Listening– Soundscapes, audiences and stories (Harrison)
It is good practice for a sound designer to engage in daily deep listening, the real world is our reference. Harrison uses the analogy of a chef, knowing what each ingredient can bring to a dish, we have an indefinite number of ingredients at hand, we must know their purpose and the consequences of combination. Once you have a good grasp on listening, and a knowledge of these ingredient’s purposes, we can start to compose based not the emotion/narrative of a scene.
There are three categories of soundscapes defined by R. Murray Schafer:
- Earth (Wind, earthquakes, waterfalls)
- Non-human life (Birds, insects, wolves howling)
- Humanity (Industry, Walla, Machinery)
This is a framework that allows us to analyse each layer of sound in the soundscape, always in terms of how they relate to us as we as humans are the audience. Each category of sound holds implications and information, that when combined can shift meanings and create interesting narratives.
It is a valuable practice to chart day to day sounds and the emotions they evoke. Contextual meaning and sonic quality are equally as emotionally influential. We must, as sound designers, have a solid knowledge of what sounds represent, what information they convey. Harrison uses the example of the noises at a dinner table conveying how delicious the meal is, something otherwise un-transmittable.
We are constantly processing sound, it’s built into our being. The sounds we don’t consciously listen to still effect us emotionally and narratively. ‘Manipulating this background sound is the key to sound design’(Harrison). One example of this is the use of very low frequency rumbles in horror films, this evokes uncertainty and the felt presence of unknown entities at work, and perhaps the feeling that the situation is about to take a turn for the worse. This sound is felt as well as heard, permeating the body resulting in a very physical fear response. This reaction is possibly linked to an evolutionary reaction to earthquakes. Rumbles mean danger. All the time the audience are unaware that they are being influenced by sound.
These sounds do not, however, exist in isolation. You must consider the wider context in which the sound is situated. One sound can have multiple meanings depending on the context. An example of this is the sound of knives being sharpened, in a hibachi grill it might induce hunger and anticipation of a nice meal, in a slasher horror… not so much.
I will be engaging in deep listening, charting sounds as a reference for soundscape design and considering emotional influence.
I engaged with this process briefly last week, my project is based on a mountainside that descends into a garden. I went on a hike to a place with no other people and not many animals, and listened for reference. Unfortunately I didn’t have a recorder on hand.
Bibliography-
Harrison, T. (2022) Sound design for film. The Crowood Press.