RECORDING SESSION

First Vocal Recordings, Foley and Environmental Sound

I get a lot of unwanted sounds from the road outside my window, and a lot of unwanted reverb from the reflective surfaces in my room, so as a solution I put a duvet and some blankets on a clothes horse. This actually turned out to be really effective and I got a very clean result. I did get a little bit of low frequency bleed through the floor, but I fixed it with an EQ and a noise gate. If I were to redo this process I would place the microphone stand on the bed or something elevated. I spent a lot of the time editing out bad takes and finding a good pacing for the speech. I mixed the voice fairly loud at -4Db, I wanted it to be very clear and set to the volume so I could know how the other elements fit around it.

Quotes

The first elements I added were the quotes, I had a lot of trouble finding a way to rip the audio straight from the internet. I ended up sending the audio from the internet to my monitors and recording it. This did result in some room sound but I didn’t really have much of a choice, I might continue trying to find a way to download the mp3 files.

Crowd and Playground

The second element I added was the sound of a crowd, this is in the section where I mention the busy street. Ideally i would have liked to used a field recording of my own for this, however with time restrictions and the difficulty finding somewhere that matches what I need, I opted for using audio from a sound library. I had similar reasoning for using sound libraries for the sound of a playground but I also didn’t want to go around playgrounds with a recorder.

In Utero

Lastly for this session, I tried to emulate the sound of being inside a womb. This was the most interesting and entertaining element to record. Firstly I made two base layers of low frequency drones. For the first one I used a sample of a bass drum I had recorded and applied an enormous amount of reverb to it, only using the wet signal, I also removed the initial sound from the bass drum, faded it in, removed a lot of the high frequencies with an EQ and automated a gradual increase in volume to try and keep the volume constant (because the reverb fades out). For the second layer I used a field recording of my own, I had recorded the sound of wind and birds in my garden. I then removed the higher frequencies, added a lot of reverb only using the wet signal and pitched it down a little bit. This layer gave a bit of texture to the sound scape, and a sense of realty as it’s environmental sound. Next I used a bucket and a rubber textured cloth to create sounds of bodily fluids. These recordings were then processed using compression, reverb, EQ and pitch correction. I recorded two takes and panned them left and right making use of the stereo field to aid the sense of immersion. I also recorded some audio of me singing ‘Thats Life’ by Frank Sinatra and some general talking, I treated this audio the same as previous with less reverb. I am waiting on a recording of my female friend talking, I want to show that there are multiple voices for the section where I say the foetus can distinguish between voices.

Used to make sounds of Bodily Functions

ACOUSMETRE IN CINEMA

2001: a Space Odyssey and Psycho

In the 1968 science fiction epic ‘2001: a Space Odyssey’ HAL-9000 is a supercomputer aboard the spaceship Discovery, this computer controls all of the ships systems and is designed to support and aid the ships crew. Kubrick presents HAL predominantly as a voice, the computer is visually represented as small red lights present in all compartments of the ship. However, Kubrick doesn’t consistently reference the visual representation of HAL when he speaks, associating it’s identity primarily with the audio. The computer is a perfect representation of the acousmetre as this voice permeates all places on the ship, it is omnipresent. As a result it is also all knowing, and with control of the ship’s systems it is omnipotent. These acousmatic powers give HAL-9000’s soft friendly human voice a very sinister underlying quality.

As the film goes on HAL begins to malfunction in subtle ways, and the crew decide that it must be shut down to prevent any further serious mistakes. However, HAL realises this and decides to try and kill the astronauts in order to save himself. Herein lies the engagement with the acousmetre, the deacousmatization of HAL. Through struggle the crew manage to reach HAL’s ‘brain’, a room of computer modules which a crew member is able to remove in order to shut down the supercomputer. As the crew member removes the modules HAL begins to lose his consciousness, and with that his control. The interesting part of this for me is the engagement of dialogue with the acousmetre using the deacoumatization. HAL begins to apologise and plead for his life, expressing fear which humanises this previously God like entity. The voice, engagement with language and visual contextualisation of HAL are used to express the dynamic of power and in turn dramatically change the effect/perception of the entity for the audience.

Excerpt from Michel Chion’s ‘The Voice in Cinema’

Alfred Hitchcocks 1960 film ‘Psycho’ contains a very interesting example of an acousmetre. The film follows a young girl who’s car breaks down, she ends up staying in a motel run by Norman Bates, a man who has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother whom he looks after. The young girl overhears a dispute between Norman and his mother, this is the first exposure to the acousmetre as the audience is privy to the mothers voice but not her appearance. Hitchcock has established an acousmatic character engaged with action. Later in the film the young girl is savagely murdered in the famous shower scene by a visually obscured character. Norman cleans the scene in order to protect her from justice, he goes upstairs to try and find a place for her to hide. As Norman carries his mother while she talks, Hitchcock films the scene from above and far away, offering the audience a form of deacousmatization. This turns out to be a mislead as it is revealed that the mother is dead and Norman ‘plays her’ from time to time.

Bibliography:

Chion, M. and Gorbman, C., 2008. The voice in cinema. New York: Columbia University Press.

CHION, M., GORBMAN, C., & MURCH, W. (1994). Audio-vision: sound on screen.

Liquid Architecture. 2018. Michel Chion: The Voice in Cinema, or the Acousmêtre and Me (Liquid Architecture). [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRik_1-eSdE&t=456s> [Accessed 25 November 2021].

Önen, Ufuk. 2008. Acousmetre : the disembodied voice in cinema. Journal for Bilkent University Dept. of Communication and Design – Master’s degree. [Accessed 05/12/21]

EXAMPLES OF THE ACOUSMETRE IN HISTORY

Pythagorean learning, Freud and Acousmatics in Religion

The Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagorus adopted an unusual method for teaching. He was concerned that his appearance would distract his students from the content of his speech, in order to circumvent this he would teach from behind a curtain, and he would not reveal his appearance to the students until they had been learning for substantial amount of years.

A similar practice was adopted by Freud during his psychoanalysis. He would ask his patients to lie down on a victorian day bed and look up at the ceiling, the patient mustn’t make eye contact with the psychology and vice versa. This was an effort to induce something called ‘free association’. It would create an environment that as clinical and intimate, it encouraged the patients to freely express their thoughts. Perhaps people listen more intently when there is no visual source, and express more freely when their is no visual receptor.

There are a lot of instances of people hearing voices without a source in religious texts. In the bible, Adam hears the voice of God telling him how to behave in the garden of Eden, Moses hears the voice of God telling him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. There are always descriptions of someone ‘hearing’ a voice telling them important information. My interpretation of this is that people are more likely to heed the word of something unseen. I see this as an example of acousmatics in early civilisation.

https://www.randallsessler.com/blog/behindthecurtain

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK540472/

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

Asa Stjerna

Asa Stjerna is a sonic artist from Sweden, she uses listening as a method of exploration, these explorations are reworked and expressed through site specific installations. Asa explores sounds transformative quality, she uses sound as a means to transform experience of a site/situation. Sites/situation relates to environments, this could be the ocean, the weather etc. From Stjerna’s perspective, the small processes an artist does in the preparation to present their work are just as valuable as the end sonic result. These, she says, are affective inter relational processes, and engagement with the site. Stjerna emphasises the importance of looking at what is not yet in a space, how the space can be transformed into something else.

Asa presents her piece ‘The Well’, a permanent installation in the Swedish Institute in Paris. She installed a mono channel work inside the dried out well, she talk about engaging with the stone wall’s ‘agency’ as she puts it. She describes having a dialogue with the space in question, an experimental practice, an engagement with the space.

‘The Well’ (2014) – Asa Stjerna

Stjerna explains some points from her writings on transversal practices of sound installation:

  • Mapping the affective lines– The process of site specific exploration, this is what it means to find the space, researching the site engaging with archives etc. This is, for Asa, a very vivid/active engagement.
  • Establishing new connections– The artistic design process. Stjerna provides an example of installing a loudspeaker with a cable on a site, this is not just an action of laying a cable. It is engaging in a dialogue with the agencies of the space.
  • Becoming Non-Autonomous– It is important to understand your own situated perspective.

Recently Stjerna has become interested in the ocean as a public space. Asa next presents her work ‘Currents’ made in 2011. It was a site specific piece for the opera building in Oslo, the piece was based on scientific measurement data from the North-Atlantic current in the North Sea, this current Is associated with the melting of ice in the northern hemisphere. The piece was a signification of real-time data, this data was acquired at the floor near the Faroe Islands. Water flows past a cable inducing an electrical current, giving an indication of the oceanic current. The sound was generated using 4 data streams, the North Atlantic current, the semi-diurnal tide, the diurnal tide and the ionosphere. The slow patterns of energy from the tidal streams and the ionosphere where sped up 9 million times to make them audible. The tidal information was translated into drones, while the ionosphere was split into a granulated sound texture. The data from the North Atlantic current was used to control the textures and spatial positioning of the sounds. This was dispersed in the space through 22 loudspeakers.

Oslo Opera House

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

Lucia H Chung

Lucia H Chung (AKA ‘En Creux’) is a Taiwanese experimental audio artist based in London. Lucia began her talk by presenting a visual piece called ‘Tell me a story’, she describes the work as a reaction to the culture shock of moving to the UK. She was working with a small group of MA students in Winchester, Lucia was the only non-english speaker and as a result was quite shy and reserved. Lucia was interested in the ‘gap’ between translations, and how a person can get caught in that gap. Lucia would whisper something in mandarin to her partner, and the partner would whisper some English phrases back. This process was filmed with a two channel video set up, the absence of understanding was expressed clearly in their faces. During this time at Winchester, Lucia was primarily working with video to explore themes of communication, and the differences in personality when speaking different languages. She conducted a visual investigation on herself, filming herself speaking English, and then speaking Mandarin.

After these works Lucia started working more with sound in video. The piece Lucia showed was a film of her doing a full body prostration, a buddhist ritual that is repeated 108 times as a way of offering yourself or to repent. She was interested in the psychological transition from the first action to the 108th repetition, an ‘untranslatable mind space through a very physical repetition’. Lucia didn’t perform 108 repetitions, instead she edited the video to invoke the psychological mind space. She sped up and slowed down the footage, emphasising the frequency change in the audio.

Continuing her investigation into translation, Lucia found a researcher called  Sarat Maharaj. She quotes an article by the South African man,

‘There emerged, it seems to me, a notion of translation which activates both the visual and the sonic. Beyond the sense of the word and image are sounds which cannot be entirely drawn into the net of signification, and cannot be entirely decoded or deciphered as meaning this, that or the other. This larger sonic pause, the penumbra of the untranslatable that shadow and smudge language, and for which we have to venture beyond language.’

This quote gave Lucia the confidence to ditch visuals and focus on sound as a material medium. Lucia started her PHD at Goldsmiths, she was trying to understand what sound arts is. Lucia discovered Jacob Kirkegaard, a sound artist who had an interest in space. Lucia specifically talks about his piece ‘4 Rooms’, an art piece in which Jacob went to the zone of isolation in Chernobyl. He then recorded the ambient sound of 4 public spaces, he choses these spaces because of the public traffic they once hosted. The recording were then played into the room and rerecorded, repeating this process 10 times for each room, a technique pioneered by Alvin Lucier. Lucia appreciate the hidden dimension of the space Jacob was revealing, she equated this to her investigation in translation.

‘4 Rooms’ – Jacob Kirkegaard

Next Lucia presented a piece she created in 2009 called ‘Spring Piece’, an audio piece created at a time of transition for her. She had just moved to London, specifically New Cross, she recalled it as a horrible place with rats and an inordinate amount of noise created mainly by passing buses. She described how her room would shake when the busses drove past, which would happen very frequently. This was a stark contrast to the quant medieval town of Winchester. She recorded the sound of her room, and used a piezo microphone to play the recording through the single glazed Windows pane, then rerecording this. This was Lucia’s first sound piece.

Lucia takes a lot of inspiration from sculpture, and says she felt a lot more comfortable using sculpture as a medium. Although she was working with sound, she still hadn’t found a way to equate it to working with a physical medium. She then recalls the breakthrough moment when she made that connection. Lucia recalls seeing Whiteread’s piece ‘Ghost’, a casting of the inside of a living room. Its a piece displaying negative space, a casting and documentation of a living space. Lucia compares this to Alvin Lucier’s ‘Im sitting in a room’, equating the plaster in the casting of the room with Lucier’s mapping of the room with sound as a catalyst.

‘Ghost’ – Rachel Whiteread

DEVELOPMENT OF HEARING AND SIGHT IN A FOETUS

First Sounds

  • At about 18-20 weeks the physical ears start to protrude from the head.
  • At 20 weeks the neurosensory section of the auditory system starts to develop.
  • At around 25 weeks the auditory system is functional, and they can hear low frequencies from the outside world.
  • Late in the pregnancy a foetus can differentiate between voices.

Once the auditory system is functional the hair cells in the cochlea, the axons of the auditory nerve and neurons of the temporal lobe auditory cortex are tuned to receive stimuli. It is within the time of 25 weeks and 5-6 months of age that these systems calibrate to receive certain frequencies and intensities. This auditory system requires external environmental sound to refine and develop, the main two sounds that do this are speech and music. The auditory environment a foetus is in within this time can determine their ability to hear, if the foetus is continuously exposed to loud environments it can interfere with the development of their auditory system.

Our auditory perception of the world can be shaped and influenced by our first exposure to it. There is a time in which we cannot see but can hear voices, to me this is important when considering the acousmetre. The acousmetre is described as being everywhere, neither on screen nor outside it. I think that a foetus’s experience in the womb mirrors this, and perhaps the cinematic experience of the acousmetre is that which subconsciously reminds us of a venerable time in our sensory development.

Bibliography:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1527336908001347

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324464#fetal-hearing-at-each-stage-of-development

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

Richard Phoenix

Richard Phoenix is an artist that works in paint, drawing, writing and music with an emphasis on how these things can help people be together. He works with autistic and people with learning disabilities, encouraging people to make and share art.

Richard started his artistic career when he was 16 playing in bands with his friends, he predominantly played the drums. These bands are where Richard came to value a DIY approach to creation, he values the idea that anyone is capable of becoming a musician and sharing their work. He sees it as an empowering process that helps communities and individuals overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

In 2006 Richard moved to Brighton and started volunteering for an organisation called carousel that supported artists with learning disabilities. This was his first exposure to working with people who had learning disabilities. He recalls being blown away by a band called ‘Beat express’ who played at one of the gigs, and describes it as a lightbulb moment where he realised he had never seen bands with learning disabilities. This moment sparked 15 years of work, his aim is to get these bands the time and space they need to produce more music and play for more people. Richard started using the skills he had learned playing in DIY bands to support these new bands, putting on shows and recording. Richard started a night in Brighton called ‘rock house’ which gave time for these bands with learning disabilities to play every month, this night has been going for 10 years and is still going.

Richard fell in love with a Finnish punk band called PKN, and he was determined to get them to play in England. To do this he started an organisation called ‘Constant Flux’ in order to be eligible to apply for arts council funding, he managed to get £10,000 to bring them on tour. Phoenix describes the merging of working learning disabilities bands and DIY punk bands as a life changing experience, he managed to find a way to get these bands a diverse audience.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – MAY 18: Pertti Kurikan Nimipaivat of Finnland performs during a rehearsal of the first Semin Final on May 18, 2015 in Vienna, Austria. The final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 will take place on May 23, 2015. (Photo by Nigel Treblin/Getty Images)

Richard later produced a one page print manifesto for Goldsmiths fringe and underground music group called ‘DIY as privilege- 13 point manifesto for musicians’. This was designed to talk directly to DIY music scenes, and to ask them to consider access within their scenes, to consider who is not in the room and what they can do about it. Richard started fundraisers to provide practice spaces, to transport people to and from the spaces, and to pay for shows. This lead to people with communication barriers being able to work together in order to write songs, Richard makes a point of saying that the money is used to provide structures that help people to do it themselves, this maintains agency and creative freedom.

The manifesto was later expanded and published for rough trade books. Here Richard included more personal stories from creative people that he knows, had worked with or supported. Richard clarifies that he is not speaking on behalf of disabled people, he is speaking on behalf of himself. The experiences he has had working in his field and putting on the events he has, as he says, shifted the way he sees the world and making music. This book was intended to share that knowledge with other people to try and influence their perspectives. Richard says that one of the big issues with disability is fear, fear of doing the wrong thing that stems from ignorance. This ignorance is put upon us and disability can be a very silent part of society.

‘Every art-form is intimately related to a type of life experience. The difference between chamber music and jazz is not one of quality, finesse, or virtuosity but two ways of life, which the people involved did not choose but were born into.’ – John Berger

I do think it’s too easy to be set in your own perceptions, due to our experience of life many people unknowingly have a solipsistic outlook. We should make the effort to consider others experiences and perceptions in the creative field. I’ve always been focused on the process of making and the only thing that matter to me is if like it. However I do think it’ll be interesting to explore the perception and origins of art, much like Sam Auinger talking about all of our perceptions of sound being different. Ive rented ‘Ways of seeing’ by John Berger from the library and Im going to give it a read, id like to see if it applies to my practice.

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

NikNak

Nicole Raymond AKA NikNak

Nicole studied music tech and innovation at DMU, her initial intention was to become a producer and make beats. She recalls experiencing a stark contrast between her practice and the course, she was focused on production techniques and practical work, whereas the introduction to her course was binaural meditation music. At the start, joining the course was a mistake in her eyes but it turned out to be a very formative time for her, which she touches on later in the talk.

Her most recent work was a residency for Sound Uk called ‘sound generator’. Raymond created an album of music with field recordings, she then presented it through an octo-phonic set up, it was a live performance triggering recordings while using a turntable. Raymond expresses her value of working in surround sound, there are few opportunities to work with it, namely university and gallery spaces. Both of which, Nicole states, have a limited crowd. Raymond is interested in bringing surround pieces to venues more familiar to the public, drawing a more diverse crowd.

Raymond presents a radio show for worldwide FM called ‘Melanin’, a show about black music irrespective of genre. Her aim is to play new artists and artists she has connected with, this is a kind of rebuttal against the pigeonholing of black artists to certain genres.

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

Cedrik Fermont

Cedrik begins the talk by recalling when he was teenager growing up in Belgium, he realised that he was one of the only people of colour in the industrial/punk music scenes, he also recalls being confused as to why this was and why his other friends from around the world were not involved in the scene. As Cedrik began to collect music he noticed he was mainly collecting music from the west, and almost none from Africa and Eastern Europe. To solve this Cedrik sen out flyers stating that he was looking for people in these countries that were interested in and making the same kind of music as him. It took months but he did get some answers, mainly people saying they knew someone that fit the description, but he had found people. This lead to Cedrik creating what he called ‘Human Archives: Vol 1’, it was a cassette tape containing a compilation of alternative electronic improvised music from around the world. This was done before the age of the internet, Cedrik says, it’s nothing compared to what we can do now in terms of global projects but back then it was very difficult. It was 25 artists and bands from 25 countries, Cedrik was pleased with this but thought he could do more, and was still wondering why he could not find more like minded artists especially in Asia and Africa.

In the early 2000’s with the help of the internet, Cedrik had an opportunity to dive deeper into his research into music from the non-western world. During this time he was studying the history of electro acoustic music in Belgium, and he noted the lack of Italian and Egyptian artists mentioned when talking about very early electroacoustic artists, the History being told was predominantly western. Continuing with his research, file sharing softwares became a very effective means of finding like minded music consumers from the east. Cedrik would find people from these non-western countries uploading vast catalogues of experimental electronic music. Cedrik thought that the best way for him to publish more of, and write about experimental music being made outside of the west, was to go to these places. In 2003 he got the opportunity to go to Istanbul, he managed to find someone who was organising experimental music concerts in Turkey, he performed in some of these concerts with varying success. He would either be playing for 25-30 people who tended to be musicians, or he would get kicked out venues because no-one thought it was music. A year later he got the opportunity to go to Thailand, he was put in touch with a composer who booked him to play in an art gallery. He found most people who attended he concert had not heard this type of music before but attended and stayed out of curiosity. In 2005 Cedrik toured around many countries in south east Asia, with a goal of meeting as many experimental artists as possible. He brought back a great number of records and cassettes with which he created another compilation album. This was a very important archive for Cedrik, as he was discouraged by people to even go to these countries, people would say he wouldn’t find anything. The album was named ‘Beyond ignorance and borders’, and he says it is ignorance to assume no-one outside of the west is making experimental electronic music. The archive is a rebuttal against the borders we have created, and that are maintained by the media, painting foreign countries as having no modern art (ex. Eastern Block). Cedrik documents these artists and scenes by recording audio, taking notes, interviewing, publishing music and playing artists on a radio show.

Cedrik asks himself, why is this part of history so unknown, and why is it not taught to people? Colonisation is the answer, he says, the west has put aside a large part of eastern artistic history. Cedrik is making an effort to update this history of electroacoustic music and sound art. He has created an online database with which people can access a list of artists/composers/labels organised by country.

ARCHIVE- http://syrphe.com/index.html

VISITING PRACTITIONERS

Sam Auinger

Sam began his talk by talking about his origins. He was born in 1956 in upper Austria. As a child he recognised that sound was basically information and music was social. This means that people needed the help of auditory information to function in their daily lives, Auinger gives the example of running a farmhouse. He recalls that his grandfather was famous for a practice of listening to the sound of hay in the summer to determine the weather. Sam later realised that he was listening to the moisture levels in the material, and with knowledge of the interdependencies between air pressure, materiality and weather was able to deduce the change of the weather. Sam provides another example of auditory information as a warning of people approaching, before CCTV he says they would rely on the sound of the geese. Auinger says that listening to the environment in any field was a daily practice, the sounds ‘talk’ to you. Bringing the same concept to the city, he says that the sounds are talking, but without any meaning for you.

Auinger describes a game he would play with his friends in his youth, one person would hide in a wooden hut to obscure their sight, and they would have to guess what type of car or truck passed by relying solely on sound. He says that each machine had a distinct sound, and this is the crux of his talk. He believes that it is getting harder and harder for people to rely on their ears.

Auinger talks about the catholic influence on his childhood, he recalls the mass being a huge event, and that the churches were built with the intention to enhance your experience, especially the architecture interacting with the sound of the organ. Certain types of cathedrals are even taking advantage of geographical location, making sure the sun hits a stain glass window at the time of the mass. They have used the ability of design to underline their message. But you can take this concept and apply it to all architecture, all buildings influence peoples psychology.

After studying economics and mathematics, Auinger studied composition and computer music in the 80s. There are many properties of sound we take as a given, Sam says, during in this study he learned how to describe the many different qualities that make up a sound and actually talk about it meaningfully. He would have to talk about an imagined sound in order to try to replicate it with computers. Here, he notes, he would quite often get stuck using sounds he already knew from traditional instruments. Sam equates this to trying to imagine a deep sea creature, and the fact that nothing we imagine can be weirder than what is actually in the sea. Certain principles of sound reoccur all over the soundscape, in different practices and sources. Much like evolution in sea creatures, there are structures and systems that form the way sound works. Through this line of enquiry he found psychoacoustics, realising that his body and listening apparatus reacts very differently than a microphone.

Through learning to program sounds Sam became interested in public spaces, because he realised how much daily life was influencing the way he perceived music. He provides the example of his mother hating the Rolling Stones with a passion when he was younger describing it as just noise, and later on in life, as his mothers life had changed, she grew to like it. Now she was able to decode the song structure, in the sixties when these songs were released, it was impossible for her to enjoy the music due to her upbringing on upper Austrian folk music. Auinger raises the question, how many systems are in play that influence our perception of sound?

An example of a system would be the shape of our ears, the shape enhances a certain type of frequency spectrum. A young healthy human has a listening range from 20 Hz to 20000Hz, so when Sam hits a pen against a glass almost all people will hear it, but his grandson will hear more overtones than him. Over time our ability to hear high frequency decreases, this produces a problem for our language centred society, language is constructed with vowels and consonants, our ability to hear consonants decrease as they are mostly found at 8-10 kilohertz. Auinger realises that he is missing quite a lot of his higher range of hearing, and he gives an example of how this effects his perception. If you were to imagine somewhere with a very lively nightlife, lots of people and talking, a lot going on, for a young person with healthy hearing they can perceive this as energy, something that enhances you. If an elder person listens to the same thing, there is a lot less frequency response in their hearing, so for them they perceive the same situation as stress. Another system that influences us, and for Auinger is the most important, is our personal history or context. He gives the example of some people skating in the parking lot of an office. If you are the skateboarder the sound means success or failure of a trick, or seeing a friend. If you are working in the office and have nothing to do with skateboarding you will perceive this sound as annoying. It is almost completely impossible to hear a sound in the same way as someone else. Another interesting point that Auinger brings up is that loudness steals space, for example walking in London on a busy road, you will perceive the other side of the road as a silent movie, the road acts as a border in space.

Auinger stresses the importance of learning how we listen, that it will give rise to many different avenues of research and will deepen your listening experience of the world.