling to me (consume red by ground zero is easily in my top 5 tracks of all time).
One term I mentioned above that I also feel is relevant to attempt to define is “aural textures” in the way that I use it. This is something I find very difficult to put into words, I might refer to a sound’s texture as “hollow” or “metallic”. It is a combination of factors, from more measurable features of a sound like the balance/amplitude of frequencies (more high end/low end), to more abstract features like how aggressive or “crunchy” it may come across, these factors come together to form the character, or texture, of a sound. I also relate to the concept of “acousmatic sound,” where sounds are divorced from their sources, moving a listener’s concept of a sound from its origin point and toward the sound itself as a lone entity. Acousmatic writing, then, is describing sounds without making reference to their sources. It’s an exercise I recommend: try describing your sonic environment without mentioning where the sounds are coming from. You quickly find you have to develop a new vocabulary and use words you might not normally use and the whole description becomes very abstract to someone who doesn’t know what sound sources you are referring to. All of this is my attempt to share my approach to “aural textures” and to try to get you to understand what I’m talking about when I talk about it.
I find it also worth mentioning, for those that don’t know already, that I am the creator and sound designer of an audio drama called Chain of Being. The fact that I am both in charge of sound and writing affords me the unique position to write sounds into existence. I begin the design process of the quality and texture of the sounds as early as possible. In some cases I will write a scene/monster/soundscape/ etc. around a sound I’ve made previously. I have also done sound design for other projects including Ghosts on a Train (another FN show you should listen to). I also create my own noise music under the name Dinas (find me on bandcamp if you want a reference for the kind of thing I find interesting and enjoy making).
my noise music set up, with several no input mixers chained together
The current main method I employ to make noise music is by using a method developed by the aforementioned Japanese artist Toshimaru Nakamura called no-input mixing. It essentially turns a mixing desk into an instrument. By plugging the outputs into the inputs you create a feedback loop from the internal noise of a mixer. You can then affect this using the volume, gain, EQ and any other features your mixer might have (if you have a mixer laying around I recommend you give it a go, it’s truly fascinating). I have a mixer with built in effects which treat the signal even further to create a wide array of unique textures and sounds. Throughout my practice, no-input has always felt like more of a collaboration between me and the machines I use as opposed to the more predictable, top-down structure of playing a guitar or a piano where you can more or less predict the results (you strum the G string and hear G). With no-input mixing, the results are sometimes surprising and develop over time as you ‘talk’ with the mixer, offering an input and the mixer responding in turn. I have worked on my practice for a few months now adding in various inputs (vinyl, ableton beats, electromagnetic microphone etc). Each completely changes the effect and feel of each piece I make when using them. You don’t necessarily need all this extra stuff though either, you can create an amazing series of textures and pieces with just a single channel on a single mixer, you can go for a more Merzbow approach and create a wall of harsh noise, or take a more relaxed and subtle approach in the spirit of Sachiko M or Nakamura himself.
There is something very cathartic about creating noise music. I find that the freedom from the restriction of musical standards creates a wellspring of creativity because I don’t have to worry about keeping a melody or rhythm. There is an incredibly visceral feeling that I get from being able to just create sounds which stand on their own and exist for the sake of themselves, their textures, emotion and composition devoid of any context. And while I make it a point to let people know how I create what I create, I feel that there is not so much a connection between the sound source and the sound as you might get with an orchestral piece. It is hard to envision the creation of these sounds as the process is so foreign and hard to imagine taking place (even to me as the creator) that it is easy to consider the sounds acousmatically: allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the aural textures. I think this is also why I enjoy listening to noise music so much. It affords me the chance to lose myself in the world of sound for a moment be it harsh or soft. I get an almost meditative benefit from sitting back and experiencing the textures of a track and I get different benefits from different types of noise but all together it allows me to forget my anxieties for a moment.
Going back to aural textures, I believe the understanding of which ones I find interesting and the effect they have on people in general can be extremely valuable for a few reasons. Knowing that certain aural textures appeal to me helps me understand why I like certain tracks and makes me seek them out in my own practice and it’s led me to explore data bending and other techniques. and it’s why I got into no-input mixing in the first place even if I couldn’t quite place why exactly at the time. There is immense value, then, in being able to recognise certain textures and you could take this even further and relate it to the process of sound design. I’ve already incorporated no-input mixing into Chain of Being but even just the benefits of having a vocabulary and sense of what textural options lay before me as a sound designer means I have an easier time deciding on how something should/could sound. Combined with a better ear for sounds from creating these textures and listening to sounds acousmatically, it places you in a good position to create sounds which don’t exist in the real world.
The irony of trying to catalogue textures by creating noise music which by its nature attempts to separate itself from genre and orthodox is not lost on me, but I don’t try to suggest that there ought to be a universal label for every texture. I think this would be antithetical to what I mean when I talk about the way I use aural textures. I believe that it is beneficial to try and observe, in your own work and in the work that you enjoy, these textures and see which ones come up again and again and notice which ones you particularly respond to.
When I first started my Audio Drama, Chain of Being, back in October of 2019: I did so as a hobbyist. I of course had fantasies of getting as big as Welcome to Nightvale or Wolf 359 but realistically I never really felt like I would be able to eat off of my passion project or even earn money within the audio drama podcast space. However, as time went on and I began to meet more people within the space and joined a podcast network run by two very encouraging and Americans I started to think that perhaps it wasn’t such a fantasy. I have met and worked with people who make it a career to edit for audio drama and already I’ve received a handful of sound design and dialogue editing jobs, just 3 or so years into becoming a part of the Audio Drama community.
It only seems to be getting more likely as well as big studios like DC are dipping their toe into the water and seeing some pretty good success, and with the likes of Stephanie Beatriz, Alan Cumming, and Helen Hunt entering the space it feels like we’re at the start of a new expansion of the Audio Fiction world with new opportunities on the horizon and hopefully more attention which ultimately leads to new listens and financial opportunities. I don’t want to lose sight of why I got into AD in the first place though, I love the medium and the chance it afforded me to tell a story that I wanted to see being told. Too often capitalism ruins art and we see success both financially and artistically despite its systems and not because of them. So while I welcome more money coming through the space, I am also wary of what changes that might bring and how that might affect its openness.
I reread through “Spirit of Place and Sense of Place in Virtual Realities” by Edward Relph and I found much to think about. Immediately the idea that all concepts and ideas do in fact come from a place, as much as we like to lean in to this Platonic concept of a realm of thought, really stuck with me. In my own practice of audio drama there is a sense that with narration a producer is expected to cut out breaths, hums, and stutters and any other minor sounds that would suggest that this voice is, in fact, “embodied”. Now in many cases the opposite can be true, especially in Audio fiction where the narration has a place in the story (found footage being a prime example) where to suggest this sense of realism these “mistakes” will often be left in.
“ Everything, even pure thought, has to happen somewhere, in
a place“
Something quite interesting is also pointed out: juxtaposition of a modern, highly interconnected, world that simultaneously appreciates a diversity of place (which Relph attributes, in traditional/more standard instances, to use of local building materials which make a place highly unique) whilst also, by its very nature, means that many materials can be asked for and transported across the planet. Its quite saddening to me how difficult it seems to have become for a place to have a natural identify through its architecture, how standard the modernist approach to buildings became and how a skyscraper could sit in any major city and not really seem out of place. Though thinking more on the topic one could also point out that the identity of a place can come from the way a place is used and by its people, the visual element may be gone but its the people that give a sense of identity to a place, it requires a perception and cultural meaning for this sense of place to exist, the music playing, languages being spoken, sounds of wildlife also contribute to a sense of place.
“virtual places cannot be authentic because to be authentic is to be real. In other words, “authenticity” is simply an inappropriate concept to apply to virtual places.”
The other idea that resonated with me this the above quote. It really resonates with the concept of sound design “representing” reality there is so much that is omitted or invented, with film there is at least the sense of arguable “authenticity” in the visuals, but with VR and games nothing is fully authentic, it all comes together to form a sense of reality, and yet it is heralded as one of the most immersive mediums possible. I suppose this can also apply to Audio Fiction too, all there is is sound, hence all there is, is a representation of objects and movements, in this I suppose VR and Audio fiction share similar qualities.
This article from Benjamin Zephaniah about the Eisteddfod is a really interesting, outsiders perspective into the festival. Zephaniah presents a really non-judgemental view of the event and makes some really excellent points overall. It’s full of quotes that would make really good references in the final essay, I think particularly about the effect it has on culture and community.
This outsiders perspective from someone who isn’t coming from a White-English/Colonial mindset or from within the welsh community is invaluable as it provides another point of view outside of that binary.
“It amazes me that almost every other person I meet can sing, and children find it natural to go on stage. I’ve worked in England trying to get kids to perform poetry and it’s hard work. Here, it just seems more natural because all children expect to do something towards the Eisteddfod at some point in their education, which is amazing”
“The Eisteddfod also strengthens people’s sense of Welshness, and brings them together. The only time I hear English is when people speak to me. Then they turn around and speak Welsh again – I like that – and on that basis alone the Eisteddfod is really worthwhile. It has real validity and has a place in today’s world”
“And because the Welsh language and culture has been under threat, people appreciate what they’ve got and they’re more willing to come together to celebrate it. If you feel that you’re losing your language, you’re losing your soul, so you will work together with your neighbour to keep it alive.”
“I treat Wales like a different country with a culture and language of its own. And if Wales is a part of Britain, then that culture is an important part of Britain – as important as Jamaican culture, Trinidadian culture or Indian culture for example.”
This is further attempts to structure my essay with a loose guide for topics and word count. I’ve put them in to a structure that makes sense and follows as well as refining the topics into something I can follow more easily in the future. I planned out a route for the essay to go that would link themes from one paragraph to another.
In order to begin a plan for my Contemporary issues in Sound Art essay I created a mind map of different topics/questions/answers that I could talk about. The major body of the essay is going to be a comparison of modern audio drama podcasts and Oral traditions, using the Eisteddfod as a primary example.
I did have the question in my head of how I was going to structure the essay and settled on choosing a specific quality/factor and then comparing both within the same paragraph. As you can see, I settled on “use of technology” “Ephemeral and recorded” “societal/community approaches” and what communities have grown around either.
From these I have tried to extrapolate different topics which can be even further expanded upon in the final essay
During the break I took a trip with my Dad up to Wales to visit some of our family there. Much of North Wales has a lot of forests and wooded areas which are situated away from any roads or general civilisation. We climbed to the top of Abergele mountain and I sat on my own in the middle of the woods on top of it for about 10 mins. I had unfortunately lent my Zoom H4N and so I had to bring my laptop and plug the shotgun mic into my interface and record directly into Adobe Audition. There was some really pleasant birdsong I managed to capture as well as the wind and the tops of the thinner trees creaking and tapping against each other. Overall I’m really happy with the recording and It’ll feel much more satisfying to use that recording instead of something from a sound library
The experience is still split into 3 separate moments w/ the menu connecting it all
What are we going to change? Should we keep the spirit of the original project or try to alter the meaning?
In terms of changing it I feel like I could either just put more time and thought into enhancing what is already there, making the score a bit more aligned with what i can do/ find interesting to do.
However there is something to be said for totally changing it, removing voice lines and such. In the winter wonderland scene for example, It could become more a showcase of the setting or perhaps a piece of writing, have a monologue play out as the user explores the various settings. In this way the sounds becomes more in the forefront, and if the monologue is thematically related to the environment then the sound takes an even stronger position in the experience.
Then again the experience is already built around the idea of relaxation and mental health exercises and so any sounds outside of what the original creators intended
